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Mathematics Applicants 2012

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Reply 4940

Imperial Blitz

Original post by BeccaCath94

I got 58 UMS....i didnt think it went that bad though!! :frown:

I just don't understand how I got a U :frown:

the one paper I didn't want to resit as well =\ made my AS Further Maths grade drop all the way to a C :|

Original post by Contrad!ction.

What board are you? I got 89 (A), OCR.

Other grades: M2 - 73 (will resit in June), S2 - 88, D2 - 92, S3 - 93, C3 - 100. So I need 80 in C4 and 85 in FP2 or FP3 for 2 A*s. Got 86/90 in my last physics exam, so overall pretty happy. Taking C1, C4, M2, FP2, FP3, S4 in June (plus my final physics module).

Firmed Bath and insuranced Exeter a few days ago. :smile:

Ah congrats :biggrin:

What are you thinking of doing wrt firm and insurance?

I'm on edexcel but nice set of results (Y)

Reply 4941

BeccaCath94

Original post by skibur

I swear there's like a new breed of mankind on here.. and dont worry just resit it :biggrin:

everyone has off days, im sure you will be fine :smile:

I know!!!!! It's vvvv scary!!!! :eek:

Aww thank you :smile:

Yeah I hope it was just an off day....its just scarier when theres no chance to resit the june ones!

Original post by Contrad!ction.

Bloody better be. I'm taking FP3 as well so if FP2 goes crap, FP3 should be good enough. Thing is, I feel that I HAVE to get A*s so I'm definitely not going to be sitting back and doing nothing. Plus if I just do the bare minimum then I know I'll regret it later - I'm a perfectionist and it's hard enough for me to leave the S2 where it is as 88/100. But as S3's 93/100, I figured that they'll average at 90.5 anyway and the S2 could be used as an AS unit for further maths or an A2 for regular maths so it doesn't really matter too much.

Good luck with your offers too - and with that 53, there's always June. One of my friends who's normally getting near full marks barely scraped an A, and some other guys on a B or so managed to fail that exam, so it might have just been a paper that didn't suit you. Hopefully the next one's nicer for you :smile:

Hahaha ok...yeah that sounds like you have a good backup! :smile:

Oh i totally know what you mean! I got 78/100 in C2 and just left it because i got 90+ in C1/S1 so got a comfortable A for AS.

Yeah everyone (except the people on here who got 100!!!) is saying the paper was awful!!! :frown:

No one in my maths class got above a C when theres a least 3 people who'd usually get an A.....

Reply 4942

BeccaCath94

If I were to do resits in the maths exams from january, is it worth getting my paper back to see where I went wrong?
Or should I just get the breakdown online for each question and compare it to a question paper?

I've never needed to resit maths before....it feels weird!

Reply 4943

Contrad!ction.

Original post by Imperial Blitz

I'm on edexcel but nice set of results (Y)

Thanks

*is jealous of your edexcelness*

Original post by BeccaCath94

Hahaha ok...yeah that sounds like you have a good backup! :smile:

No one in my maths class got above a C when theres a least 3 people who'd usually get an A.....

In that case, you could always retake C2. It's an easier paper than C3, so you could improve that grade too - and every little helps!

I could see where it could have been awful, they did a load of 'blind entry' questions where they want you to get something but don't tell you how to get there.

Reply 4944

shamika

C3 seems like it was an interesting exam. I'm going to guess that it had some non-standard questions and/or was incredibly time-pressured.

For those of you who did well, congrats. Now continue to do well on the rest of your exams!

For those of you who didn't do so well:

- Don't panic. A-Levels are becoming increasingly ridiculous in that a few raw marks lost equate to a lot of UMS. If you're around the A/A* border, it is likely that a retake will get you over the border.

- Everyone has off days. Everyone. There's no shame in retaking and getting yourself a better mark. The system might be flawed but the easiest way to do well is to play the system, so if you do have access to the paper (I don't know whether you can or not) I would look through it, see where you went wrong and learn from it.

- Don't gamble on the exam being easier next sitting. The last thing you want to do is regret not making your offers because of that gamble. Besides, the stuff you're learning in the core modules is pretty fundamental to every part of maths so its not as if you're wasting your time over it. Getting a good grip now is going to reap dividends in the long term, trust me.

- Note the number of very good marks on this board. Some of that is to be expected (this thread is obviously going to be skewed towards the bright students and maths applicants should be good at maths!) The sad truth is that there are lots of insanely intelligent people out there (you'll see when you get to university, whichever one you end up at) and the competition is only going to get worse. Now is the time to get used to that.

- If you are learning to the test without understanding the principles, treat this as a wake-up call. That's just not going to cut it at university. University exams will typically give you an unseen problem in every question. Getting used to non-standard problems and problem solving will put you in good stead for your course. Most importantly, if that doesn't appeal to you, you're not really going to like your degree very much.

- Finally, the way I studied for the A-Levels was to be incredibly precise and accurate. The amount of marks you lose for calculation errors is insane. If that's where you're losing your marks than just work on it. Its boring and tedious but again, most people see accuracy as a pretty important skill, both academically and in the workplace!

