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How hard is A level maths?

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It's very hard compared to GSCE maths but if you practice you'll definitely get an A* and you have to do maths if you want to do physics at uni.

Reply 41

mucgoo

Original post by GANDULF

It's very hard compared to GSCE maths but if you practice you'll definitely get an A* and you have to do maths if you want to do physics at uni.

You only need to drop about 15-20 marks out of 150 in C3/4 to drop down to an A
But yes providing you your not useless with number and work its a guaranteed A unlike essay subjects.

Reply 42

Hazzabanana

Original post by Harolinho

I'm doing already at GCSE, but really I just wanna know how hard A level is?

Heard a fair few failure stories. I'm looking at probably (hopefully) an A for GCSE, is Maths so much harder another step up? I wanna do physics so it could be useful.

Without Maths I wouldn't have got the A I did get in Physics. Without Physics, I wouldn't have got the A I did in Maths. Taking one without the other is a bad decision. I took 5 AS's and I can tell you, Maths isn't easy. Yet it is not hard either. It just requires hard work. I only got an A at GCSE (wanted an A*) so I guess I was at the same standard you are. I spent the first half of Year 12 getting D's, but after wanting to stop doing it (I hated it) I started working hard for it, doing papers and what not. Within a month, I got a B in my mock, and now I have 23 marks banked for A2 (if i get 72% in my 3 exams this year I get an A). Right now I am in the same position I was in last year, not doing fantastically at maths (albeit a bit better), and I'm confident that a few weeks of hard work will bring me up to an A.

Personally, I think you should go for it. Obviously there are other opinions on here but I tend to get annoyed with thread responses who sit on the fence as the OP is one the fence and wants reason to fall to one side. But just look at Uni websites. I assume that ALL top 40 uni's require a maths A Level to study physics. If you want an A, I assume you're aiming for them.

Best o' luck :smile:

Reply 43

PinkEye

Its definitely a big step up and sometimes I leave the lesson wanting to cry, but I like challenges and trying to work my way through things. If you're the same, then you'll be fine!

Alternatively, hard work, practice and a gazillion past papers will do the trick too. :tongue:

Reply 44

alexsasg

I found AS okay (definitely harder than GCSE though)...and then I found A2 horrible. :frown:

but that's just me, I know people who really stepped up at A2. Depends on the person really, as well as how much work you're willing to put in. That's why I'd advise against picking maths as your fourth option.

Reply 45

QuantBrain

It's fun, shouldn't that be the only thing that matters :P

Reply 46

sapphiregold

Original post by Harolinho

i'm thinking about doing a level maths and what i found helpful was to look at some a level maths past papers and see whether i would be able to get my head around the maths questions

i think this helped me make my mind up and i'm picking it
good luck

Reply 47

SparksInTheSky

Original post by hassi94

We're talking A-levels, not applied A-levels (different qualification) or anything like that (though I realise Applied Science is a regular A-level).

These are some of the ones I would include as 'not as academic':

Psychology
Business Studies
Sociology
Government & Politics
R.E.
General Studies
Geography
Media Studies
PE
Graphics
Art
Accounting
Law
Dance
Drama

Those are just ones I can think of, off the top of my head. That's more than I could name which were academic. To me that says I can use the word 'most'.

After a quick lookup, for sciences:

Applied Science
Environmental Studies
Electronics
Science in Society (and I think it would be quite a stretch to put this in the sciences section rather than humanities/arts - sounds more like sociology).

psychology could be counted as a science. and the only one which are arts are govt& politics,re, geog and law. the others are either vocational or social sciences.

but whatever the catagories, just because these arent as academic doesnt mean they are not hard. a lot of ppl drop psychology because they realise the work needed. is geography needed? even if the arts does include some easy subjects, generalising doesnt help, and only fuels a bias towards the sciences.

Reply 48

Intriguing Alias

Original post by SparksInTheSky

I did say /social sciences.

Well I was talking about academic difficulty, not whether pulling off the perfect pirouette is more difficult than differentiating implicitly.

And psychology is a science, a social science. I was clearly talking about natural/physical sciences.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 49

SparksInTheSky

Original post by hassi94

My point was that the boundaries are fluid. Why lump the social sciences with the arts and not the sciences? And if you count dance, why not applied science?

Reply 50

Intriguing Alias

Original post by SparksInTheSky

My point was that the boundaries are fluid. Why lump the social sciences with the arts and not the sciences? And if you count dance, why not applied science?

I counted applied science, I wrote that in my post. My point was that the MAJORITY of arts/humanities/social sciences are not too academic. The majority of sciences, are. (as shown by my lists)

And I lump the social sciences in with the arts because I think it'd be an absolute joke to consider them in any way similar to the sciences, especially at A-level. They have more similarities with humanities than with sciences.

