How difficult is the Further Maths A-Level and how can I prepare well for it?

I've picked Further Maths (with Maths of course) as an A level, and I've gotten an A* in my maths gcse. However now I'm dreading this further maths, I don't think I'll be able to get an A in it, and I've heard rumors that it's quite hard..

Are these true? If anyone here has done it can you tell me more about it, and Howe well you did? Also if you can please can you give me tips to do well, and any good books to study in.

Thanks in advance.

Reply 1

Chlorophile

20

Original post by BrainJuice

I've picked Further Maths (with Maths of course) as an A level, and I've gotten an A* in my maths gcse. However now I'm dreading this further maths, I don't think I'll be able to get an A in it, and I've heard rumors that it's quite hard..

Are these true? If anyone here has done it can you tell me more about it, and Howe well you did? Also if you can please can you give me tips to do well, and any good books to study in.

Thanks in advance.

All A-Levels are hard. So yes, those rumors are true. A-Levels aren't supposed to be easy, otherwise your results wouldn't matter. Generally, if you can cope with ordinary Maths and you enjoy it, you'll cope with Further Maths. It's not a massive amount more difficult per se, it's just more maths.

Reply 2

TenOfThem

18

Original post by BrainJuice

I've picked Further Maths (with Maths of course) as an A level, and I've gotten an A* in my maths gcse. However now I'm dreading this further maths, I don't think I'll be able to get an A in it, and I've heard rumors that it's quite hard..

Are these true? If anyone here has done it can you tell me more about it, and Howe well you did? Also if you can please can you give me tips to do well, and any good books to study in.

Thanks in advance.

Yes it is difficult

It is hard to get the high grades but your teachers are the best judges on your personal capacity to succeed so if you have been told that you can do FM you will probably be ok

Reply 3

MathMeister

10

Original post by BrainJuice

...

Original post by TenOfThem

Yes it is difficult

It is rather subjective. Some people can learn FP3 in a day, others may take all year and fail C1 drastically. The gap can be bridged in not long and it's only hard because there are 2 application modules. I strongly recommend the modular books for your exam board.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 4

Computer Geek

18

Not difficult if you like maths and studying, prepare for it by buying this: http://www.livemaths.co.uk/

Reply 5

TenOfThem

18

Original post by MathMeister

It is rather subjective. Some people can learn FP3 in a day, others may take all year and fail C1 drastically. The gap can be bridged in not long and it's only hard because there are 2 application modules. I strongly recommend the modular books for your exam board.

You are correct, it is different for different people - some people find the applied units very easy, for example

That does not take away from the statistical fact that it is "difficult"

Just because some people can do something doesn't make it easy

Hence my point about the OP listening to those who know him

Reply 6

MathMeister

10

Original post by BrainJuice

...

I recommend ExamSolutions (good introduction to topics) and Khan Academy and M4ths (lots of questions)

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 7

TenOfThem

18

Original post by MathMeister

What? ... 50% getting an A overall at A2?

Do you still not really understand why that is?

Here you are
http://www.score-education.org/media/3194/relativedifficulty.pdf

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8

MathMeister

10

Original post by TenOfThem

...

Is there anything else I may need enlightening upon?

Reply 9

username1461349

9

I think it really does help if you actually 'enjoy' maths. I initially took further maths purely on the basis that I was good at maths. It was only until FP2 when I began to see a real interest in the subject.

Anyway I digress; I somewhat don't think GCSE maths is any indication of how well you will achieve in further maths as it's almost an assumption that everyone who takes it has an a* at GCSE anyway. Though you really do have to put the work in as not everything in f.maths is completely intuitive ( unlike GCSE's and maths A level )

You could always read over some of these revision notes that summarise a lot of the modules:
http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/resources/a%20level%20revision/

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 10

TenOfThem

18

Original post by MathMeister

Is there anything else I may need enlightening upon?

you PM suggests that I have confused you

I thought from the previous thread that you understood why such a high proportion get A and A* grades in FM

The link is showing you the evidence that FM is considered to be difficult

Sorry for he confusion

Reply 11

username1515897

3

I do further maths, and I love it. I don't think GCSE grades are a good indicator if you can cope with FM. I got an A and was told that I wouldn't be able to cope, but I've been getting B's and A's in FMC1 and so on. I personally love FM over Maths a level any day. You learn more interesting things. It is hard, and quite confusing but you'll get the hang of it.

Reply 12

DomStaff

2

Just in case you're still wondering:
FM isn't much different than mathematics a level in terms of difficulty, it is obviously harder but not light years harder. If you work at it you will do okay - like any A Level.

Word of advice: don't let your teacher even bother teaching you D2. It messed up my FM average, got 92/100 on it - annoyed me so much.

Core maths is the easiest thing in the world if you're a natural mathematician, however, you won't find out if you are until you begin A level and FM as well.

Go for it!

edit: A Level doesn't fully show if you're a natural, only things like STEP, and possibly BMO, do (I say possibly because you can be a good mathematician and not be good at it, apparently). But GCSE is a very weak indicator, hence A Level is better.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 13

Mike_123

18

Original post by BrainJuice

I've picked Further Maths (with Maths of course) as an A level, and I've gotten an A* in my maths gcse. However now I'm dreading this further maths, I don't think I'll be able to get an A in it, and I've heard rumors that it's quite hard..

Are these true? If anyone here has done it can you tell me more about it, and Howe well you did? Also if you can please can you give me tips to do well, and any good books to study in.

Thanks in advance.

I thought the same 2 years ago - I too was dreading the thought of further maths being exclusive to natural mathematicians. I don't think I am one myself, but I ended up with A* fm with a bit of work.

Reply 14

BrainJuice

OP

15

Original post by Mike_123

I thought the same 2 years ago - I too was dreading the thought of further maths being exclusive to natural mathematicians. I don't think I am one myself, but I ended up with A* fm with a bit of work.

Oh well, I switched the option to 'Computing'.

Reply 15

auntygeek

I'm 10 years too old for this kind of discussion but I don't think it's changed TOO much - in my experience, FM wasn't *harder* per se than the ordinary A Level, the difficulty I had was that we had to rattle through the pure (core?) modules in ordinary Maths because we couldn't do the advanced differentiation/integration techniques until we'd learned the basics. So what was perfectly manageable at normal speed in the ordinary maths A Level became a bit challenging at lightening speed in FM.

FM is helpful if you want to do Maths at University but by no means a necessity. Most of the first term is catching everyone up to the same level. FM will give you an advantage in the first couple of months in that some things will be familiar, but at Nottingham at least 1/3-1/2 of the year hadn't done FM.

The other piece of advice I can give is do every single practice question you have from the get go, it's the only way to nail the understanding, and if you don't get to grips with the basics you'll struggle later on.

Reply 16

5465764

2

It is so hard. Just completed the first year and didn't do well despite getting an A in the normal Maths AS.
Thinks to do to prepare - print off exam specifications past papers, buy all the books etc.

Reply 17

auntygeek

Like others have said, hard is relative. I went on to do maths at university and a statistics Msc, about to start a PhD so I'm naturally inclined to this type of work. If you aren't intending to do maths beyond school, I would opt for something that will help you at university better.

Reply 18

Flux_Dubstep

3

Don't underestimate how much work you need to do, don't leave things for the night before

Reply 19

imyimy

3

I've just done maths and further maths a level, and if you start revision early and practise loads of papers I'm sure you'll be fine, it also helps if you got an A* or high A at GCSE

How difficult is the Further Maths A-Level and how can I prepare well for it?

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