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What is A Level maths and further maths like?

I am currently in year 11 and the A Levels I am opting for at the moment are:
Biology
Chemistry
Maths
Psychology

However, i am trying to decide whether or not to swap psychology for further maths. This is because i am hoping to do medicine and i know this will strengthen my application. Although i think i am quite strong at maths, i am still only achieving A's in my mocks (although i am hoping for an A* in the really exam) so i was just wondering if you would recommend further maths to someone who is good at maths but not someone who gets full marks at GCSE?
Thank you.

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Reply 1
Avatar for emilywood99
emilywood99
OP
3
And yes i am aware that A level maths and obviously further maths is extremely challenging compared to GCSE, but how possible would it be for me to succeed and gain an A by putting in lots of effort.


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Reply 2
Avatar for JW22
JW22
10
If Maths comes very naturally to you and you don't find it difficult trying to understand concepts then take further maths, if you find it challenging don't take further
Reply 3
Avatar for c1s2
c1s2
6
If you got an A/A* at GCSE without much with then you'll be fine.
Also if you do GCSE further maths it will help you a lot

I can only speak for OCR mei
Core 1- Easy but you must have no holes in your knowledge
Statistics 1 - seams hard at first but by the end you'll find it easy
Mechanics 1- not easy not hard. Can take a bit of thinking and practise
Core 3&4 - rock solid.
Reply 4
Avatar for emilywood99
emilywood99
OP
3
Thank you for the replies, and no unfortunately i don't do further or additional maths at gcse :frown:


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Original post by emilywood99
I am currently in year 11 and the A Levels I am opting for at the moment are:
Biology
Chemistry
Maths
Psychology

However, i am trying to decide whether or not to swap psychology for further maths. This is because i am hoping to do medicine and i know this will strengthen my application. Although i think i am quite strong at maths, i am still only achieving A's in my mocks (although i am hoping for an A* in the really exam) so i was just wondering if you would recommend further maths to someone who is good at maths but not someone who gets full marks at GCSE?
Thank you.


I'm doing maths and ft maths , I think we started out with like 15 people in our ft maths class not there are only 7 . People drop out fast because they decide that it's not for them . How about you read over some content in ft maths ? Find out what what exam board and have a look at FP1 . I didn't like my teacher for ft maths so decided to get a tutor to teach me fp1 and it's going well. I wouldn't say it's harder , I think it's just more maths and if it doesn't take you long to understand concepts then you will be fine. With a level maths most questions have a very similar format so if you do all past papers then you will learn all the format of the questions.
Reply 6
Avatar for emilywood99
emilywood99
OP
3
Original post by CountTesla
I'm doing maths and ft maths , I think we started out with like 15 people in our ft maths class not there are only 7 . People drop out fast because they decide that it's not for them . How about you read over some content in ft maths ? Find out what what exam board and have a look at FP1 . I didn't like my teacher for ft maths so decided to get a tutor to teach me fp1 and it's going well. I wouldn't say it's harder , I think it's just more maths and if it doesn't take you long to understand concepts then you will be fine. With a level maths most questions have a very similar format so if you do all past papers then you will learn all the format of the questions.


Thank you, thats really helpful. I have tried looking at the content, past papers, etc. And it just looks extremely hard, but i guess that is because i have never been taught any of it?


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Original post by emilywood99
Thank you, thats really helpful. I have tried looking at the content, past papers, etc. And it just looks extremely hard, but i guess that is because i have never been taught any of it?


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Do you know what exam board your school is using for Ft maths ? AQA EDEXCEL ? OCR ? OCR MEI ?
Reply 8
Avatar for emilywood99
emilywood99
OP
3
Original post by CountTesla
Do you know what exam board your school is using for Ft maths ? AQA EDEXCEL ? OCR ? OCR MEI ?


Edexcel


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Reply 9
Avatar for DylanJ43
DylanJ43
1
Original post by emilywood99


Edexcel is very easy. You can literally lie in bed whilst watching ExamSolutions videos and you do a paper then bam A easy ****
Original post by emilywood99


I'm currently doing OCR MEI very close to finishing everything off and for ft maths i did M1 S2 and FP1. If you can tackle FP1 I think you will be able to do S2 and M1 but that also depends on you. What i can say is have a look over the content, maybe borrow a book from a teacher and just have a glance over it after your GCSEs. If doing past papers something you enjoy then its the right subject for you :smile: . I had a look over the syllabus and matrices are on there so have a look at this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFApWAl3NJw . This may help. Maybe get a tutor over the summer and learn the modules. Honestly if i could go back in time and tell my self to do that... this year would be so much better ....If you need any help with ft maths questions message me and ill try my best to help :P
Reply 11
Avatar for math42
math42
20
Easy if you care enough
@Zacken
@Student403
@joostan
@DylanJ42
Original post by CountTesla
I'm currently doing OCR MEI very close to finishing everything off and for ft maths i did M1 S2 and FP1. If you can tackle FP1 I think you will be able to do S2 and M1 but that also depends on you. What i can say is have a look over the content, maybe borrow a book from a teacher and just have a glance over it after your GCSEs. If doing past papers something you enjoy then its the right subject for you :smile: . I had a look over the syllabus and matrices are on there so have a look at this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFApWAl3NJw . This may help. Maybe get a tutor over the summer and learn the modules. Honestly if i could go back in time and tell my self to do that... this year would be so much better ....If you need any help with ft maths questions message me and ill try my best to help :P


Aw thank you :smile:


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Reply 14
Avatar for M14B
M14B
18
Original post by JW22
If Maths comes very naturally to you and you don't find it difficult trying to understand concepts then take further maths, if you find it challenging don't take further


I think that is probably the best way to judge it
Hiiim doing both maths and further maths at AS maths (edexcel) now. I would only reccomend further if you got an A(star) just because it is alot of maths. C1, C2, S1 are fine, just stay on top of your work. I'm doing FP1,M1 and M2. Make sure you try to stay on top of your work, this is very crucial and ask for help if you need it. The further maths modules im doing start off awfully but you will get better. I reccomend further maths as I prefer doing maths compared to essays but do whatever you think you would enjoy. Hope this helps...
Original post by M14B
I think that is probably the best way to judge it


As far as I know, with Edexcel, it's FP2 and FP3 which are difficult. The rest are do-able.

Although I have heard M3 is the most difficult module
It's good
Reply 18
Avatar for M14B
M14B
18
Original post by somerandomer654
As far as I know, with Edexcel, it's FP2 and FP3 which are difficult. The rest are do-able.

Although I have heard M3 is the most difficult module


M4 and M5 are surely harder
Do you enjoy maths?

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