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A2 maths exam advice :)

Hey everyone, I would be grateful if you could offer me a bit of advice :smile:

So basically, I've taken OCR maths (not MEI) and I kind of really need an A. So far I've got:

(AS) C1 (79/100) B
(AS) C2 (80/100) A
(AS) S1 (86/100) A
(A2) C3 (74/100) B

So now I've got D1 and C4 left to go, both marked out of 100 each. At this stage I'm currently on 79.75% (80% for an A) which is quite annoying. To achieve my A I need to average 80.5% on my D1 and C4 exams, which sounds fine, but I'm REALLY not confident at all with C4 :frown:

So, do I risk it with my final two exams and hope that I can put enough preparation in, OR do I retake C1 (the easiest exam) to bump up my overall score leaving more room for error for C4?

Obviously retaking C1 at this stage would add a lot of stress, so I'm not quite so sure what to do!

Any advice would be appreciated :smile:
Reply 1
Retake c2 and possibly s1 with c1. Just get as high as you can in the As units and still aim for 80+ in the A2 units.
Reply 2
D1 is a easy as it gets, so you should manage high 80's or higher. I would recommend resitting C1. plenty of people I know did poorly 1st time round, and got much better scores the next time round. It shouldn't need much revision, as you've done much harder stuff.
Reply 3
I think you should definitely retake C1 to maximise your chances of getting your A. It shouldn't really add much pressure since you've done C2 and C3 - etting good grades on both. I would also consider resitting C3 or C2 but it is by no means necessary. Good luck. :smile:
Reply 4
I'm in practically the same position as you, apart from i've done C1-3 and D1, with M1 this year.

C1 - 86
C2 - 81
C3 - 80
D1 - 71

I'm going for a D1 resit although my tutors argued that it's something too different (ie. i've never done D1 since so my skills aren't sharp) and suggested C2 instead. Certainly doing an AS core module would be easier - either C1 or C2 in your case. You do build on the core skills, have a look at the content of each and which you prefer. Doing 10 past papers in the week before is probably enough to bump it up a little. My expectation is that i'm probably not going to do any better in C4 than I did in C3 so I wanted a safety (and I suspect similarly for you there). D1 was quite an 'easy' module but everybody seemed to do much worse in the actual exam. Just seems a funny one! How do you feel about the content right now?

What's the offers you need to meet? Can you get the A in another subject instead or does it HAVE to be?

tlr;dr: I'd recommend sitting C1 or C2 again, possibly both if you can be bothered.
(edited 13 years ago)
Reply 5
Original post by puma21
Retake c2 and possibly s1 with c1. Just get as high as you can in the As units and still aim for 80+ in the A2 units.


Thanks :smile: Although I think doing all those exams would be a bit too stressful, not to mention costly! I think I just need to really focus on my A2 units but just one AS exam.

Original post by Harry.C
D1 is a easy as it gets, so you should manage high 80's or higher. I would recommend resitting C1. plenty of people I know did poorly 1st time round, and got much better scores the next time round. It shouldn't need much revision, as you've done much harder stuff.


This sounds like a good plan :smile: Some of the C1 topics I haven't seen since the exam, like circle theorems, but it shouldn't be too much to re-learn (I hope). Things like differentiation should be quite easy this time though :smile: I think I'm definitely steering towards C1 at the moment.

Original post by ElMoro
I think you should definitely retake C1 to maximise your chances of getting your A. It shouldn't really add much pressure since you've done C2 and C3 - etting good grades on both. I would also consider resitting C3 or C2 but it is by no means necessary. Good luck. :smile:


Another vote for C1, so I might retake it :smile: You're right about the less pressure because of C2 and C3, even C4 because that uses a lot of the same principles, just harder versions. I was considering C3, however, I was confident about it before I did the recent C3 exam but I didn't do so well, so I wouldn't want to do it again. There's also the fact that C3 and C4 are in the same month and I don't think I've got the mental capacity to do both :/

Original post by Nymthae
I'm in practically the same position as you, apart from i've done C1-3 and D1, with M1 this year.

C1 - 86
C2 - 81
C3 - 80
D1 - 71

I'm going for a D1 resit although my tutors argued that it's something too different (ie. i've never done D1 since so my skills aren't sharp) and suggested C2 instead. Certainly doing an AS core module would be easier - either C1 or C2 in your case. You do build on the core skills, have a look at the content of each and which you prefer. Doing 10 past papers in the week before is probably enough to bump it up a little. My expectation is that i'm probably not going to do any better in C4 than I did in C3 so I wanted a safety (and I suspect similarly for you there). D1 was quite an 'easy' module but everybody seemed to do much worse in the actual exam. Just seems a funny one! How do you feel about the content right now?

What's the offers you need to meet? Can you get the A in another subject instead or does it HAVE to be?

tlr;dr: I'd recommend sitting C1 or C2 again, possibly both if you can be bothered.


Yeah you're right, C1 or C2 sounds the better option. You pretty much hit the nail on the head, I just need to do it for a safety net. I think it would make more sense to take the easier one of the two, which is C1. I feel quite confident about D1 at the moment, but teaching hasn't stopped yet so that view may change :P

I need AAA because I'm applying for medicine. The universities I've got left to hear from want AAB this year but if I don't get in, I'll need AAA to reapply next year. My other subjects are fine, set for an A* in both biology and chemistry but I'm just quite weak at maths :/

Resitting C1 is definitely on the table now, but as to whether or not I want to resit C2 or even C3, God forbid, I'm not sure :/



Thanks for all your advice guys! Really appreciate it :smile:

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