Edexcel FP3 Self Teaching

Is it too late to start self-teaching FP3? How long would it take to finish the book? I'm done with all my other modules but wanted to do FP3 as an extra.

Reply 1

Zacken

Original post by aymanzayedmannan

Is it too late to start self-teaching FP3? How long would it take to finish the book? I'm done with all my other modules but wanted to do FP3 as an extra.

It isn't too late, it should take about a week to learn the module and another two/three weeks to run through the past papers and master the style and questions.

You should use both the book and liberal use of examsolutions.net (especially for the vectors part, amazing guide that examsolutions is) to self-teach it.

Reply 2

Ayman!

Original post by Zacken

I week isn't too bad. How are you finding FP3 in comparison to FP2? I found FP2 to be not as bad as I'd imagine, actually.

Reply 3

Zacken

Original post by aymanzayedmannan

I week isn't too bad. How are you finding FP3 in comparison to FP2? I found FP2 to be not as bad as I'd imagine, actually.

FP3 was quite nice, hyperbolic trig is quite simple and I quite enjoyed the vectors, but most people don't like vectors very much which I imagine puts them off the module a bit. So for me, it was pretty much the same if not better than FP2.

Reply 4

Ayman!

Original post by Zacken

Started the first chapter right now. Thank you. I can't rep you for some reason. How are you finding M3?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

Zacken

Original post by aymanzayedmannan

Started the first chapter right now. Thanks you. I can't rep you for some reason. How are you finding M3?

I had a weird fling with M3 - I went from doing really well at the beginning to doing really badly and then it's becoming really good again. I think doing STEP mechanics has really helped me solidify my SHM and mechanics knowledge, so I'm doing much better now. What about you?

Good luck! Let me know how you find the module, PM me if you ever need to

Reply 6

Louisb19

It's harder that FP2 but if you are good at maths it won't be a problem. I did it myself it 2 weeks after doing FP2 right before it.

FP3 is fun too!

Reply 7

Marxist

Hi,

I would love to do FP3 as an extra module. But does anyone think it is a big step up from FP2?
And for M2 and M3, can you draw comparisons between them in terms of difficulty?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 8

Krollo

Original post by Marxist

Hi,

I would love to do FP3 as an extra module. But does anyone think it is a big step up from FP2?
And for M2 and M3, can you draw comparisons between them in terms of difficulty?

I think FP3 is of similar difficulty to FP2 in my experience. M2 to M3 is a substantial step up, but not at all insurmountable.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 9

Marxist

Original post by Krollo

I think FP3 is of similar difficulty to FP2 in my experience. M2 to M3 is a substantial step up, but not at all insurmountable.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Ahh, I see. Thanks. So the gap is quite big but doable.

Reply 10

Marxist

Original post by Zacken

Hi Zacken, does the knowledge of tackling STEP help you in general. I imagine the answer is yes, but will it help for M1 and M2?

Reply 11

Zacken

Original post by Marxist

Hi Zacken, does the knowledge of tackling STEP help you in general. I imagine the answer is yes, but will it help for M1 and M2?

Well, not knowledge per se, but if you can answer a STEP mechs question, M1 and M2 will be a breeze. (not that a good revision technique to revise M1 and M2 is doing STEP, that wouldn't work in my opinion, it would be best to practice M1/2 past papers instead)

Reply 12

Marxist

Original post by Zacken

Well, I know that, but I guess I worded it wrong. Would it help gauge how strong your mechanics is? - is more where I'm trying to get at.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 13

Zacken

Original post by Marxist

Well, I know that, but I guess I worded it wrong. Would it help gauge how strong your mechanics is?

Like I said, if you can do STEP mechs, you're likely to find M1/2 piss easy, so yes, it doing well at STEP mechanics lets you gauge how strong your mechanics is (very strong) - but not doing well at step mechanics doesn't mean that your mechanics is weak, you may still find M1/2 really easy but still be bad at step mechs.

Furthermore, STEP doesn't really test all the topics from M1/2 so you might be good at step mechs but you might be really bad at vectors + mechanics which STEP (I, II) doesn't tend to include, so being good at step mechs won't let you gauge how good you are at that particular topic. (But I'm sure that for the majority, if you can do step mechs, then you can deal with basic vectors...)