Current Year 13 Thread (2013/14) - Mark I

Its quite a lot, but certainly not too much. I had 10 in AS. But I started revision at beginning of April. I would recommend starting proper revision...ie making notes in February as I was quite stressed during exams because I think i started too late.

And you have more exams so I would recommend starting proper revision in feb. But its definitely doable...and people will now have more exams generally (though for AS I imagine only 1 or maybe 2 more).

I have 12 A2s this summer, 3 STEP and AEA (possibly)...so I think I'll start early too!

Most importantly, make sure everything you have learnt in the first term, you consolidate in the Christmas holidays.

Course: Economics & Maths/MORSE
AS Subjects: Maths (A), Further maths (A), Economics (A), Computer Science (C),*
A2 Subjects: Maths (A*), Further maths (A*), Economics (A) + STEP possibly.
University choices: LSE, UCL, Warwick, Bristol and Surrey.

Heyy Could you please change my course to Biochem? I've figured I'd be tactical and apply for that and maybe change course after the first year, as most allow that, definitely Soton and KCL do, and according to Which? a higher % of candidates get offers when they apply for Biochem than Biomed.

To anyone who has done an EPQ, how much detail did you go into about it in your PS? I'm pretty short on characters, and I'm not sure whether to a) mention the title? b) explain the skills I've developed from it/will develop, in my case or how that's made me more interested in my course, or both..

I got AAA in Maths, FM and Economics, I'm applying for Morse at Warwick, Southampton and Maths & Eco at LSE, UCL and just normal Eco at Surrey. Also shouldn't you put a decent backup uni?

Wow well those are strong subjects! Yeah at warwick id pick morse too. Do they offer straight maths there as well...I haven't really looked !

Yeah Ive got Bristol as my backup kind of one. But tbh I have only chosen unis that I want to go to. I dont want to put a much lower offer requirement backup uni simply because if I miss all my other unis and am left with that I probably wouldnt go.

I dont want to go to any uni just for the sake of it ygm. I want to do maths and at one of those that I have picked. If I weren't good enough for any of them I just would follow a different path from uni.

Oh wow you have more exams than me!
I've got 11A2s probably 2 STEP papers and AEA (will do all 3 STEP if they don't clash)

Sorry to hear about the S2 mark btw. Was it with edexcel? Mine was surprisingly lower than expected and so were my friends marks. (no doubt because wording of hypothesis testing and something on the first question)
I

Yeah I understand. Are you going to do STEP as well?

Added!





Sure, done!



I've got many different opinions on this from people. I've mentioned it briefly, saying how it's developed my understanding in the area and shows I have an interest in the subject etc.

Well 10 of my exams are maths so its not so bad Ooh I didn't think theyd clash...well only 2 STEPS if they do clash then! Have you considered taking AEA...with all the STEP prep I think it'd be covered for so if I miss camb or dont get an offer it would certainly make meeting a warwick offer easier.

Thanks, but no it was on OCR MEI. I still am not too sure where I went wrong. All my classmates marks were alot lower than expected too. But there was a question where it said show you cant use normal distribution...then the next part literally said use normal distribution but for another sample. So i suspect I may have messed up a lot there! Trying to get a hold of the markscheme off my teacher!

How was your S2? What modules are you doing this year then

BTW nice to meet you....I'm Evariste

Well should I get an offer from camb or warwick I will have to. But if not I will probably anyway as its great uni prep i would have thought and is improving myself as a mathematician. Atm I can get a 1 or just about an S in STEP I so I will definitely sit that exam anyway.

What about yourself?

Haha same 9 of mine are maths 2 are economics. Exactly I couldn't handle two steps in a row, 6 hours of pure maths (or mechanics or stats) in an exam format would break me.

Yup I wrote above I'm sitting AEA for my Warwick offer . Yeah I've looked through the AEA paper, it isn't hard at all compared to STEP but its still harder than the a-level syllabus.

Ah fair enough, that must have being pretty confusing... I lost marks on 10p coins and sampling, 10p coins destroyed my chances at 100ums (also probably using the word ''number'' instead of ''rate'' on a hypothesis question ).

My S2 was good but I was expecting better, I got dead on 90 so I just scrapped the A* but expected more like 96 damn them high boundaries!

I'm doing:
Maths: C3, C4, D1
Further Maths: FP2, M2, FP3
AFM (AS): M3, M4 and S3

Nice to meet you Evariste Galois? (I'm not sure if you're trying to pose as Evariste himself or if your actual name is Evariste )

I've got a 92.5% average for Maths and Further Maths, S1 (79 ums) is where I fell behind :<

Already? That's mind blowing, I haven't even started C3/C4 yet let alone STEP. Although I need a 2 in STEP If I get my Warwick/UCL offer so it should be achievable by me if I work hard enough.

I might do a few AEA papers soon. It looks like an algebra bash mostly.

Wow well done you got the A* in it. At the moment it looks unlikely that Ill get A* in FM since my only A2 module is below 90

Haha! My name isn't really Evariste! Though I think I will seriously consider naming my first born child Galois, possibly with a middle name of Evariste

Thats a good UMS for camb, 90+ isn't it. Mines 94-95 depending on whether you include C3 and D1.

For mine I'm doing

A2 FM: FP2 M2 S3
AS AFM: M3 DE NM
A2 AFM: FP3 M4 S4

How are you on STEP I if youve started preparing?

Have you considered applying to Oxford. Because some of my maths UMS is a bit low, S2 and D1, I decided on Oxford instead of Cambridge for the last few weeks...got very worried and stressed about it. Thing is I did really good in the MAT papers so if I dont even get a Camb offer I know im going to be kicking myself!

...

Why are your GCSE's so bad? One of my friends had horrendous GCSE's like D's and he got A's in AS and apparently it's because he got hit in the head in an accident and became a genius kinda bull****.

They were so bad because 2 reasons:

1. I was foundationised, entered for foundation for English, Maths and Science, meaning I couldn't exceed a C in some cases, entered for higher last minute for Maths. I got B and C in double science because of coursework at A*

2. I didn't work hard enough, I was addicted to World of Warcraft and often neglected every subject apart from Maths (bar homework) as I so desperately needed to pass it

Then come August 28th I quit world of warcraft and began working extremely hard

Yeah I hate it when schools limit your abilities with a foundation course. To be honest foundation course shouldn't even exist, it seems like an easy way for a pass when a C isn't even that great anyways.

Oh fair enough! Did you do it this year? Out of interest what did you get in the modules?