Opportunity to take S1 exam a year early, should I?

Hello! My teacher today gave me the opportunity to join an A2 class to study S1 for examination in the summer due to doing well in my mathematics mock exams, I got 58/60 in Pure Core 1 and 59/60 in Pure Core 2. I'm in a dilemma, I have 9 examinations in the summer exam period as it is, I would only have 2 free periods in a week to complete my homework and don't know if I would be unnecessarily burdening myself. On the other hand, I would have one less exam to take next year. Has anybody faced a similar predicament? Is S1 an easy exam? Any general advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Reply 1

alow

S1 is probably the third easiest A Level Maths paper there is (the easiest being D1 and D2).

You should go for it, there isn't much content.

Reply 2

TenOfThem

Original post by Marcum

As with each of the Applied Courses different people find different ones easy/hard. You have not mentioned how well you scored on your Applied Mock - was that less good than C1 and C2?

I assume that you are doing 3 other subjects alongside your maths and they will require homework/revision over the next 2 months - they would suffer if you were to do this.

Also - I assume that the A2 class have almost completed S1 by now so what would you do about the work that you have missed?

Reply 3

minnigayuen

Original post by alow

S1 is probably the third easiest A Level Maths paper there is (the easiest being D1 and D2).

You should go for it, there isn't much content.

Is it strange that i find D1 harder than FP2 :frown:

i'm just learning a bunch of stuff that means nothing to me.

Reply 4

alow

Original post by minnigayuen

Is it strange that i find D1 harder than FP2 :frown:

i'm just learning a bunch of stuff that means nothing to me.

Yes, it's seriously strange :lol:

D1 can be so difficult to learn because it's boring though :tongue:

Reply 5

TenOfThem

Original post by minnigayuen

Is it strange that i find D1 harder than FP2 :frown:

i'm just learning a bunch of stuff that means nothing to me.

No, it is not strange, FP2 is a nice Pure Maths course.

D1 makes a lot of sense if you actually think about what the algorithms are forcing you to do and why.

Reply 6

minnigayuen

Original post by alow

Yes, it's seriously strange :lol:

D1 can be so difficult to learn because it's boring though :tongue:

My wrists bled over the algorithm for sorting numbers into ascending order.

Original post by TenOfThem

No, it is not strange, FP2 is a nice Pure Maths course.

D1 makes a lot of sense if you actually think about what the algorithms are forcing you to do and why.

Yes you're right but it's just so uninteresting that it's difficult to motivate yourself to learn what they're about.

Reply 7

TenOfThem

Original post by minnigayuen

Yes you're right but it's just so uninteresting that it's difficult to motivate yourself to learn what they're about.

Hmmmmm - lack of context from your teacher imo - I do not think that it is uninteresting at all

Reply 8

minnigayuen

Original post by TenOfThem

Hmmmmm - lack of context from your teacher imo - I do not think that it is uninteresting at all

Ah, well i have to self teach myself the module. :frown:

Reply 9

TenOfThem

Original post by minnigayuen

Ah, well i have to self teach myself the module. :frown:

TBH both the Ds and the Ss are difficult if you are self teaching because you need context to ensure that the questions and formulae make sense

Reply 10

Kvothe the Arcane

Original post by TenOfThem

TBH both the Ds and the Ss are difficult if you are self teaching because you need context to ensure that the questions and formulae make sense

I can personally attest to this.

Reply 11

uxa595

Original post by TenOfThem

TBH both the Ds and the Ss are difficult if you are self teaching because you need context to ensure that the questions and formulae make sense

Original post by keromedic

I can personally attest to this.

Never done decision till uni (Self taught again but...) but i have done S1 during college. I taught it to myself with relative ease, get a good book and google a bit when you get stuff. If you're still stuck, ask your teacher.
I learnt that module in the space of a week with little struggle. Honestly, it's not very hard!

Reply 12

TenOfThem

Original post by uxa595

uxa595

I have been teaching these modules for long enough to know the potential pitfalls

Some individuals can self teach, some find Stats very straightforward - many more do neither