A year 9 student, hoping to get a career in maths...😀

You can also tag me, @justlearning1469 since I motivated and guided you.

Academically, socially and probably emotionally, you're doing well. Any ideas?

If you want to get involved in maths:
A few extension maths stuff around Y11/smc level
* Essence of mathematics (free) https://www.openbookpublishers.com/b...11647/obp.0168, its a very good one to work through as its problem based and focusses more on proof/basic results than typical gcse. Its not dissimilar to "ukmt focus".
* There are quite a few "pop" maths books and its worth delving into a few. So books by Simon Singh, Ian Stewart, Marcus du Sautoy. Similarly books like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beautiful-G.../dp/0691150990 have a greater geometry/greek focus than the gcse/a level syllabus and is more like (some) ukmt questions.
* Recreational maths books by Martin Gardner (many ...) for instance are worth working through. Similarly learning a bit of problem solving ideas (https://www.worldscientific.com/worl...78#t=aboutBook) is worth it for smc++.
* The smc++ isnt that much more than gcse(++) but the questions can be posed in very different ways. If you do some practice papers/ukmt books, there are related questions in the extended solutions which are worth working through if you get the question wrong/unsure about it. Similarly browsing the drfrost slides for things like algebra, geometry (especially) and practising on harder (olympiad) questions (whether intermediate or senior) can be worthwhile/fun. The last year on parallel https://parallel.org.uk/ may be worth following as if you can do imc well then you can do a fair bit of smc.

Extension material: STEP Support Programme - https://maths.org/step/assignments
Look at the other links there, that's a lot of enrichment maths

SMC shouldn't be too difficult, I got Gold in SMC back in Y11, didn't practice much.
Practice material: https://www.ukmt.org.uk/shop to buy
DrFrostMath - https://www.drfrostmaths.com/page.php?id=6 (Riemann Zeta).

If you wish to skip a year, it's almost unheard of to skip from Y11 to Y13 in England. Even me, for some schools, mannaged to let me skip from Y10 equivalent to Y12 equivalent, it's not the same though. If you wish to skip the last year of A-levels, you'd have to finish your A-levels by Y12 and apply for uni in Y12.

Your best bet for skipping a year... is either ring up independent/private schools (state schools are notoriously inflexible, only 1 or 2 let me skip a year) especially in Scotland (you can crash Highers there, if you crash all your Highers a year early it's basically equivalent to skipping a year)... or you keep going to school until Y11 (for the extracurriculars and supercurriculars like UKMT) then homeschool for Y12 and apply to uni then.

But I have to warn you, don't think you can breeze through it, that's one of my big mistakes when I attempted this. You need to study somewhat, be prepared to work hard for what you want.

GCSEs aren't too important unless it's core grades, or you're applying to Oxford/LSE. So if you really want to skip a year... you could consider slacking off somewhat in other subjects to buy time for it.

Thanks for the recommendations and the reply!
Question here: which year would you recommend best to skip, in terms of likeliness of schools/universities allowing it and careerwise?

Each skip has their pros and cons. I don't think you can ski Y10 considering your situation, but you could try.

Y9 -> Y11: if you can reaally cram some GCSEs in a year, but you'd need to sacrifice choice early. I'm not from UK, but for me schools were willing to consider this? It'll be tough though, going in the middle of a course for GCSE. My case is different as I was in a different educational system.
Pro: you still have a year to prepare for 6th form, while skiping the easier parts of GCSE. The least amount of catch-up needed.
Cons: Going to the middle of a course could leave you with gaps, and socially the GCSE year would've bonded for at least a year in most cases.
Conclusion: Not very good, although in some cases, maybe (for example if you're an overseas student just trying to take a few GCSEs in 1 year, this has been done many times). You'd be dvncing ahead in many subjects.

