Self study of A2 further maths

So in my AS level for further maths I got an A, which means I want to study it next year for year 13. However, my school doesn't actually offer it as a timetabled lesson, meaning I would have to learn it by a mixture of self teaching, and through the further maths support program(fmsp). If anyone has learnt any A2 further maths modules via this method, is it easy to learn from this relative to being taught by a teacher, and is it harder to learn via this method ? Any help at all would be useful, thanks

Posted from TSR Mobile

So in my AS level for further maths I got an A, which means I want to study it next year for year 13. However, my school doesn't actually offer it as a timetabled lesson, meaning I would have to learn it by a mixture of self teaching, and through the further maths support program(fmsp). If anyone has learnt any A2 further maths modules via this method, is it easy to learn from this relative to being taught by a teacher, and is it harder to learn via this method ? Any help at all would be useful, thanks


Posted from TSR Mobile

I self-studied the full A2 FM, but I only did one module in Year 12 so I had to do five in Year 13! It was difficult but I managed my time well and was successful in the end. If you are thinking of doing this, start as soon as possible, that would be my number one tip! If you get stuck of course ask on TSR.

I'd recommend doing it if you think you can manage it, it's really worthwhile plus looks good if you have self taught.

Ah okay, thanks for that advice ! Yeah I have already started to teach myself S2, putting less pressure on me throughout the year if I have less content to learn whilst I am being taught my other subjects. How did you self teach yourself ? Did you use any online videos/tutorials etc ?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Better than me, I only started end of September!

I bought the textbook for each module I was doing, which really helped me; they were invaluable. The exercises are usually harder than the actual exams and test your understanding more. I don't know what exam board you are on, but I did OCR MEI and the website integralmaths.org was incredibly useful for my course, I'd recommend it (I think they do other exam boards also).

So in my AS level for further maths I got an A, which means I want to study it next year for year 13. However, my school doesn't actually offer it as a timetabled lesson, meaning I would have to learn it by a mixture of self teaching, and through the further maths support program(fmsp). If anyone has learnt any A2 further maths modules via this method, is it easy to learn from this relative to being taught by a teacher, and is it harder to learn via this method ? Any help at all would be useful, thanks


Posted from TSR Mobile

Ah okay thank you very much ! The problem is that on AQA, there are no actual textbooks for the A2 further pure modules, just online versions that aren't very descriptive, so I think I will mainly use these websites that people have been recommending


Posted from TSR Mobile

I self-taught AQA FP3, FP4 and M3 and parts of the later mechanics modules. I wouldn't say it's easier, but is faster and I found it more fun. FP3 is my favourite module and I learned the whole thing in a few weeks but I had to relearn FP4 several times(Mostly because of the textbook.) before I was competent at it.


I found the FP2 and FP3 ones ok(not great), but the FP4 one terrible. There are some good books that cover these topics. Further pure mathematics by Gaulter and further pure mathematics by Bostock and Chandler I found to be good and go a lot further than the specification. Or if you get stuck with something you can look for websites or Youtube videos that cover that topic or ask on TSR.
You should use the textbook as a rough guide to what you should learn because the specification often gives too brief a description and a lot of the stuff in the books I suggested is not relevant to you. The explanations in the AQA online textbooks are often awful though so you should look for better ones elsewhere. There's no reason to avoid the questions in the AQA books though.

Ah yes, a few of my friends have recommended me to use other textbooks that aren't necessarily a school text book etc. how on earth did you learn fp3 in just a few weeks !? Did you just focus all your time on it or something? And I'm guessing like you said, that you used different books apart from the online AQA fp3 textbook ?


Posted from TSR Mobile

So in my AS level for further maths I got an A, which means I want to study it next year for year 13. However, my school doesn't actually offer it as a timetabled lesson, meaning I would have to learn it by a mixture of self teaching, and through the further maths support program(fmsp). If anyone has learnt any A2 further maths modules via this method, is it easy to learn from this relative to being taught by a teacher, and is it harder to learn via this method ? Any help at all would be useful, thanks


Posted from TSR Mobile