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Is Maths a joke for Further Maths students?

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Reply 60
Original post by khaleesi98
Yeah I did D2 last year lol I thought it was epic. I'd say D2 and S2 are pretty much the same in terms of difficulty tbh

Mechanics is horrible and should be a part of the physics A Level imo. Managed to get an A in M1 with zero understanding of what was actually going on, hoping to do the same with M2 this year 😅 Not saying it's objectively one of the most difficult modules, just that I'm no good at it haha


I dunno, if I had to D2 now I would get close to 0 marks. But I bet I could get at least a C in S2. (I wasn't even better at S2, I was actually one of the only ppl in the country to get 72/72 in D2)

I think basic mechanics is important to know even if you don't do physics. There are already quite a lot of topics in A level physics (granted not much depth) to put the whole of mechanics into it (M1-4).

Original post by NotNotBatman
You find C4 easier than FP1!?
I've always said that FP1 is comparable to C1 in terms of difficulty and C4 is much harder.


C4 is the easiest A2 module imo. I bet you're the only person on here who'll say FP1 is similar to C1! Most people would say C1 is by far the easiest. It's easier than Add maths imo!

Original post by Indeterminate
But I happen to think FM is also a tad uninspiring :redface: In fact I did a lot of my own reading to make up for the shortcomings of the syllabus :lol:


Agreed. The coverage of matrices is tiny. It was only in FP1 for OCR and there wasn't anything to do with eigenvalues etc so I had to read this stuff myself :smile:

Original post by FailedMyMocks

m1
c2
s2
fp1
d1
s1
c1


Why are so many people putting M1 near the top?
Original post by xylas
I dunno, if I had to D2 now I would get close to 0 marks. But I bet I could get at least a C in S2. (I wasn't even better at S2, I was actually one of the only ppl in the country to get 72/72 in D2)

I think basic mechanics is important to know even if you don't do physics. There are already quite a lot of topics in A level physics (granted not much depth) to put the whole of mechanics into it (M1-4).



C4 is the easiest A2 module imo. I bet you're the only person on here who'll say FP1 is similar to C1! Most people would say C1 is by far the easiest. It's easier than Add maths imo!



Agreed. The coverage of matrices is tiny. It was only in FP1 for OCR and there wasn't anything to do with eigenvalues etc so I had to read this stuff myself :smile:



Why are so many people putting M1 near the top?



M1 is a prick of a module. Especially,like me, if you don't do physics! It's pretty tough compared to the other modules.
Original post by StrangeBanana
And it's a real shame so many schools are like yours, rather than his - meaning no disrespect


yea unfortunately its the same most places nowadays, I miss being able to talk maths with people during termtime :frown:
Reply 63
Original post by FailedMyMocks
M1 is a prick of a module. Especially,like me, if you don't do physics! It's pretty tough compared to the other modules.


Fair enough
Original post by StrangeBanana
And it's a real shame so many schools are like yours, rather than his - meaning no disrespect


well, my school had good results. But it was a boys school.

And I just can't think of any sense of being "hard" which is based on your ability to do maths.
Original post by spaceman11
Is A Level Maths considered piss-easy for Further Maths students?


No they're to complete different topics, like they only relate a tiny but and that's to do with numerical methods and C3
Well If you can not master Maths at A-level then there is no point in you doing Further Maths.
Original post by banterboy
well, my school had good results. But it was a boys school.

And I just can't think of any sense of being "hard" which is based on your ability to do maths.


The point I was making was that in many (comprehensive) schools, academic success isn't something that's seen as desirable/worthy of respect, and it's a shame. It means bright kids who could go on to do great things don't put in the effort.
It's all a joke at A-Level. STEP is where it's at :wink:
Original post by Foxab77
It's all a joke at A-Level. STEP is where it's at :wink:


In my opinion STEP is actually not nearly as hard (not saying it's easy) as a lot of maths aimed at sixth-formers such as olympiads.
I feel that although challenging, STEP generally leads you through the questions whilst in things like olympiads you have to really problem solve and work out everything on your own.
Other people might think differently though.
Original post by IrrationalRoot
In my opinion STEP is actually not nearly as hard (not saying it's easy) as a lot of maths aimed at sixth-formers such as olympiads.
I feel that although challenging, STEP generally leads you through the questions whilst in things like olympiads you have to really problem solve and work out everything on your own.
Other people might think differently though.


