I need to convince my teacher to let me sit al of the further maths units

Well, my college told me the other day that current students cannot sit as private candidates, so I need permission from our course leader. My reason for sitting FM is pretty lame. I had an A in maths last year which I got after a lot of resits of AS modules in A2 year. I just want to prove myself that I am capable of better than that, and can get a good grade in one go. I have no other reason as I have all of my unconditional offers. How do I convince him to let me do all of those exams?! I know Fp3 and Fp4 are in less than two months so I need to hurry about this decision. I ma ready to pay the amount I need to to sit these exams as well. :frown:

Reply 1

TenOfThem

18

Original post by conf

Well, my college told me the other day that current students cannot sit as private candidates, so I need permission from our course leader. My reason for sitting FM is pretty lame. I had an A in maths last year which I got after a lot of resits of AS modules in A2 year. I just want to prove myself that I am capable of better than that, and can get a good grade in one go. I have no other reason as I have all of my unconditional offers. How do I convince him to let me do all of those exams?! I know Fp3 and Fp4 are in less than two months so I need to hurry about this decision. I ma ready to pay the amount I need to to sit these exams as well. :frown:

At this point I would need a lot of convincing

Did you do Mocks for the papers you are entered for - were they all A grades?

Reply 2

kkboyk

21

Do loads of mocks for them and show them to your teacher

Reply 3

Jkizer

16

Practice papers, notes, questions sheets whatever to show you know the stuff.

It's a lot of work for the exam officer so, you need to be serious!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 4

Horsedobbin

14

Original post by conf

Well, my college told me the other day that current students cannot sit as private candidates, so I need permission from our course leader. My reason for sitting FM is pretty lame. I had an A in maths last year which I got after a lot of resits of AS modules in A2 year. I just want to prove myself that I am capable of better than that, and can get a good grade in one go. I have no other reason as I have all of my unconditional offers. How do I convince him to let me do all of those exams?! I know Fp3 and Fp4 are in less than two months so I need to hurry about this decision. I ma ready to pay the amount I need to to sit these exams as well. :frown:

But it wouldn't really be a "good grade in one go" if you get an A again, because you have taken several re-sits already and you would merely be resitting your resits.Also, you risk getting a lower grade, and it's just not worth that risk.

Reply 5

TenOfThem

18

Original post by Horsedobbin

But it wouldn't really be a "good grade in one go" if you get an A again, because you have taken several re-sits already and you would merely be resitting your resits.Also, you risk getting a lower grade, and it's just not worth that risk.

The OP is looking to sit FM, not re-sit Maths.

Reply 6

Horsedobbin

14

Original post by TenOfThem

The OP is looking to sit FM, not re-sit Maths.

OK I understand but it's stil not worth the risk if he doesn't need it.The time commitment will be a distraction.
edit
I've thought about this now and have changed my mind.
There is an argument for doing the FM: in the future an employer might look at the OP's A level Maths result and notice that it was gained by resits and the FM grade A would convince him / her that the OP's Maths was very good.
That's particularly relevant if he goes to a less well known university.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 7

conf

OP

Original post by TenOfThem

At this point I would need a lot of convincing

Did you do Mocks for the papers you are entered for - were they all A grades?

Have understood topics (all FPs, haven't touched S2 and M2 but still have two months for that), but not done any practice papers. That is why I think I am considering dropping the idea. I just haven't got anything to justify my matematical skills without this which is why I had been thinking about this. But I don't want to put my teacher in a position where he would have to debate whether or not I should sit them. Are there any better alternative qualifications to a level in further maths that I could possibly do at university?

Reply 8

davros

16

Original post by conf

Have understood topics (all FPs, haven't touched S2 and M2 but still have two months for that), but not done any practice papers. That is why I think I am considering dropping the idea. I just haven't got anything to justify my matematical skills without this which is why I had been thinking about this. But I don't want to put my teacher in a position where he would have to debate whether or not I should sit them. Are there any better alternative qualifications to a level in further maths that I could possibly do at university?

Why would you need to do this if you already hold university offers and you have an A level in normal maths?

I'm confused :confused:

Reply 9

conf

OP

Original post by davros

Why would you need to do this if you already hold university offers and you have an A level in normal maths?

I'm confused :confused:

It has nothing to do with university offers. I am not proud of my A in Maths. I feel like I could have done better and got an A*. I am just proving to myself that I am better than this. There are people who get A*s in maths, some of them don't even go into maths based careers like medicine. I am going to something more maths based (chemical engineering) and it really bugs me that I couldn't do well at something I should be expected to.

Reply 10

conf

OP

Original post by Horsedobbin

OK I understand but it's stil not worth the risk if he doesn't need it.The time commitment will be a distraction.
edit
I've thought about this now and have changed my mind.
There is an argument for doing the FM: in the future an employer might look at the OP's A level Maths result and notice that it was gained by resits and the FM grade A would convince him / her that the OP's Maths was very good.
That's particularly relevant if he goes to a less well known university.

They wouldn't really know I resat anything because it was done within the 2 academic years of A level. But I am still not hapy about my A.

Reply 11

davros

16

Original post by Horsedobbin

OK I understand but it's stil not worth the risk if he doesn't need it.The time commitment will be a distraction.
edit
I've thought about this now and have changed my mind.
There is an argument for doing the FM: in the future an employer might look at the OP's A level Maths result and notice that it was gained by resits and the FM grade A would convince him / her that the OP's Maths was very good.
That's particularly relevant if he goes to a less well known university.

An employer wouldn't have the faintest idea whether an A level result involved resits or not. From an employer's point of view, an A at A level puts a job applicant far above the "normal" level of ability anyway (and an employer with a particular focus on numeracy would probably use their own numerical reasoning test as part of the selection process - you'd be surprised how many "graduate level" applicants are taken out by verbal and numerical tests!)

Original post by conf

They wouldn't really know I resat anything because it was done within the 2 academic years of A level. But I am still not hapy about my A.

Then surely you should be resitting the A level modules that would give you an A*?

I don't know the reasons for your A (although I personally think it's a perfectly respectable grade - see my comment above), but if it indicates gaps in your knowledge, what happens when you try to do some FM work that relies on topics from the A level syllabus?

It's your choice at the end of the day, but I can't see a compelling case why you would choose to sit the exams at short notice when nothing material depends on it. If you're interested in the topics themselves it would be better to study them at a more leisurely pace so you can develop better understanding overall.

Reply 12

Horsedobbin

14

Original post by davros

An employer wouldn't have the faintest idea whether an A level result involved resits or not. l.

Unless he asked...

Reply 13

davros

16

Original post by Horsedobbin

Unless he asked...

Hmmm....I can think of questions that are higher up an employer's priority list, to be honest :smile:

Reply 14

conf

OP

I just think an A at maths is a *ussy grade. Everyone who is intelligent gets an A*. I had 97 in C3 but messed up C4 in which I got a B.

Anyway, thanks for the responses everyone. I am not doing FM after all. It is just quite absurd at this point. I wish I had an early realisation about this, but whatever now.