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Should I do GCSE Statistics?

Hi everyone,

I am in Year 9 and starting GCSEs next year. I already started my Edexcel GCSE Maths and I am predicted to get an A/A* at end of year 10. I want to become an Aerospace engineer so I know I need to do as much enjoyable maths and science courses (doing Triple Award) as possible. I found out that Edexcel and AQA offered a GCSE in Statistics which is my favorite part of GCSE Maths other than Alegbra. I tried out an Edexcel past paper and I got an A as I covered quite a lot of the content already in GCSE Maths.

Is doing GCSE Statistics useful in my quest in becoming an Aerospace engineer or should I just focus on getting an A* next year in Maths? Is GCSE Stats valued or treated like a 'soft' subject by unis like how Music and Art are unfairly discriminated .
Also, which exam board is better for Stats, AQA or Edexcel?

Many thanks in advance!

(edited 8 years ago)

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Reply 1

AdamCee

Honestly, I don't think the GCSE itself would make much of an impact really for anything, and I would say just concentrate on that A* in maths. I assume you're taking it year ten, so does that mean you do the ad maths course in year 11? If so, that would be very good as it of course shows a pretty natural aptitude for the subject. However by the sounds of things you'll be taking stats outside of school; I think this would look quite good to be honest as it clearly shows your interest in the subject as you're learning about it outside of lessons. Personally, I would only take it if I was certain I could get an A* in maths, as that should be your priority. But if you feel you can definitely do it... Wouldn't hurt I guess

Reply 2

shwansalah

why is this even a question, stats is an easy A* and it is part of a-level and gcse maths so how can it be a soft subject , and you'll miss out on an easy A* if you don't pick it.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 3

loki123456

Original post by AdamCee

Yeah, my school says I will take Edexcel IGCSE Further Maths in year 11 if I get an A/A* in year 10. GCSE Maths isn't a subject which is completely easy and plain sailing for me so I know I have to work hard to get an A* (If I don't, I feel I will get an A or a B). I could teach myself stats in the summer with help from other people and do it next year but I just feel that Stats won't be an alternative for an A* in maths if I don't get it next year. I could do it in year 11, but I guess Further Maths will be a lot harder than Maths.

Reply 4

loki123456

Original post by shwansalah

why is this even a question, stats is an easy A* and it is part of a-level and gcse maths so how can it be a soft subject , and you'll miss out on an easy A* if you don't pick it.

BTW, Do you have any experience with GCSE Stats?

Reply 5

AdamCee

Original post by loki123456

Our school do a similar thing where the best twenty in the year sit maths early and then do further and I tell you many of these people breezed GCSE and are struggling with ad maths. However we don't do Edexcel so that one may be different, I'm not sure.

But yes you could always teach yourself stats in the summer, just depends if you have the motivation to do so I guess

Reply 6

shwansalah

Original post by loki123456

BTW, Do you have any experience with GCSE Stats?

Yes , i chose it for GCSE, it's absolute piss, Minimal revision needed for an A* , not to mention it helped a little bit with my maths gcse

Reply 7

Kevin De Bruyne

I did Stats with Edexcel in Year 10. This was 4 years ago so I'm not sure if it's the same now, but it had coursework. If your school offers Statistics then it shouldn't be a problem to do, but if not it gets a bit complicated (I think you have to find somewhere to do your coursework(?)) and you should speak to your school about it.

It doesn't seem like you need to do much work for it anyway (bar the coursework if there is any) and I suppose having 1 more good GCSE is better than not having it, though I don\t really think it matters too much in the grand scheme of things. A-level choices are much more important anyway.

Reply 8

Anyaxh

GCSEs aren't too important for unis, but make sure you have at least 5 a*-c which is the GCSE requirement :smile:

Reply 9

username1915455

There are quite a few other 'additional' maths courses as well as GCSE statistics. If your school offers it you might want to look at Level 3 Algebra and/or Level 3 Statistical Methods. These are designed to allow students to progress towards A level (which I presume you would be doing). If you are good at algebra you could probably pass algebra already, presuming you are at A/A* standard at GCSE. I think the statistical methods would require a bit more work, but if you are at an A grade at statistics already it might not be too hard. A few students in my maths class are taking their GCSE in y10 and are doing Level 3 Algebra next year (y11). You might also want to look at Further Maths GCSEs/IGCSEs if they are available to you. These are much closer to A level than the other courses. Finally you could talk to your school about doing individual and team maths challenges, as, I presume, unis would value these for maths or maths related courses.