Y10 -> Y12 is effectively going from 1st year GCSE to 1st year 6th form. So effectively sixth form a year early. I've been offered this skip by multiple schools in the UK.
Pro: start 6th form a year early, the serious uni prep a year early, and the transition from school student to young adult can begin immediately. Sixth forms are used to taking students of different ability and background from GCSE to A-level/Higher, as Y11 -> Y12 is a common period to switch schools. Socially you'd be regarded as a new student and they won't reallly care too much about age. I have the most experience with being offered this, so I can advise you.
Cons: You may skip over lower-level qualifications like GCSE Math and English, although this would be less of a problem in the Scottish system, because they have a much stronger focus on Highers. Restricted choices and less time to decide ppost 16 qualification.
Conclusions: This may actually be good, depending on which system you are in.

Y11 -> Y13 ... you'd need to catch up half of the A-levels which is significant, if not daunting. You may need to be serious from day 1 aand sacrifice things.
Pro: at least finish your lower-level qualificaations and get thaat foundation sorted.
Con: potential socil issues from moving into middle of qualification, daunting catch-up, but if you reaally want... it might work but you have to be reaal serious and have a strong plan, think real far ahead.
Conclusion: Not great, although if you already know so much of the content you might make it?

Y12 -> Uni ... you can simply take everything a year early and then go to uni.
Pro: Everything finished like the others, except you go to uni a year early. Socially probably the best. In uni people don't care too much about age. In other educational systems, graduating early is common. For example in America, you can apply to uni as junior. Carnegie Mellon has a special admission track for high school juniors (Year 12).
Cons: I guess some under 18 restrictions, although if you skip you'd probably be faced with them anywaay.
Conclusion: i guess this is good.

The takeaway: if you skip, ideally the transition should be seamless, for examples A-level to uni but you took your A-levels a year early and you're not deferring entry. Alternatively, entering sixth form/college a year early from Y10 (although not haaving the lower-level qualifications my bite you in the back, you could take the GCSE math and english in sixth form/college like some do).

If you really wanted to skip, @*LifeHappens* ideally, Y12 -> Uni (take all A-level a year early), or next best, Y10 -> Y12 (but need to solve the issue of skipping over lower-level qualifications).
The other skips are more daunting although you can consider them.

Thanks for taking the time to write a reply.
Yes, year 12 to uni seems the most tempting, as I feel like it should be the right time for progressing without risking missing anything important out and it's probably the most practical in regards to me considering skipping a year.
And ideally, I wouldn't want to tamper missing a year of gcses, as I don't want to give myself more stress, especially since am relatively young.

I somewhat agree with you.

For many universities GCSE Math and English are required, some unis need more GCSEs, a few unis have high weighting on GCSEs (like LSE, Oxford) so if you're going for those universities you need a decent set of GCSEs. It would be more stressful to make up for the GCSEs while in Y12 and trying to have supercurriculars, etc. and you're not going to do Y10 just to leave with no GCSE qualifications, else it doesn't make sense. Having some qualifications before you apply to uni helps unis if you do very well (won't get it with Y10->Y12 and fewer for Y9 -> Y11), because they can see you're a strong student. This also helps keep your general education, while pushing forwards in maths.

Depending on your school, for Y12 you'd finish A-level math and half of another subject, if you take both A-level math and fm. If you take physics, the overlap would be quite a bit, and you'd learn half of that already. Or even more, if the school wants extension. You just need to cover the FM and the rest of the stuff, and there you go, 3 A-levels done in Y12. Even if you're only average in all other subjects, if you're very strong in two subjects you could still skip a year (that's the benefit of UK system).

However you wouldn't have Y13 which may be a bit of a problem. Many schools don't give predicted grades by January of Y12 let alone October Y12, so either find someone else to give you predicted grades, or forget about Oxbridge and many top unis. You'd also need to find a place to do your A-levels privately, which wouldn't be a problem for any other skips, although it isn't difficult.
If your school is good enough in Y11 they'd have GCSE Further Math, SMC given to Y11 which would make this plausiblle (along with lots of extension work). With that, you could actually have a head start with A-level Math and FM, further easing your workload. So all you need to do is be absent from school for a few days in Y12 and get your A-levels a year early and go to uni a year early.

