Self-teaching A-level Maths (AS and A2) in a year (2015-16). Which exam board?

Hi,

From September, I plan on self-teaching A-level Maths on my gap year in preparation for my university course that I start in 2016 (Economics).

However, I'm uncertain on which exam board would be best.

A friend who will be helping me has done AQA A-level Maths, so it makes sense to do that too, as he'll be familiar with its requirements.

However, WJEC looks simpler, though I've never taken an exam with this board before.

Can anyone enlighten me on the best exam board to self-teach?

Thank you!

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Reply 1

edothero

I'm pretty happy with Edexcel to be honest.

Reply 2

VannR

Self-taught and sat Maths and Further Maths (AS and A2) in a year. I can honestly vouch for the quality of Edexcel; I found their course to be very good, with a good range of textbooks endorsed by the exam board for each and every unit. This is not to say that the other boards are of poorer quality, though. I just think that seeing as I have been in a similar situation to yourself that my opinion may be useful.

Reply 3

gdunne42

Don't do the OCR-MEI syllabus. Their C3 unit requires a coursework element that is problematic for private candidates. Otherwise it makes no difference in terms of difficulty which you choose.

Where will you take the exams? find a centre and then study the syllabus they offer. If you have a choice........ Edexcel is the the most widely taken maths A level, there are lots of resources available in paper and online (e.g. Examsolutions), past papers are readily available and there's lots of discussion about exams and questions on tsr. I have no experience of WJEC but I have read comments on tsr complaining about access to papers and availability of WJEC specific books and other resources.

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Reply 4

maggiehodgson

Original post by Exceptional

I used the AQA "Advancing Maths" series. There were enough books for 6 modules. The books were easy to follow and gave many examples followed by loads of graded questions with answers. I've recently bought Edexcel books for Further Maths and they seem equally good.

It did take me 2 years to do AS + A2 but I also had a part-time job.

I found finding a centre to sit exams fairly easy - just contacted a couple of local schools. It didn't matter to them which board of exam I was sitting but I might have just struck lucky.

If I were you, I'd find a centre that would take me on, ask if there were any restrictions to the board you took and if not get down to a book shop and browse through some text books to see which ones float your boat.

I found that I had to register to enter for June exams no later than February unless I was prepared to pay a late entry fee.

Hope this gives you an idea where to go from here.

Good luck with your studies. TSR is a fabulous resource at all hours of day and night.

Self-teaching A-level Maths (AS and A2) in a year (2015-16). Which exam board?

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