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A2 maths, C3&4 compared with C1&2

Hi

To everyone whos done edexcel maths, how much more difficult is core 3 and 4 compared with core 1 and 2? i ask because i need to get an A for my course at uni. i got an A for AS after being predicted a C, my teacher says core 4 is hard! n

any comments?

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Reply 1

wackysparkle

C4 is hard, hence why ppl do reall really well in their other units.
C1 is dead easy, c2 is also not that bad at all. BUt c4 is really hard compared to all the other units, and C3 is hard just because of the number of formulae you need to know.
What did you get for AS? do you have many marks to spare? and what was your applied module (this year and last?)

Reply 2

Louize

C1 and C2 are like child's play compared to C3 & C4. They are the work of the Devil himself.

Reply 3

silent ninja

Its harder, not a great deal but it is. Comparing C3 & C4 to C1 & C2 its not far off double the workload, although i guess that depends on how good you are at maths.
It is very doable though and working steadily, I dont see why you cant get a good grade. There is nothing impossibly difficult at all, just the questions are a bit longer and there are more steps and you have to draw on stuff you've learned before-- but this is normal with maths. Practice makes perfect.

Reply 4

dobedobedo

did m1 last year, doing s1 this year. I got 90 and 91 for core 1 and 2, and 70 for mechanics. maybe i should quit while im ahead, and stick with the A?

Reply 5

silent ninja

Well, do you enjoy maths? Are you willing to practice?
Your core are marks are good, but you might need to look at retaking M1 to give yourself a bit of space for A2. Will you being doing S1 next year? Thats an easy-ish module where you can pick up some marks.

Reply 6

dobedobedo

I do enjoy maths. Yea doing S1 next year, but I won't be able to bring M1 up, I struggled all year, learnt most of it the week before the exam!

Reply 7

Kolya

There is no reason why you cannot get 80+ on both C3 and C4.

Reply 8

wackysparkle

S1 - its not so bad at all, you can easily gain high marks in that coz it just involves leaning a few methods thats all.

Reply 9

Giggsy11

I got 288 in maths this year and I enjoy it so am carrying on this year. However lookin at C3 and C4 they look really hard in my book. logarithms and e^x look really difficult in C3. Is it just a mattter of time and waiting for it to come together and keep improving?

Reply 10

Kolya

mullabc.02

You really should not be worrying; just keep plodding through the exercises and do the past papers before the exam, making sure you understand how to do every type of question. I promise you that you will be fine. :smile:

Reply 11

lil groovy dude

I would say retake the Mechanics module you got a 70/100 in :smile:

Try to get it as high as your C1 & C2 and C3 & C4 & S1 should be a doddle :p:

Reply 12

2late

mullabc.02

That's an excellent UMS. If you achieved that, then you should have no problem getting an A at A2. I've also achieved 90%+ in all my core modules- I can tell you that the jump from C1/C2 to C3/C4 is quite significant, although I found C4 easier than C3, as I don't think the C3 book (at least by Heinemann) explains it well.

You really shouldn't judge something without actually studying it- if you open up the book half way through and think 'OMG THIS IS HARD' then you will obviously be confused. I'm looking at my 'Calculus: Concepts and Methods' book which i got for Mathematical Methods (one of the subjects I'm studying at my course) and it freaks me out. But I know I'll be studying it indepth soon, so everything will make sense :smile:

And the same goes for you.

Besides, you only need like 192 UMS to get an A, which is an average of 64% in your A2 modules- that's nothing compared with how you performed at AS.

You seem like a bright individual, therefore you shouldn't worry- you got 48ums into A2, so enjoy your time and don't panic :smile:

Good luck !

dobedobedo

As I mentioned above, I found C3 harder than C4 (and a few people have said the same). You got predicted a C after getting an A at AS? Makes no sense- I suggest you ask your teacher for clear justification of why she did this, as many people who get a B at AS get predicted an A in the end (which sometimes they do get, but were in a GCSE mood during their first year of AS'). What was your UMS?

Lusus Naturae

There is no reason why you cannot get 80+ on both C3 and C4.

Agree. =)

Reply 13

dobedobedo

I was predicted a C for AS, I'm predicted a A/B for A2. My ums was 251 :smile:

only gpt 70 in mechanics, which i was happy about because up until about a week before the exam, couldnt do any questions..literally!

Reply 14

BovineBeast

Lusus Naturae

There is no reason why you cannot get 80+ on both C3 and C4.

Well, providing you're good at maths. But since you got an A last year I'd assume you are.

Reply 15

tNa

You'll do it easily with a decent bit of hard work. The most important thing as far as I'm concerned is doing every past paper you can get your hand on. I tried to skip a few of them and hence found C4 very difficult all year, but tried just a few before the exams and ended up with 89 when I was expecting 40's :tongue:

#
Past papers!

Reply 16

Zigi

I'm dreading C3, C4 and M2. A big jump from boring old AS-levels.

Reply 17

Alex_Pi

I Did Maths A2 in a year and got 89, 90, 84, 44 (c1 - c4 respectively) C1 and C2 become a doddle after doing C3 and C4, C3 is manageable if you keep at it. C4 is just rock hard :P

Reply 18

Akhoza

At first i found the A2 maths core units hard but at the end of the yr i done so many q's and was so confident that i knew i would definitly get a grade A but it also depends on how good you are at the subject if you have a natural talent at it then you shouldnt have no problems when it comes to your exams.