Another argument for Y12 -> Uni as the ideal skip: you can decide not to take the exams early, and it's much more flexible this way. You'd still have a foundation, you can always extend it and even go ahead if you find it too easy. If you're faced with harder stuff without fundamentals, it'lll be very difficult to catch up.

Perhaps for your A-levels you could do Math, FM and CS. If you go through your school, Math may be done in Y12, leaving only 2 A-levels you need to find the exams for.

You could alternatively homeschool after end of GCSEs, which has its advantages. You could do Cambridge IAL, which is more flexible (modular system, so you can take AS earlier and A2 later). This way if you get the AS in November series, you can receive the marks in January, which should just be enough time for predicted grades (only barely). You'd also have more qualifications to support the predicted grades, and get things out of the way. The self-studying would be positive for unis because in uni you need to self study much more than in 6th form. However this may slow your progress down without the structure of school/college/6th form.

Yes, in terms of maths and fm I should be pretty much all set and also my school offers gcse fm in year 11 for top set, so it's likely I would be able to do it and get a head start.
For a-levels, after doing a bit of research, I quite like the idea of doing a level economics to give me a bit of experience for working life and it's also highly regarded by universities (while also having the element of maths).
Psychology is something I've always been interested in, it also helps to give me an experience of data analytics, because data analysing is a part of the subject - although a level psych may not be possible for me, as for some sixth forms/colleges like kings maths college already require core subjects, it's also heard of to be quite tough, so I'm not too sure about it.
Doing physics/cs at a level I think I wouldn't mind, I'm planning on doing cs at gcse anyway to give me a head start and physics has lots of maths in it, so the only obstacle I would face is understanding the key concepts.

Maths: you're pretty good. You'd probably take at least A-level Math, you'd also take FM right (privately, a year early), right? FM shouldn't be that difficult, you'd be building on your GCSE Further Maths anyway, so might as well.
Economics, I wasn't great at it so can't advise. But it has a lot of essays
Psychology is more than data analytics, it's social science and has a lot of essays. I'm taking it, it's not that tough, just need to be good at writing. I've slacked off in this subject and yet I should be able to get A. GCSE Psych gives a good intro though to A-level psych.
CS is decent for coding although depends. Physics, use Isaac Physics to help you.

Just don't stretch yourself too thin. 3 A-levels at A*AA is better than AABB for 4 A-levels, because they count the 1st 3 A-levels only for almost all cases. Only problem is if you take Math + FM + one other A-level, it might be seen as too narrow, so keep it in mind. If in doubt, only take 3 A-levels.

You could try bits of the gcse content and a level content of these subjects, to see what you find easiest. The bottom line is to get strong grades.

I picked psychology for the data analytics, social science and broaden my skills with essay writing. Math and physics. But to be fair I didn't want to limit myself to math aand physics, and thought that'll be too boring.
But it has costs of its own, so y'know.

Yes, defo planning to take maths and fm for gcse (obviously) and for a-level when possible.
I need to do more research into economics - like content and how it will help me in the future
I'm not too keen on doing physics and cs as I feel like it will be too much of the same content and could bore me out and thus make me lose motivation. One question, is it ok to just take cs for gcse and also be able to do it at uni?
The reason why I wanted to do psych is because it's something I find quite interesting, as well as I feel like it will give me a good mix of subjects, so it's not all academic as such and if I want to it opens up to psych at uni and possibly other subjects/degrees I wouldn't be able to do if I stayed on the strict maths route.

In that case, for mathematics you should be good, with a strong head start.
I don't have much experience with Econ, but it involves lots of essays.
It's OK to take CS for gcse and also be able to do it at uni. You don't need to do Physics for a math degree, although the overlap makes getting good grades easier.
I see your logic, Psychology does have some essays but as long as you hve the key points you should get A/A*. I should be able to secure A anyway this year.

