UCL computer science- further maths?

I'm currently in year 12, but I was supposed to be in year 13. During my first year of Year 12 i was studying biology, chemistry, maths, computing and ICT but a week in i got glandular fever and therefore missed in total about 2 months of school. I still had lessons for all my subjects but in mid april I decided to only do exams for ICT and computing as I wasn't ready to do all of them. I managed to get 2 A's.

Now in my second year of year 12 i'm taking biology, chemistry and maths which i am finding extremely easy and have no doubt I'm going to get A's in all of them.

My question is, I want to study computer science at uni and a lot of universities prefer you to have further maths. I'd quite like to go to UCL. My maths is going really well, should I take further maths now and catch up with everything i've missed? or should I apply without further maths, and if i don't get in, take a gap year where I'll do a gap year program in a computer science company and take further maths alongside it? I'd rather not take further maths unless I have to.

I emailed UCL if they want Further Maths at AS/A2 for Computer Science over the summer, they said no - so it's not required. It is only required for their mathematical computation course.

However, if you want to be competitive for Oxbridge and Imperial you will need Further Maths...

Do it if you have the time , motivation and if you like Maths a lot :P

Do you know if they take preference over students who do have further maths?

I emailed UCL if they want Further Maths at AS/A2 for Computer Science over the summer, they said no - so it's not required. It is only required for their mathematical computation course.

However, if you want to be competitive for Oxbridge and Imperial you will need Further Maths...

Do it if you have the time , motivation and if you like Maths a lot :P

Do you know if they take preference over students who do have further maths?

It will enhance your chances slightly. But don't pick it if it means that it will significantly effect how well you do in your other subjects.

If i decided not to take it and I didn't get in, could I take a gap year and take further maths alongside doing a gap year program possibly at IBM?

You would have to ask them directly.
Remember not every school can offer Further Maths, so it would be an unfair system if UCL was to give people with Further Maths a higher chance.

I wouldn't recommend it since if you got rejected it wouldn't be for your lack of further maths.

Did you apply to UCL computer science without further maths?

Yeah, I was told not to take it by head of sixth form. So I have applied without FM. But since I enjoyed maths so much, I'm doing Further Maths AS this year ( and also 'cos I realized really late that Imperial want FM).

As it stands:

I have offers from Kings, Queens and Kingston.
Rejection from Imperial - due to no Further Maths at AS/A2.
Waiting on UCL, who have taken really long this year!

EDIT: In response to the other post, not all schools offer it. Some don't have the maths teachers for it I guess...

But surely they know the schools that do offer it?

EDIT: In response to the other post, not all schools offer it. Some don't have the maths teachers for it I guess...

Hows further maths going? do you enjoy it? is it really that hard?

You would have to ask them directly.
Remember not every school can offer Further Maths, so it would be an unfair system if UCL was to give people with Further Maths a higher chance.

Well I'm doing FP1, M1 and FP2 - you'll probably do something like D1.
FP1 is quite fun and enjoyable once you get your head around it. Its difficulty is similar to C2, once you get it, you get it. We're currently 3/4 through FP2 which is harder than C3/C4 but extremley enjoyable and you learn a lot more sophisticated ideas in maths. Ultimately, it goes in more detail about topics covered in C3/C4.



Further maths is so much more enjoyable than normal maths, at times it does get tricky but if you stick at it you'll understand whats going on and it is an A level which worth the effort you put it.

EDIT: Equally, you'll get some schools which don't have any people wanting to do FM. Noone at my sixth form chose to do it at AS. A few of us who didn't do it in year 12 do it off timetable; we spend 2 hours a week on it!

That's not the case at all. A lot of Oxbridge/Imperial/UCL's mathematical courses require an A* in Further Maths, although they do have systems in place e.g. STEP papers for those who can't study FM.

If i were to pick it up now, do you think it would be too hard? and could i just take it for AS and have a chance of getting into Imperial and Cambridge, or would I have to take it for A2 too?