Is further maths all that hard?

Well I'm taking maths a year early and at an A, trying to get A* next year. I'm working hard to get the A/A* grade, at GCSE. Will I find it hard, is it for pupils who get A* without thinking?

Scroll to see replies

bump

Original post by iPad User

Well I'm taking maths a year early and at an A, trying to get A* next year. I'm working hard to get the A/A* grade, at GCSE. Will I find it hard, is it for pupils who get A* without thinking?

There is 1% of people in the world for whom maths comes very easy and they can get A*s, As and 100% without thinking, just like that.

For the vast majority of people, getting a good grade is directly related to the amount of work they put in - it's the same with GCSEs. And, it's the same with A Levels. If you're not in that 1%, getting a good grade involves practice, going through questions systematically etc. It's the same for A Level Maths and A Level Further Maths - you can totally get an A in both if you put in the time and practice.

The questions in Further Maths are more complicated than in normal Mathematics A2. You have to think more and spend more time on some of them. But, inherently, they are not more complicated than regular Mathematics A2 questions. It's not like they're "out of this world" - it's like the difference between intermediate GCSE and higher GCSE.

If you enjoy maths and can see yourself getting a good grade, then with time and effort put in, anyone can get an A in both A levels.

Reply 3

scurrry

It isn't too bad, i did A level maths in lower sixth and I'm now doing further maths in upper.

EDIT: And it does depend on the modules you are doing, I'm doing FP1 - 3, S2, M2 and M3.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

Freakonomics123

Original post by iPad User

Well I'm taking maths a year early and at an A, trying to get A* next year. I'm working hard to get the A/A* grade, at GCSE. Will I find it hard, is it for pupils who get A* without thinking?

you should be able to get A* at gcse with ease, like have no doubts that you'll achieve that.

HOWEVER in my opinion, if you pick the right modules you only need to do one very hard module which is fp2/fp3. (only one of them.)

The others arent too hard in my opinion if your good at maths. i reckon i can only get 50% (maybe slightly pessimistic) in that module but my chances are still great for getting A* in further maths cos ive already got 90% in M2, took D2 yesterday which was fine, and S2 coming up which i really enjoy.

you can always drop it at AS which alot of people end up doing

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 5

thedonfromdar

What modules do u need to average 90% in to get an A*? (Edexcel in particular)

Reply 6

iPad User

Are grade boundaries low for Further maths?

Reply 7

iPad User

Original post by Freakonomics123

Are you saying I will get A*? Or are you saying that I should only do Further Maths if I get A*?

Reply 8

Freakonomics123

Original post by iPad User

Are you saying I will get A*? Or are you saying that I should only do Further Maths if I get A*?

If you get A* and you want to do it then yes take it.

If you get A then really its down to you, and whether you think you can cope with it...but like i said u can always drop it at AS.

Reply 9

Freakonomics123

Original post by thedonfromdar

What modules do u need to average 90% in to get an A*? (Edexcel in particular)

sorry dont know for edexcel

Reply 10

Gadwin

For Edexcel, you need an overall A to get an A* as well as...

For maths, you need to average 90% in C3 and C4. For further maths, you need to average 90% in any THREE A2 units (FP2-3, D2, M2-5, S2-4).

Reply 11

Crystalclearmagic

To get an A* in edexcel, for A level Maths, you need over 90 UMS in C3 and C4 and I can't remember what it is for A level Further Maths.

I'm doing AS Maths and AS Further Maths this year, modules: C1,C2,C3,M1,S1,FP1
Originally we were going to do A level Maths this year and do A level Further Maths next year... but then we decided not to C4 and did FP1 instead

It's a lot of work, but you can do it if you put the work in
I got an A* without much revision and did Additional maths in year 11 for which I got an A in that as well. I had to work for that A I have to say.

So long as you like maths, do it. Otherwise stay away from it.

Reply 12

Crystalclearmagic

Original post by Gadwin

I don't think it's averaging 90 UMS, I think it's actually getting above 90 UMS in each paper.

Reply 13

thedonfromdar

Original post by Gadwin

So you could get 100% in FP1, and 3 other units (all A2) but get 40% in FP2 and FP3 to get an A*?

Reply 14

Gadwin

Original post by Crystalclearmagic

I don't think it's averaging 90 UMS, I think it's actually getting above 90 UMS in each paper.

For maths you need to average 90 in C3 and C4. Might be true for further maths.

And thedonfromdar I guess that's right.

Reply 15

Crystalclearmagic

If it's averaging all the better then!

Reply 16

Groat

Original post by iPad User

Well I'm taking maths a year early and at an A, trying to get A* next year. I'm working hard to get the A/A* grade, at GCSE. Will I find it hard, is it for pupils who get A* without thinking?

Certainly at AS-Level, Further Maths isn't hard, it's just extra work. The standard of the content is the same with the applied modules and FP1 isn't much harder than C2.

I can't comment at A2, but I hear it gets much harder.

Reply 17

JongKey

Original post by Crystalclearmagic

I don't think it's averaging 90 UMS, I think it's actually getting above 90 UMS in each paper.

No for maths you have to average 90% in C3 and C4, not too sure about further though

Reply 18

Freakonomics123

Original post by Groat

For OCR to get an A* in further maths you need to average 90% in 3 of the further maths modules which are:

M2,M3,M4,FP2,FP3,D2,S2,S3,S4

tbh AS further maths is maybe same level as A2 maths, but A2 further maths is much harder well only further pure modules are where it gets very difficult exception of FP1

Reply 19

username378540

Original post by iPad User

Are grade boundaries low for Further maths?

Definitely not. Think about it, FM is just people who excel at maths - a lot of people will do very well in these exams, and so UMS can be quite wild.