I guess you could do more research on it, although if you wish to skip a year you better be quick. Lots of time wasted on my end has cost me a lot of opportunities. If you don't waste time, I think you can get those A*/A grade or even A*A*A* and enrichment and get into a very strong university.

Ah right ok, one thing I know is that gcse cs isn't needed for a level so it's good it's not a requirement for uni either.
For psychology, did you do it for gcse or have any prior experience?
I still have a bit of time for research, but it's always good to know more before anyway. One thing I noticed when I was researching data analytics careers, is that sometimes a degree in psychology is helpful for it, so that's another good reason to do it.
Physics and maths do overlap quite a bit, because, aside from the concepts, when it's applied it's highly based on maths, which may help me understand and learn better. Although, physics was never something I was actively interested in, still isn't, however I enjoy astronomy that's pretty much all.

Thanks for the recommendations and the reply!
Question here: which year would you recommend best to skip, in terms of likeliness of schools/universities allowing it and careerwise?

Skipping a year is usually a bad idea. If youre intnerested in your university/career then do some of the maths enrichment stuff in #4 that was copied from one of my posts. Similarly for computer science you could do some of the BIO / project euler / advent of code / cipher competitions / .... The top universities dont care/dont encourage you to skip a year but they do care about your extra curricula work. In my area, the university runs a monthly maths club for y10+ and there may be similar opportunities in your region.

Usually a bad idea. But when may it actually be a good idea?

If OP can still get A*/A grades along with strong enrichment, PS, and all of this is done a year early, OP is mature enough for uni and there is enough support... and if OP wants it...

Then I wouldn't hold OP back. Some universities like Carnegie Mellon in America have special admission schemes for high school juniors (equivalent to Y12 in UK)

My reply was to the OP who is in y9. There is no evidence that skipping a year would be good for them and to encourage them to do so isnt sensible. It would have zero / negative effect on their university application. For most good maths/computing students, getting extra curricula work is much more important than skipping a year.

Im not going to reply to your usual einstein/skip a year/terry tao/.... replies. Your exams are in a week or two and you should be concentrating on those rather than going down this rabbit hole again. There is no evidence the OP is being held back.

I did psych for GCSE. Wasn't too hard, got good grades despite not studying much of that for GCSE, I had my own agenda anyway. I did Pearson Edexcel IAL which allows for modular sitting, so did many sittings last year. I'd basically be finishing the sittings this year. Mucked around too much to applly for Jan 2023 sittings but whatever, it probably doesn't apply to you because I assume you're in the UK? (unless you're not)

Psychology is a lot more than data analytics, it's studies, social science and a lot of essays. But if you want to broaden your horizons, not limit your choices as much, and you'd get a strong grade in it a year early (prefer A* but A is also OK as they usually don't need A* for 3rd subject).

If you aren't interested in physics no need to take Physics A-level. It doesn't have too much math, only a little bit, mostly GCSE. Honestly that's one of its weaknesses but I'm not the exam board.

For Psych A-level I used PMT, Save Your Exams etc. and the PMT revision did help.

QS 2023 ranking for data analytics: https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2023/data-science
This is a world ranking to compare unis internationally for data science. Apparently Oxford, Edin, ICL and UCL are best (in that order).

For unis, if your GCSEs are very strong go Oxford, if not then Cambridge. If you wish to go Y12 -> Uni you'd need someone to predict your grades early, October for Oxbridge.
If you can't, abandon the idea of Oxbridge and you'd have more time. I decided to abandon the idea of Oxbridge in exchange for a year, not too bad considering other unis aren't that bad.

Skipping a year is usually a bad idea. If youre intnerested in your university/career then do some of the maths enrichment stuff in #4 that was copied from one of my posts. Similarly for computer science you could do some of the BIO / project euler / advent of code / cipher competitions / .... The top universities dont care/dont encourage you to skip a year but they do care about your extra curricula work. In my area, the university runs a monthly maths club for y10+ and there may be similar opportunities in your region.