Good luck all. Some of the entry requirements are insane these days so I hope you all get in to your first choices. Then you can enjoy some interesting maths :smile:

Reply 4945

Xero Xenith

Original post by Contrad!ction.

But you have your A*A*! Why the retakes? :tongue:

Reply 4946

BeccaCath94

Original post by Contrad!ction.

Thanks

*is jealous of your edexcelness*

In that case, you could always retake C2. It's an easier paper than C3, so you could improve that grade too - and every little helps!

I could see where it could have been awful, they did a load of 'blind entry' questions where they want you to get something but don't tell you how to get there.

I'm on edexcel..... :smile:

Yes this was what I was thinking. I prefer C2......and 10 or so extra UMS would be enough....but if I resat C3 and went up to 80+ I would have gone up 30 UMS!!!

Original post by shamika

C3 seems like it was an interesting exam. I'm going to guess that it had some non-standard questions and/or was incredibly time-pressured.

For those of you who did well, congrats. Now continue to do well on the rest of your exams!

.......

Good luck all. Some of the entry requirements are insane these days so I hope you all get in to your first choices. Then you can enjoy some interesting maths :smile:

Thank you very much for all your advice!! :biggrin:

Reply 4947

Contrad!ction.

Original post by BeccaCath94

I'm on edexcel..... :smile:

Yes this was what I was thinking. I prefer C2......and 10 or so extra UMS would be enough....but if I resat C3 and went up to 80+ I would have gone up 30 UMS!!!

Grr. My head of maths is going to change our school to edexcel when the syllabuses change, but that's obviously not going to affect me. Makes his D2 rap more relevant :colone:

Resit both? At least you won't have to learn anything new.

Reply 4948

Contrad!ction.

Original post by Xero Xenith

But you have your A*A*! Why the retakes? :tongue:

Got a B in the mechanics exam. I want all my maths exams to be at least A grade, seeing as that's the degree I'll be doing. And my head of maths wants me to push up my C1, which might actually help me at uni because it'll get me out of my calculator-dependency :tongue:

Reply 4949

shamika

Original post by Contrad!ction.

What sort of maths are you looking to do at university, do you know? I knew from my A-Level days I wanted to do lots of pure, where not having a calculator is not really an issue. Doing lots of methods and applied courses might be more of a problem.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I can't do mental arithmetic to save my life (I wrote 2 + 2 = 5 in a masters paper, gah!) but I didn't use a calculator once in my degree - had to relearn how to use one in my job :P

As for resitting in subjects you've already got an A*, just make sure your other A-Levels don't suffer if you're doing that.

Reply 4950

BeccaCath94

Original post by Contrad!ction.

Grr. My head of maths is going to change our school to edexcel when the syllabuses change, but that's obviously not going to affect me. Makes his D2 rap more relevant :colone:

Resit both? At least you won't have to learn anything new.

Oh thats a bit rubbish :frown:

All my maths modules have always been edexcel since GCSE...not sure what difference it makes...
Most of my other subjects are AQA so...
I could resit both but I already have about 10 exams in june so I dont want to have too many... :/

Reply 4951

Contrad!ction.

Original post by shamika

Mainly pure, but I really like stats too (in the middle of teaching myself my 3rd stats module, so I'm now on S4 (only had lessons for S1)).

Ha, 2-1=3 was one of my gems. Written that statement more than once. Or, 6x8=42.

Shouldn't really, I need 80 in C4, something like 20 in FP2 (for an A) and something decent in physics, but obviously I'm going to aim high. Workload doesn't really bother me - I've already taught myself 4 modules, so I'm sure the extra papers shouldn't affect me too much. My S2 was resat in Jan, but I remembered most of it from June last year so didn't really have to revisit much other than Type I/II errors.

Original post by BeccaCath94

Oh thats a bit rubbish :frown:

My GCSE was edexcel, but A-Level is OCR. If you do resit both, it shouldn't be too bad, at least it won't be new content. And you can still focus on your newer exams, because your C2/3 grade won't go down even if you do worse.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4952

BeccaCath94

Original post by Contrad!ction.

Oh interesting...
True...but its still more exams to do! I will definately resit at least one of them...
Haha I will never do worse in C3!!!

Reply 4953

shamika

Original post by Contrad!ction.

Hmmm, sounds like you're pretty much done then in terms of A-Levels? If I were you, I'd read some bridging material to whet your appetite. People like Liebeck's book, or my personal favourite, Courant's What is Mathematics are good choices. You'll see some of the stuff you get to grips with in your first few courses and it'll get you on the road to rigour.

Reply 4954

Contrad!ction.

Original post by shamika

C1, C4, FP2, FP3, M2, S4, G495 to go. Definitely going to be reading something mathsy pre-uni to try to get me out of the A-Level 'copy from book, do questions, do papers, do exam' routine that's obviously not going to apply at uni. Cheers for the recommendations. :smile:

Reply 4955