A Level Further Maths

I was in your exact same boat 2 years ago! I decided to do Further Maths as a 4th A Level with the intention to drop it after Year 12 (as my school finished all A Level maths in the first year and starts Further Maths in the second) - I thought I would be getting a head start in this regard, as my school required us to do 4 A Levels in Year 12 anyways.

I actually ended up sticking with Further Maths as I found it quite enjoyable, I can tell you that it’s way more interesting than the regular A Level! I really do recommend taking further maths especially if you intend to apply for a Mathematics related course at a top university (this includes courses like Comp Sci and Econ as FM is highly desirable for these)

If worst comes to worst, you can always drop it after your first year and it will give you a head start for the regular maths A Level.

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 4

OP

Thank you so much for you all your advice! :smile:

But would it look good on your university application if you dropped a subject?

Or another scenario - would the grade I get in the AS Further Maths exam matter (to universities) , even if I dropped the subject in Year 13?

Reply 5

OP

Original post by PixiePresents

I was in your exact same boat 2 years ago! I decided to do Further Maths as a 4th A Level with the intention to drop it after Year 12 (as my school finished all A Level maths in the first year and starts Further Maths in the second) - I thought I would be getting a head start in this regard, as my school required us to do 4 A Levels in Year 12 anyways.

I actually ended up sticking with Further Maths as I found it quite enjoyable, I can tell you that it’s way more interesting than the regular A Level! I really do recommend taking further maths especially if you intend to apply for a Mathematics related course at a top university (this includes courses like Comp Sci and Econ as FM is highly desirable for these)

If worst comes to worst, you can always drop it after your first year and it will give you a head start for the regular maths A Level.

What grades did you get in A Level Maths and Further Maths? And also the other A Level subjects if you mind me asking?

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 6

Original post by TwisterBlade596

What grades did you get in A Level Maths and Further Maths? And also the other A Level subjects if you mind me asking?

I got 3 A*s, my other A Level was Chemistry. Im going on to study Maths at university.

Original post by TwisterBlade596

Thank you so much for you all your advice! :smile:

But would it look good on your university application if you dropped a subject?

Or another scenario - would the grade I get in the AS Further Maths exam matter (to universities) , even if I dropped the subject in Year 13?

I dropped psychology at the start of year 13, universities have no way of knowing (unless you have an AS in the subject). Interestingly, I found when applying university that many actually considered AS Further Maths (as some schools don’t offer the full A Level) so if you studied it for one year, you’re still at an advantage.

Reply 7

LKemmett

9

Original post by PixiePresents

I got 3 A*s, my other A Level was Chemistry. Im going on to study Maths at university.

I dropped psychology at the start of year 13, universities have no way of knowing (unless you have an AS in the subject). Interestingly, I found when applying university that many actually considered AS Further Maths (as some schools don’t offer the full A Level) so if you studied it for one year, you’re still at an advantage.

Where are you studying? just out of curiosity

Reply 8

Original post by LKemmett

Where are you studying? just out of curiosity

LSE

Reply 9

mskr710

12

Original post by PixiePresents

I got 3 A*s, my other A Level was Chemistry. Im going on to study Maths at university.

I dropped psychology at the start of year 13, universities have no way of knowing (unless you have an AS in the subject). Interestingly, I found when applying university that many actually considered AS Further Maths (as some schools don’t offer the full A Level) so if you studied it for one year, you’re still at an advantage.

HI, i do fm and maths and i was just wondering; how did you revise? do you take notes or just do questions/past papers? (I do Edexcel btw, with d1 and fm1 as my optional modules)

Thanks

Reply 10

Original post by mskr710

HI, i do fm and maths and i was just wondering; how did you revise? do you take notes or just do questions/past papers? (I do Edexcel btw, with d1 and fm1 as my optional modules)

Thanks

I didn’t bother much with notes tbh because the only way to get good at maths is with practice. But it’s good to get a method written, for example, for Further Vectors write down on a post it note a general method on how to reflect a line in a plane (ect) so you can always refer to it. This is because the method rarely changes, the questions they’ll throw at you is something you’ve learnt before, so just think, what method can I use to get to the answer?

But the bulk of your revision must be practice. I completely neglected the textbooks until my last few exams (because I realised they were actually using the textbook questions in the paper, lol) so don’t be like me. Do all the E/P questions in the mixed exercise of a topic, then go onto MadasMaths and find harder questions on that topic and do those. Then do all the past paper questions on that topic, if you get some wrong, set it aside and try again in a week and see if you can remember the process to the correct answer. (Btw Edexcel have compiled all the topic past paper questions together so ask your teacher for these)

From around February, start doing a past paper a week. Start with AS papers and work your way up, you’ll see yourself gradually getting higher and higher marks. But don’t forget to leave yourself some papers that you can do during exam season to see what you’re weak and strong on. There are also quite a few mock papers Edexcel have made, ask your teachers for those.

Useful recourses:
CrashMaths Papers, Integral (They have notes and topic tests, again, ask your teachers), Textbook unit tests (your teachers probably have access to these too) and MadasMaths.

I cannot stress MadasMaths enough, the questions are so hard that they make you want to pull your hair out, but it prepares you so well for the real exam (especially after the exams this year where they decided to completely do a U turn in terms of difficulty)

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Reply 11

OP

Original post by PixiePresents

I got 3 A*s, my other A Level was Chemistry. Im going on to study Maths at university.

I dropped psychology at the start of year 13, universities have no way of knowing (unless you have an AS in the subject). Interestingly, I found when applying university that many actually considered AS Further Maths (as some schools don’t offer the full A Level) so if you studied it for one year, you’re still at an advantage.

Those grades are sooo good :eek:

!!!

Would I still be at an advantage even if I had the opportunity to study the full Further Maths A Level (which is available at my school), but just stuck with the AS? For some universities, as you mentioned, they only consider AS Further Maths if the school doesn't offer the A Level of the subject.

Reply 12

Original post by TwisterBlade596

Those grades are sooo good :eek:

!!!

Would I still be at an advantage even if I had the opportunity to study the full Further Maths A Level (which is available at my school), but just stuck with the AS? For some universities, as you mentioned, they only consider AS Further Maths if the school doesn't offer the A Level of the subject.

Thank you! It took hard work and a lot of perseverance. It really depends what you want to study, if you want to study Mathematics then it would definitely put you at a disadvantage. If you want to study something maths related, then it wouldn’t be too big of a deal (ofc considering where you want to study). Better to look at the universities you want to apply to and look at their entry requirements.

Reply 13

OP