Pfft whatever I didn't want to get into this boring old argument, there's no point really. You argued against my initial post with absolutely no reason:

I said it was one of the hardest sciences (from my personal opinion and people I've spoken to) and that those 4 subjects are harder than most humanities/social sciences (again I said on average - with my sixth form and others I know being my main source of opinions). Also that some of the humanities/arts are arguably harder depending on the person.

I actually never said applied science is harder, I said those 4 subjects so I don't know what you're talking about. I never said all the humanities are easy, I never even said they are all easier. Just said on average most people find those 4 science subjects harder than MOST humanities.

I still think what I wrote was correct, and I don't think you have a leg to stand on.

Reply 51

SparksInTheSky

Original post by hassi94

You are rewriting what you said, which proves that what you said was wrong. You said that the sciences are harder and that you find English/Languages easier (granted the latter if your own opinion). You did not say anything about 'academic', you said harder. Why *must* you lump the social sciences with the arts? Do they not deserve the separation you give to 4 sciences?

And how do you know *most* people find those 4 sciences harder than most humanities? On the evidence of you and a few friends? Your view is based on biased personal opinion. Imo neither is by itself harder, but the arts have much more fluctuant marking which makes it harder to secure good grades. But if you think there are 4 hard sciences, why single them out in your post and generalise about the humanities? Why not say - these 4 science subjects are hard and these 4 arts subjects are hard? By singling out the sciences you show a bias which is misrepresentative of the actual situation.

Reply 52

Lilli1994

I'm halfway through AS... i found Core 1 quite easy but Core 2 is an actual nightmare!

Reply 53

Rtcw

Original post by Harolinho

Got low B at GCSE, now I'm in top set of class for AS and I'm aiming for an A. All you need to do is put some good effort in. You don't get your A if you just listen it from teacher without practising it.

Basically, you don't work, you fail.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 54

Slumpy

Original post by SparksInTheSky

Why *must* you lump the social sciences with the arts? Do they not deserve the separation you give to 4 sciences?

And how do you know *most* people find those 4 sciences harder than most humanities?

To many minds the social sciences clearly don't have the same level of falsifiability required of science, so they fall more towards the arts side of things. Certainly there aren't the rigid mathematical frameworks in place one would expect of a 'pure' science. I might perhaps describe maths as an art also however.

Just check the pass rate stats if you care.

And OP; if you're good at maths, it's easy. If you're not, it'll require some work, but is still very doable.

Reply 55

Intriguing Alias

Original post by SparksInTheSky

READ MY POST. First I said maths is one of the 4 hardest sciences. Then said those 4 are overall harder (IF YOU CAN COMPARE AT ALL) than MOST humanities/social sciences. The next part I admit my english overall was quite poor, but I was saying that with some humanities/arts like english/languages it's very subjective as to whether they are hard than sciences or not. And that I personally find english/languages harder than maths.

And at A-level I don't see much distinction between social sciences and the arts. In the end all you're doing is writing essays, opinionated pieces and using written evidence to make some sort of point (or reciting certain events and providing opinion etc.).

And I said on average (from friends in my sixth form, in other sixth forms and people on TSR), even if we exclude TSR it's a sample size of about 30-40 (not to mention what unis consider to be soft a-levels are almost exclusively subjects from arts/social sciences). Not saying that's huge but looking at TSR it seems typical of the rest of the nation.

And again I'll reiterate that I was trying to say how english/languages can definitely been seen as being harder and so it is very much subjective (I do see in retrospect that it came off badly) so I did say 'these art subjects are hard'. Said this later on too when you argued.

Reply 56

Intriguing Alias

Original post by Slumpy

Just check the pass rate stats if you care.

Don't think that's too fair :tongue:

Most people who were unsure on 6th form altogether end up picking subjects like business, psychology and they end up failing.

And something like 60% of Further Maths students get As or better thanks to very few people attempting it without knowing they're good at maths (and schools being very apprehensive to suggesting students take it). Very few people who aren't passionate about maths will take maths for 2 A-levels :tongue:

Reply 57

zoeaw

It's much easier than Chemistry and Physics imo. Also, the only person not doing maths in our class last year dropped physics fairly quickly.

Reply 58

SparksInTheSky

Original post by Slumpy

Just check the pass rate stats if you care.

And OP; if you're good at maths, it's easy. If you're not, it'll require some work, but is still very doable.

And also check the A/A* rate stats. More people pass the arts (because you can pass basically by writing some nonsense) but less people get the top grades because its less clear cut what you need to know and more based on writing style etc.

Simiarly if you are not good at reading/writing, the arts will be harder, won't they?

Reply 59

kidoo

Original post by Harolinho

You will either find it relative easy or extremely difficult. If you fall into the former camp then you literally have to dig your way out of the confusion and horrible-ness, I would advise grinding through some C1 text books.