The Student Room Group

How hard is C3 and C4 compared to C1/C2?

I found C1 and C2 quite easy- how much of a step up is C3 and C4?

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Original post by JoshC98
I found C1 and C2 quite easy- how much of a step up is C3 and C4?


it depends on the board
OCR/MEI is a b*tch
Reply 3
Original post by JoshC98
I found C1 and C2 quite easy- how much of a step up is C3 and C4?


If you found C1 and C2 easy, you should find C3 and C4 a doddle.

They are obviously more difficult than C1 and C2. If your exam board is edexcel, I can tell you that a lot of people find C3 the hardest out of all 4 modules because there are many trig identities to learn and prove.
When I did my A-levels, I didn't really find it that difficult. I found C4 the most challenging.
After all, the key to success is hard work and motivation!
Reply 4
The only real challenges are C3 Trigonometry and C4 Vectors and Integration (Edexcel). Even then, it's just a matter of getting used to the methods.
Reply 5
In my experience if you 'like'/do well at Maths they aren't particularly a step up, but for people who were doing Maths by rote learning specific methods rather than trying to understand, it was harder, because there are more ways to ask the questions. (CCEA)
I'm doing OCR and pretty much taught myself most of the C3 trig and calculus stuff in the past 2 weeks. To be honest it is a bit of a step up but it's finally becoming interesting, especially trig. So far it pretty much feels like all the missing information from C1/C2, as you pretty much use every idea from previous modules.

Are boards really that different?
C3 is pretty easy, I got an E and U in C1 and C2, did C3 and got an A (retook C1 and C2, got B and A respectively).

C4 isn't hard, but time is a real problem. I didn't get time to finish two full questions for C4 meaning I ended up with a C for it.

But like I said, C3 was a piece of cake, this is coming from someone that basically failed at AS Maths. AQA btw.
Reply 8
Trig is a bitch in c3
Reply 9
C3 tends to be harder than C4, mainly because c4 ask same questions over and over again.

This is for edexcel btw.
On edexcel I don't think C3 and C4 are much harder except trig is a bitch, and integration can be slightly difficult at times but if you practice it's easy to get marks on


Posted from TSR Mobile
I just did AS Maths and AS Further Maths last year and I have to say if you can do C1 and C2 comfortably you can do C3 and C4 comfortably. Sure, you may now have to think slightly more to do the questions, but the questions are still really predictable and everything is just method/recipe like usual. Further Maths usually is less predictable and makes you think more.
On another note (not pertaining to the difficulty of the modules) I found them pretty boring. But I needed the methods they teach.
For Edexcel I've always been under the impression that C3 is easier than C2.

And again, for me C4 is as difficult to C3 as C1 is to C2.
I duno i did better on C3/4 then C1/2. Marginally though. Got 100,94,100,98 in C1-4 . Still dont know how i got 98 in C4 as I am pretty sure i did everything right.


Posted from TSR Mobile
I'm finding it to be a bit of a step up, but I'm hoping it'll get easier with time and practice :smile:
Reply 15
C3 trigonometry is a real challenge; C4 integration and vectors can be quite a challenge also.
Original post by physicsmaths
I duno i did better on C3/4 then C1/2. Marginally though. Got 100,94,100,98 in C1-4 . Still dont know how i got 98 in C4 as I am pretty sure i did everything right.


Posted from TSR Mobile


Hey do you mind letting me know which text books you used for c3 and c4 and if you used solomon papers or not.
Original post by FarheenA
Hey do you mind letting me know which text books you used for c3 and c4 and if you used solomon papers or not.


Normal edexcel books, and yes i did use solomon papers.
When doing practice papers I found c4 papers way easier than c3 but I did better in c3 than c4. I did ocr and I did all the past papers as well as most of the solomon papers.
Reply 19
Hey! Something unrelated to the question but i got U in C1, C2 and S1 and now I'm finding C3 and C4 so difficult. My teacher told me to drop the subject and now i don't know what to do because i really want to give it another try. Anyways i want to ask you how much did you practice ? And how hard was it to catch up and get a good grade since you started from a bad grade ? Did it take away time from studying other subjects ?.... I know you wrote this 3 years ago but please reply lol

Quick Reply

Latest