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People who've studied AQA AS Further Maths - opinions?

I'm about to change Physics to Further Maths and I just wanted people to give their opinions and advice on it? I'd only be taking it for AS.

I'm using the Heinemann books for FP1, D1 and M2 and I'm going over a bit of FP1 just to make sure that I make the right decision and it seems to cover the specification despite being created for the 2004 specification, not the new 2014 one. Did anyone else use these?

Reply 1

tory88

Further maths is a great asset to have on an application, although usually works as a good complement to physics as opposed to replacing it.

I used the books you have when studying for my A-levels, and found them quite useful. If you have a solution bank CD then they will prove very helpful in your studies. D1 is very straightforward provided you put some time into learning it, but most people slip up because they take it for granted (and the grade boundaries are typically very high).

Reply 2

user2020user

Original post by Sulfur

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The Heinemann books for FP1, D1 and M2 are great if you're with Edexcel!

Original post by tory88

Further maths is a great asset to have on an application, although usually works as a good complement to physics as opposed to replacing it.

I second this. What are you hoping to study at A-Level and (if you've thought that far,) at university?

Reply 3

Sulfur

Original post by tory88

The thing is, I need to take Chemistry and Biology (more or less compulsory for most universities with medicine) and I want to take maths, so if I took physics and further maths it'd seem a bit odd without normal! :smile:

To be honest though, I'm really liking my options better with maths and further opposed to maths and physics.

Did you find any problems with the books (i.e, content that wasn't required anymore, content that it didn't cover...)? Ah thanks, I'll have a look at the CD as well. That's the problem that I've been hearing about D1 from people at school/TSR - which is putting me off it a bit, but to be honest, I'm willing to put the work in and try and ace it. :biggrin:

Original post by Khallil

The Heinemann books for FP1, D1 and M2 are great if you're with Edexcel!

I second this. What are you hoping to study at A-Level and (if you've thought that far,) at university?

Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Further ---> medicine :tongue:

They seem great with AQA so far, but they're quite outdated so I hope the content hasn't changed etc.

Reply 4

Red Fox

I did the AS this year, FP1 is probably easier than any other board on AQA!

Reply 5

davros

Original post by Sulfur

Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Further ---> medicine :tongue:

They seem great with AQA so far, but they're quite outdated so I hope the content hasn't changed etc.

Are you doing some Stats as part of "normal" Maths?

D1 and M2 are strange choices if you're hoping to do Medicine - you'll have far more use for knowledge from the Stats modules!

Reply 6

Sulfur

Original post by davros

Are you doing some Stats as part of "normal" Maths?

D1 and M2 are strange choices if you're hoping to do Medicine - you'll have far more use for knowledge from the Stats modules!

AS 'normal' maths: C1, C2, S1
AS further maths: FP1, D1, M2
A2 'normal' maths: C3, C4, M1

Apparently M2 is easier than M1 according to our teachers? :confused:

I'm happy about this to be honest, I HATE statistics with a passion.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 7

davros

Original post by Sulfur

AS 'normal' maths: C1, C2, S1
AS further maths: FP1, D1, M2
A2 'normal' maths: C3, C4, M1

Apparently M2 is easier than M1 according to our teachers? :confused:

That really depends on the individual!

Personally I'd swap D1 for S2 if you're going on to do Medicine :smile:

Reply 8

Sulfur

Original post by davros

That really depends on the individual!

Personally I'd swap D1 for S2 if you're going on to do Medicine :smile:

I absolutely HATE statistics! I see why it'd be better in respect to medicine though, but honestly, statistics for me is absolutely full of GCSE-driven hate. I know it'd obviously be different and all of that, but I still dislike it and find it confusing after skimming through it a little bit - still, I better not judge it completely yet!

Yup I agree there with M1/M2, I always thought that M2 would've been more difficult than M1 but I'll have to see I guess. I'm planning on going over it a little bit in the holidays though, to get used to it slightly.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

Sulfur

Original post by Red Fox

I did the AS this year, FP1 is probably easier than any other board on AQA!

How was the paper this year (i.e questions that you thought were a bit different from the past papers or were more tricky?) I know they tend to have a pattern (i.e, they always have questions on roots of quadratics (sums of roots, product of roots etc).

What was your opinion on FP1 overall in terms of content too?