Question for those who have just done AS/A2 Maths/Phys/Further Maths

I got A*A* in maths and f maths. Let me tell you now past papers are key, and doing harder papers like STEP really helped me with things like M3 and FP1/2. (Plus I needed STEP for my warwick offer-but going LSE now)).

Just want to mention though that you really don't need to do STEP papers to do well in Further Maths. I've tried to do STEP papers before, they absolutely terrify me and I've only ever managed to answer a couple of questions in STEP I, yet I got full UMS in M3, FP2 and FP3. If you're good/brave enough to do STEP then that's a great bonus I guess, but simply practicing the relevant papers is enough. Further Maths at A Level is more about practice and knowing the content well than actually being good at Maths so if you're rubbish at real maths (such as STEP) like I am, hope is still not lost for A Level Maths and Further Maths!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 21

heyhey55

2

Was it a really big jump from GCSE? What about the workload- can it be dealt with? Im curious seeing as Im doing it next year

Reply 22

Ilovetopshop

2

dont do it if you didnt get A* or A at GCsE

Reply 23

heyhey55

2

Original post by Ray7

A* only. If you're getting A at GCSE then you frankly don't have the capability to get a top grade at A-level. I got A* at GCSE and A in FSMQ and only just scored the top grade at A-Level

Did you get A* at A level in all three?

Reply 24

iMacJack

OP

16

Original post by Ilovetopshop

dont do it if you didnt get A* or A at GCsE

I got an A* :smile:

Reply 25

heyhey55

2

Original post by Ray7

I got A*A* in maths and f maths. I didn't do physics.

Wow that's amazing, congratulations. What else did you do?

Reply 26

youreanutter

13

Original post by Plagioclase

Just want to mention though that you really don't need to do STEP papers to do well in Further Maths. I've tried to do STEP papers before, they absolutely terrify me and I've only ever managed to answer a couple of questions in STEP I, yet I got full UMS in M3, FP2 and FP3. If you're good/brave enough to do STEP then that's a great bonus I guess, but simply practicing the relevant papers is enough. Further Maths at A Level is more about practice and knowing the content well than actually being good at Maths so if you're rubbish at real maths (such as STEP) like I am, hope is still not lost for A Level Maths and Further Maths!

is it hard to do well in mechanics without physics as i am doing fm math chemistry economics but thinking to swap physics for chem as apparently m1 and m2 will be really hard as everyone else doing fm is doing physics

Reply 27

youreanutter

13

Original post by Ilovetopshop

dont do it if you didnt get A* or A at GCsE

is this further maths or physics or both?

Reply 28

Plagioclase

21

Original post by youreanutter

is it hard to do well in mechanics without physics as i am doing fm math chemistry economics but thinking to swap physics for chem as apparently m1 and m2 will be really hard as everyone else doing fm is doing physics

No, M1 and M2 are both a lot more advanced than the mechanics in Physics so whilst M1 and M2 help you with Physics, Physics doesn't really help you with M1 and M2. In my opinion, the tough unit is M1 because you've basically got to learn a new way of thinking, in terms of physical models. Once you've understood M1, M2 isn't really any more difficult, it feels more like an extension of M1 (M2 was the easiest A2 unit I did by quite a distance).