is further additional maths offered by most colleges and is it viable to take?

If I wanted to do a maths degree, should I take it . Would unis care that all my subjects are maths and do most sixth forms offer it as an a-level

Reply 1

cheesedrew

if you want to do maths at degree level yes it would be highly beneficial. Normal maths and further maths are imperative however, whereas further additional not so much. You will have to teach yourself many modules which takes commitment, usually impressive for admissions people. not many colleges/ sixthforms offer further maths, let alone further additional so scout around.

Reply 2

username1118458

Original post by shwansalah

If I wanted to do a maths degree, should I take it . Would unis care that all my subjects are maths and do most sixth forms offer it as an a-level

There are actually very few colleges that do Further Additional Mathematics.

Personally I'd say doing all three is when there is too much and it would be better to do Maths, Further Maths and Physics to A2 instead assuming you plan to do Maths at university. If you plan on doing something else then you definitely don't want to be doing Triple Maths as ALL your A-Level options.

Usually Maths and Further Maths is all they ask for, and then focus on good marks for AEA and STEP, etc.

Most sixth forms/colleges do Maths and Further Maths, however then those Double Maths students also do Additional Maths (without being told until later in the year) alongside another subject. Essentially doing 4 A2 instead 3 A2

Reply 3

2071067

What the hell is further additional maths???

Reply 4

username1118458

Original post by Plutonian

What the hell is further additional maths???

It is when you study all 18 units (the entire Mathematics syllabus and practically all optional units) on the Edexcel board or the MEI OCR syllabus. AQA and standard OCR do not offer this.

For example a student might do:

Maths - C1 C2 C3 C4 S1 S2 (2 optional units - Stats)

Further Maths - FP1 FP2 M1 M2 D1 D2 (4 optional units - Mechanics & Decision)

Further Maths (Additional) - The remaining 6 units the student hasn't done, in this case it's S3, S4, M3, M4, M5, FP3.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

2071067

Original post by yellowcopter

It is when you study all 18 units (the entire Mathematics syllabus and practically all optional units) on the Edexcel or OCR board. AQA do not offer this.

For example a student might do:

Maths - C1 C2 C3 C4 S1 S2 (2 optional units - Stats)

Further Maths - FP1 FP2 M1 M2 D1 D2 (4 optional units - Mechanics & Decision)

Further Maths (Additional) - The remaining 6 units the student hasn't done, in this case it's S3, S4, M3, M4, M5, FP3.

Oy vey.

Reply 6

username1118458

Original post by Plutonian

Oy vey.

Ikr, god help the Maths OBSESSED who do it...

Reply 7

130398

Personally i think its much better to do Physics and STEP instead of Additional Further Maths. The difficulty is crazy (about 40-50 people did AFM last year, in the world). Plus, with Physics you have much more opportunity to go into Maths and Physics or Engineering. I didnt take Physics and sort of regret it since my only Math related subjects are Maths and Further Maths (Literature and French being the other 2) and with this set up i can only aim for Maths/Statistics whereas with Physics i would have way more options. Ultimately it is up to you of course :smile:

. May the Archimedes have mercy upon your soul.

Reply 8

ememoville

Some people from another school did this and they had to fight to get the 3rd a level in maths accepted as an A-level when it came to uni applications and even edexcel where not going to grant it but in the end it got passed. It's really not a valuable A-level unless you have it as an extra one

Reply 9

ian.slater

Original post by shwansalah

If I wanted to do a maths degree, should I take it . Would unis care that all my subjects are maths and do most sixth forms offer it as an a-level

As yellowcopter has pointed out, few do this. I think I've heard figures of about 100 students a year.

A third maths A level will not improve your chance of getting into a maths course at Uni at all, nor will it better prepare you for a Uni course. Doing a 13th module to improve your chance of an A* in FM might help.

Few teachers can teach the higher modules, and most schools would not teach a class of one, but would offer some kind of support to self-teach. You could look at the FMSP (health warning ,, I'm an MEI tutor).

The last two students I've worked with who took AFM did get into Cambridge, but only took AFM for fun .. didn't help with offer.

Reply 10

marioman

Original post by yellowcopter

It is when you study all 18 units (the entire Mathematics syllabus and practically all optional units) on the Edexcel or OCR board. AQA do not offer this.

Just to add, this is only available for OCR MEI, not regular OCR. (Unfortunately. I am doing seven units next year anyway, so it would have been nice to do two more on top of that and get an extra AS.)