Reply 10

loki123456

Original post by shwansalah

Yes , i chose it for GCSE, it's absolute piss, Minimal revision needed for an A* , not to mention it helped a little bit with my maths gcse

Did you do Edexcel or AQA? How was the controlled assessments like?

Reply 11

#sarahsmith2

Original post by loki123456

Hi everyone,

I am in Year 9 and starting GCSEs next year. I already started my Edexcel GCSE Maths and I am predicted to get an A/A* at end of year 10. I want to become an Aerospace engineer so I know I need to as much enjoyable maths and science courses (doing Triple Award) as possible. I found out that Edexcel and AQA offered a GCSE in Statistics which is my favorite part of GCSE Maths other than Alegbra. I tried out an Edexcel past paper and I got an A as I covered quite a lot of the content already in GCSE Maths.

Is doing GCSE Statistics useful in my quest in becoming an Aerospace engineer or should I just focus on getting an A* next year in Maths? Is GCSE Stats valued or treated like a 'soft' subject by unis like how Music and Art are unfairly discriminated .
Also, which exam board is better for Stats, AQA or Edexcel?

Many thanks in advance!

I did Edexcel stats last year and I'd definitely say go for it. Personally I love maths but the stats is definitely my least favourite bit (I like algebra the best too :smile:

)... So I found some parts of the course a bit boring (or maybe that was just because our teacher was terrible and so boring:/!) but If it's one of your favourite parts then I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Either way I definitely don't regret doing it... About 25% of edexcel gcse maths is stats and it really does help because with that because you've done all the stats and things that are 10 times harder (I'll never forget you Spearman's rank correlation coefficient!).
The only main problem with it for us was the coursework (a.k.a two months of torture 😂😂 - or however long we spent I have a bad memory when it comes to that stuff!) ... Our teacher didn't have a clue and we probably all would have failed if not for another teacher who we'd all go to for help (so make sure you're teachers good or you have someone to help!)... My coursework ended up with a very low A* right on the boundary (or an A i can't remember 😅) but my 100% in the exam pulled me up :smile:

Honestly we've only been doing GCSE maths for this year (we did stats the whole last year) and we finished all the topics before Christmas and we've just been doing revision since then which is boring because I like learning new things! I don't think doing stats will hinder your maths grade because if you're already very close to the A* level and you've still got a year If anything it's going to boost your confidence on the stats parts in the actual maths GCSE...
So definitely go for it! An extra gcse is never going to harm you if you can cope with the extra work (it's really not too bad)... And I've never heard of stats being called a soft subject! How could a maths subject be soft! 😱😉 In terms of exam boards I've always thought for maths edexcel is much better... Might just be my teachers saying that I'm not sure - we use aqa for everything else though.
Finally like a few others have I'd look into further maths aswell - I've been finding it a lot more interesting than I did the stats - there's a group of about 5 of us doing it in our school and it is a small introduction to a level and it's really not that hard (although some questions can be a bit weird 😂)

(Sorry for the massive essay 😂😂😂)

Reply 12

loki123456

#Sarahsmith2 Thanks for sharing your experiences as it definitely made Stats more enticing for me do :smile:

. I just need to ask my school if I can do my controlled assessment there (they love Edexcel too for like all subjects except Drama!). Did you have like 12 hours to do them in school or do you do them at home?

Good luck with your GCSE Maths at the end of this year.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

loki123456

Does anyone have any experience with AQA Stats? The written exam looks easier than Edexcel but has higher grade boundaries obviously.

Reply 14

loki123456

Does anyone have any experience with AQA Stats? The written exam looks easier than Edexcel but has higher grade boundaries obviously

Reply 15

WeatherNerd

Do it as a GCSE, it is really easy and will help you out in maths to.

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Reply 16

gapyear2018

Original post by loki123456

Does anyone have any experience with AQA Stats? The written exam looks easier than Edexcel but has higher grade boundaries obviously.

Hey yeah I do, what do you want to know ?

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Reply 17

loki123456

Original post by ScienceFantatic

Hey yeah I do, what do you want to know ?

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How did u find the exam and coursework and how much time did u spend revising / learning concepts? Did you find it useful in later life or not?

Reply 18

gapyear2018

Original post by loki123456

How did u find the exam and coursework and how much time did u spend revising / learning concepts? Did you find it useful in later life or not?

Do the gcse, the coursework is easy, but weird, my exam is on the18tj but I'm confident I can get an A/A* and it's like 25 % of normal maths.

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Reply 19

Stress head-_-

I was put in for it at last minute and I can honestly say, it was the easiest exam I've ever taken in my life. Easy to get an A*. I say go for it! Good luck