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How to make yourself an ideal maths candidate

sasrosa

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(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

kkboyk

Original post by sasrosa

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Don't bother making yourself an ideal candidate, as its usually a term used to describe the very most intelligent Maths students

Apart from getting good grades, do Maths for fun and even try out other fields such as programming.

Reply 2

the artful lounger

Self study complex numbers, matrices, polar coordinates and infinite series if they're not part of your 6th form maths programme, as these are pretty essential areas that can be glossed over in first year.

Reply 3

kkboyk

Original post by the artful lounger

Pretty much A level Further Maths FP2 and FP3.

Reply 4

a96clark

Just be good at maths, get good grades, do further reading and you're sorted

Reply 5

the artful lounger

Original post by kkboyk

Pretty much A level Further Maths FP2 and FP3.

I think matrices and complex numbers get done in FP1 normally, but it varies on exam board. FP maths tends to also include a bunch of stuff which is largely irrelevant (e.g. conic sections, parametric equations). While these other topics may be interesting and/or improve your contextual understanding of maths at degree level, the aforementioned topics are essential core knowledge that underpin most of the first year maths.

That said differential equations are great to learn about if you're looking for more "fun" topics. However you'll spend a decent amount of time on these at uni anyway and there's no particular benefit in having prior exposure imo.