I'd say BMO2 is significantly harder than STEP III (which is fair enough considering only about 100 odd people in Britain take the former). BMO1 is a bit harder, but not by much really. The reason most people do so poorly in Olympiads is they don't have anyone at their school supporting them. STEP preparation you can mostly grind through yourself, because while the problems are harder, it is just A-level content. Preparing for Olympiads by yourself is far more difficult, because so few students will have come across geometry, number theory or combinatorics in any depth at school. They're not really accessible, unless you have a good teacher who's got experience with them.
(edited 7 years ago)
Further Maths is literally doing more units of Maths. You basically have a pool of Maths units. If you pick 6, you do Maths. If you pick 3 or 6 more, you're doing Further Maths too.

So it's a bit of tautology what you're asking. Do people doing extra Maths units find the other Maths units easy? They'll find it roughly the same.
Original post by ozzyoscy
Further Maths is literally doing more units of Maths. You basically have a pool of Maths units. If you pick 6, you do Maths. If you pick 3 or 6 more, you're doing Further Maths too.

So it's a bit of tautology what you're asking. Do people doing extra Maths units find the other Maths units easy? They'll find it roughly the same.


That depends on the module, I don't think you'll find many people saying fp3 is the same difficulty as c3 or 4.
Original post by BBeyond
That depends on the module, I don't think you'll find many people saying fp3 is the same difficulty as c3 or 4.


Not the same, but not particularly harder or easier to a notable degree. In the end it's all just remembering rules. It's like learning a new language.
Original post by StrangeBanana
I'd say BMO2 is significantly harder than STEP III (which is fair enough considering only about 100 odd people in Britain take the former). BMO1 is a bit harder, but not by much really. The reason most people do so poorly in Olympiads is they don't have anyone at their school supporting them. STEP preparation you can mostly grind through yourself, because while the problems are harder, it is just A-level content. Preparing for Olympiads by yourself is far more difficult, because so few students will have come across geometry, number theory or combinatorics in any depth at school. They're not really accessible, unless you have a good teacher who's got experience with them.


Do you have any resources for BMO 2 stuff btw? Now im happy with STEP im just getting into this olympiad business, but as you said it seems quite challenging without any idea of specific techniques/theorems to use beforehand. Any help would be appreciated :smile:
Original post by EnglishMuon
Do you have any resources for BMO 2 stuff btw? Now im happy with STEP im just getting into this olympiad business, but as you said it seems quite challenging without any idea of specific techniques/theorems to use beforehand. Any help would be appreciated :smile:


there's a thread with some stuff on it for BMO2 prep
Original post by StrangeBanana
I'd say BMO2 is significantly harder than STEP III (which is fair enough considering only about 100 odd people in Britain take the former). BMO1 is a bit harder, but not by much really. The reason most people do so poorly in Olympiads is they don't have anyone at their school supporting them. STEP preparation you can mostly grind through yourself, because while the problems are harder, it is just A-level content. Preparing for Olympiads by yourself is far more difficult, because so few students will have come across geometry, number theory or combinatorics in any depth at school. They're not really accessible, unless you have a good teacher who's got experience with them.


Wow only 100 in Britain, I think I knew that but I just realised how small that number is!!
What you've said is very true though. I would also say that from looking at a couple of BMO papers and solutions at times, BMO1 is somewhat harder than STEP III and BMO2 is definitely a lot harder.
Like with STEP, generally the ideas, problem solving and insight require aren't actually that abstract or hard, but if you did a STEP question without all the steps to lead you through it, it would most likely be almost impossible.

Yeah I've noticed that I might be terrible at olympiad questions (maybe a bit harsh considering I've never sat one nor had much experience at all) because of how completely separate it is from school mathematics and the fact that you would need to specifically prepare for it and learn how to tackle those types of problems completely on your own. And especially those geometry, NT and combinatorics questions are inaccessible to most students.
Original post by EnglishMuon
Do you have any resources for BMO 2 stuff btw? Now im happy with STEP im just getting into this olympiad business, but as you said it seems quite challenging without any idea of specific techniques/theorems to use beforehand. Any help would be appreciated :smile:


If you don't mind me asking what grades are you aiming for in the STEP papers?
Original post by ozzyoscy
Further Maths is literally doing more units of Maths. You basically have a pool of Maths units. If you pick 6, you do Maths. If you pick 3 or 6 more, you're doing Further Maths too.

So it's a bit of tautology what you're asking. Do people doing extra Maths units find the other Maths units easy? They'll find it roughly the same.


I'm not sure this is correct. When you take those 'extra 6', they're bound to be more advanced modules such as the '2', '3' and possible even '4' or '5' modules (like M2, FP3 etc.). And those modules are inherently harder. For example, compare FP3 to C3.
Original post by IrrationalRoot
If you don't mind me asking what grades are you aiming for in the STEP papers?


sss is the goal :smile: how about you?

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