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Which is the harder A Level: Chemistry or Further Maths?

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My module difficulty ratings:
C1: 7/10 I found this the hardest in the first year to get to grips with, once you can do C1, the rest should come naturally
C2:6/10
C3/6/10
C4: 5/10
FP1:4/10 Though I did it in the second year
FP2:6/10
FP3:8/10
D1:3/10
M1: 5/10
M2: 4/10
S1: 6/10
S2: 5/10 Because it is so easy, grade boundaries shoot up, so any mistake is costly

To be honest, when you do C3/C4 it makes C1 look like Primary school stuff. I never understood why people (not saying you) struggled with C2, many people get E's in it, but it is very straight forward.

Your D1 rating is weird, it is very very simple for 90% of it and then you hit Simplex and that is simple but there are like a million little mistakes you can make that will screw ALL your answers and so result in a big percentage loss (added on that there can be mistakes by examiners :biggrin:

I did that test and skipped the question after 2 tries and 3-4 mins :P).

S1 imo should be lower :biggrin:

I did the exam with barely any knowledge of combinations and permeations or hardly any rules. All I used was AND = Multiply and OR = Add :biggrin:

M1 should be a little higher, towards the end of the year some of the topics get trickier and harder to distinguish. Also the exams are always weirdly worded imo.

Reply 81

roachy1

having experienced both at a level i would say chemistry is harder, mainly down to the amount of effort required. based on your career ambitions, however, i would say further maths would be best for u

Reply 82

LukethePianoMan

Original post by behnam1991

I did that test and skipped the question after 2 tries and 3-4 mins :P).

S1 imo should be lower :biggrin:

I did the exam with barely any knowledge of combinations and permeations or hardly any rules. All I used was AND = Multiply and OR = Add :biggrin:

M1 should be a little higher, towards the end of the year some of the topics get trickier and harder to distinguish. Also the exams are always weirdly worded imo.

I did Edexcel, no simplex for us, it was ridiculously easy.
I found C1 hard because I found it hard to get used to A Level maths, then C2 is even harder, hence why many people get bad marks on it, but once you have the hang of those, the rest of the stuff came naturally!
And yes, fair point for S1 and M1, what exam board were you on? Edexcel changed the specifications for D1, FP1, FP2 and FP3 at the end of 2009, so FP1 and D1 are now really easy and FP2 and FP3 are meant to be equal in difficulty. FP2 has complex numbers, differential equations, taylor series and polar coordinates, while FP3 has matrices, vectors and hyperbolic equations. FP1 is now designed to be taken with no knowledge of C3.

Reply 83

AnonyMatt

Original post by The_Gina

Luckily i don't mind pure memorizing :smile:

BTW, how did you find the practical for chemistry? Is it similar to the GCSE ISA?

It depends on the exam board you do. :p:

WJEC practicals are not like AQA ones at all. :smile:

Reply 84

The_Gina

Original post by AnonyMatt

It depends on the exam board you do. :p:

WJEC practicals are not like AQA ones at all. :smile:

I done AQA GCSE, and am doing OCR A Level

Reply 85

AnonyMatt

Original post by The_Gina

I done AQA GCSE, and am doing OCR A Level

I can't answer your question sorry - I've no experience of OCR examinations.

Reply 86

username603883

Original post by LukethePianoMan

I did OCR. The FP1 is actually quite intense imo, there is complex numbers, args etc, matrices, summation, proof, and a few more. It is a little bit intense but it isn't the end of the world.

NO SIMPLEX, you lucky SOB :biggrin:

Reply 87

LukethePianoMan

Original post by behnam1991

Edexcel FP1, when taken in the upper sixth is really simple, especially as I did all the FPs at the same time and FP1 was basically an easier version of FP2 and FP3.
And yes, NO SIMPLEX! D1 is now a joke, the hardest thing was precedence diagrams, and I did that at the end of upper sixth too so that was also really easy. As a bonus, I could've got 0% in D1 and still got an A* at A Level maths. I am awaiting my D1 result, exxpecting a high mark as I found it easy, but if I got 0% for some reason, that would be fine.

Reply 88

Jampolo

Original post by behnam1991

Same here, i did like FP1 though, it requires some intuition rather than the straight forward generic answers in C1 and C2. What did you think of FP2?

Reply 89

username603883

Original post by Jampolo

Same here, i did like FP1 though, it requires some intuition rather than the straight forward generic answers in C1 and C2. What did you think of FP2?

I dropped Further Maths after AS. I was doing 5 A Levels and wanted to do a more relevant A Level the year after (plus couldn't be asked with the work load :biggrin:

)

Reply 90

porkstein

Original post by The_Gina

...

There is no doubt in my mind that Further Maths is a harder A-level than Chemistry. That doesn't mean you'll find Chemistry easier - if you're a gifted mathematician and aren't particularly fond of writing, you may well get a higher grade in Further Maths. It's very hard for any of us to say.

However, given that you're unlikely to receive an offer of more than one A*, the difficulty of the subject shouldn't really be your concern. You've got three other subjects in which to achieve the A*, and since Chemistry/FM are probably the hardest of the bunch, if you're going to get one it'll probably be in Maths or something. I would choose the one most relevant to your course choices. Chemistry is required for almost all Chemistry/Biology related courses, whereas FM is pretty important for Physics, and vital for Maths and Engineering (at the best universities). I don't think either would hurt your chances of getting an offer for Architecture. Just remember that the subject can often be far more important than the grade. A*s won't mean anything if you've achieved them in Law and Spanish, but are applying for Medicine.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 91

Nicholasng925

I don't take Chemistry so I couldn't comment much about that, but I'm taking Further Maths for A-Level exam in next year June. I think if you understand the concepts and steps to solve the FM questions, it shouldn't be a problem! It might seem intimidating, daunting, but it will be made much easier if you practice a lot of FM past years.

Reply 92

The_Gina

Original post by porkstein

That is a very valid point you have made. I am confident that, with hard-work I can achieve an A* in maths and/or physics. That would leave one more a level of which to achieve an A in. Of which will probably be art for architecture and chemistry or further maths for engineering. i feel I could do better by doing single maths over 2 years, than in my first year, as over two years I will be better equipped to cope.

Reply 93

The_Gina

Original post by Nicholasng925

very helpful advice! thankyou

Reply 94

Chemist548

Original post by kaosu_souzousha

Top engineering schools will prefer Further Maths over Chemistry except for Chemical engineering

+ 1. There's very little actual chemistry in a chemical engineering degree. Further math is much more useful.

I did chemistry, maths and further maths, I found chemistry to be the hardest. I have since went on to do a chemistry degree and a PhD in chemical engineering.

Reply 95

JRRA

Original post by The_Gina

I'm also doing physics A Level so I'm hoping that mechanics will go hand-in-hand with what I'm learning in physics :smile:

M1 and AQA Unit 2 of physics are basically the same thing, except in physics you actually have to understand/ explain why something is behaving in a certain way, instead of just doing the calculations. I found that my fellow physics-maths classmates and I got terribly frustrated with the other non-physics students in my maths class, who seemed to struggle A LOT with grasping the basics of mechanics, meaning that we could have sat M1 in January, but had to wait until June for the rest of the class to catch up!

Reply 96

chaz1992

Personally, in Edexcel Chemistry, it's unit 2 and 5 that kill you. Unit 1 and 4 are fairly straightforward. Applying the knowledge is the hard bit. Just wait until electrochemistry and transition metals. The non-organic stuff starts easy and gets harder whereas the organic starts hard and tedeous but finishes up doable but enjoyable.