Are Maths, Further Maths, Biology and Chemistry good A levels for me?

Hi I am currently studying in year 11 and I hope to get an A for maths gcse, 3 B's for triple science and C's for nearly all my other subjects. I started off really badly in year 10 when I didn't take my GCSE's seriously but in year 11 I learnt a lot and tried to improve my grades. Do you think I have chosen the right A levels? If I put a lot of effort in do you think I will do good? IF you have experience doing any of these A levels could you tell me how many exams you have roughyl. Thanks in advance. :smile:

Reply 1

No Man

15

I would do physics instead of Biology, seeing as you sound like you like maths, and physics is essentially applied maths.

Reply 2

username564415

14

Its kind of difficult to say if they are right for you... You can always change them if you feel they aren't....

Reply 3

middlj

11

They're very good A-levels. Give them a go and you can always leave one at AS if all 4 prove to be too much

Reply 4

hammer 24

Science and maths sound like they are your strengths and they are all really useful A Levels to have, giving you plenty of university options, so I would say you are making a smart choice. As 'No Man' said, maybe consider Physics as it is very closely linked to maths and they actually compliment each other (especially mechanics).

Be warned, there is a lot of learning and new concepts introduced at A level for the sciences (not as bad for maths, as its more application). To give you an idea of how many exams, for AS I do 3 sciences and maths and have 6 modules in May (had 5 in Jan and re-taking 2 of those). But I know that there are a lot of further maths modules, so you would have more than me.

The only slight worry I have about my subject choices is that I am not doing any essay writing subject and although I am very glad of this in some ways, it is a key skill to develop for university. But obviously, it doesn't matter that much as you can always develop essay writing skills later.

Reply 5

username279062

2

Original post by justletmeregister

Hi I am currently studying in year 11 and I hope to get an A for maths gcse, 3 B's for triple science and C's for nearly all my other subjects. I started off really badly in year 10 when I didn't take my GCSE's seriously but in year 11 I learnt a lot and tried to improve my grades. Do you think I have chosen the right A levels? If I put a lot of effort in do you think I will do good? IF you have experience doing any of these A levels could you tell me how many exams you have roughyl. Thanks in advance. :smile:

Honestly, I do F. Maths and I'd say you need to be able to easily get an A* to take it, just as you need to be able to a) Have the intelligence to do it and b) Be able to cope with the workload of it. I got full marks in my GCSE and I find it hard. That's not to say that you couldn't do it, but it really is a tough subject.
Should be fine with the others though!

Reply 6

Freakonomics123

10

Original post by justletmeregister

Hi I am currently studying in year 11 and I hope to get an A for maths gcse, 3 B's for triple science and C's for nearly all my other subjects. I started off really badly in year 10 when I didn't take my GCSE's seriously but in year 11 I learnt a lot and tried to improve my grades. Do you think I have chosen the right A levels? If I put a lot of effort in do you think I will do good? IF you have experience doing any of these A levels could you tell me how many exams you have roughyl. Thanks in advance. :smile:

i agree with the guy above, you really have to breeze through the maths gcse with an A* if you wanna have a chance at a good grade for further maths a level.

You could always drop it at AS though, AS wasnt too difficult but further pure 2/3 get hard

Reply 7

Xero Xenith

10

Original post by Freakonomics123

i agree with the guy above, you really have to breeze through the maths gcse with an A* if you wanna have a chance at a good grade for further maths a level.

You could always drop it at AS though, AS wasnt too difficult but further pure 2/3 get hard

Bingo. AS Further is fine, but A2 (where you need to take at least one of FP2 and FP3) gets... sticky :tongue:

EDIT: Also agree that Physics is lovely if you have the interest in Maths.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 8

icedragon

Original post by justletmeregister

Hi I am currently studying in year 11 and I hope to get an A for maths gcse, 3 B's for triple science and C's for nearly all my other subjects. I started off really badly in year 10 when I didn't take my GCSE's seriously but in year 11 I learnt a lot and tried to improve my grades. Do you think I have chosen the right A levels? If I put a lot of effort in do you think I will do good? IF you have experience doing any of these A levels could you tell me how many exams you have roughyl. Thanks in advance. :smile:

I'd do Physics instead of bio. But I'm sure the people who do Further Maths at my college do the same units as maths and just more on top of that? If so whats the point in doing maths and further maths?

Reply 9

Xero Xenith

10

Original post by icedragon

I'd do Physics instead of bio. But I'm sure the people who do Further Maths at my college do the same units as maths and just more on top of that? If so whats the point in doing maths and further maths?

Because it's more! :tongue:

Or, put it this way...

Maths is big. Lots of people use maths, so lots of people take Maths A-Level. But some people use maths much much more than others, like mathematicians. They need a bigger grounding in maths before they can make up their mind about whether to study it at university.

Further Maths is mainly for prospective mathematicians and other maths-obsessed people (quants, etc) who need a better understanding of harder maths.

That's also why it's the only A-level that requires another A-level to be taken :smile:

Reply 10

MathematicsKiller

12

Maths: 3 exams for AS, 3 more for A2.
F.Maths: 3 exams for AS, 3 more for A2.
Sciences: 2 exams + ISA for AS, 2 more exams + ISA for A2.

The number of ISAs done is completely up to your school, and you use the better grade. My school does 2 ISAs per year.

Reply 11

MathematicsKiller

12

Original post by doomhalo

Honestly, I do F. Maths and I'd say you need to be able to easily get an A* to take it, just as you need to be able to a) Have the intelligence to do it and b) Be able to cope with the workload of it. I got full marks in my GCSE and I find it hard. That's not to say that you couldn't do it, but it really is a tough subject.
Should be fine with the others though!

I second this.
Although, I find Decision harder than Further Pure 1.
I find decision very hard - I over think things.

Reply 12

username279062

2

Original post by MathematicsKiller

I second this.
Although, I find Decision harder than Further Pure 1.
I find decision very hard - I over think things.

God, I hated decision - it was SO BORING I WANTED TO SCREAM.
I even started D2 for about 2 weeks and then flat out told my teacher to enter for me for S2, even if I had to self teach!

Reply 13

stephie.u3

13

these are the exact Alevels that i'm doing atm and here's my view
Biol - definitely the easiest out of the 4, a lot of it is common sense and exam technique (i got an A in GCSE and i'm not struggling)

Chem - i'm finding it quite hard tbh, just did a resit of unit1 today because i got a C first time round...it takes a lot of time and there are lots of things your just gonna have to learn, not so much common sense as biology (i got an A* at GCSE)

Maths - its not too bad both C1 and C2 are pretty nice modules and thats even when my school does the hardest exam board so you should be fine :smile:

(i got a highA* at GCSE)

F.M - D1 was an okay module, interesting and not like anything you've done before however FP1 is horrendous i hate it and cant do it (i'm dropping further at the end of this year)
because i do maths ad further i have to do mechanics and statistics...mechanisc is okay when you get the hang of interpreting the info in the questions, stats i just dont really understand- all seems to merge into one:/

soo yeah thatsmy little insight into the subjects for you :tongue:

tbh i really dont advise taking further maths, i dont mean any disrespect to you but i was optimistic to start with and then being bottom of a class just puts an even bigger downer on the struggle...just think about it :smile:

Reply 14

middlj

11

What career path are you thinking?
Pure sciences, engineering, pharmacy, medicine at uni?

if you are considering maths, physics or engineering at uni, I'd stick with further maths. If you fancy another course I wouldn't bother with f maths as you may struggle.

hope it goes well for you

Are Maths, Further Maths, Biology and Chemistry good A levels for me?

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