A Level Maths!!

I loved maths at GCSE and got an A but since starting A level in September I've struggled so much and rarely have a clue whats going on. Luckily I've got the same teacher I had for GCSE for 2/3 of my lessons this year and shes amazing, still not yet given up on me despite everything, and she's probably the only reason I've not yet dropped it! I got to the point there was no way I was going to stick with it, but since talking to her I feel like I want to give it the best I can, given how much I wanted this in GCSE.

Last week we did our first assessment and I'd be genuinely surprised if I get more than 2 marks (will update tomorrow when I get my result!). Recently I've only felt confident in maths when someones talking me through it, but when I try to do it alone I hit a wall.

My other subjects are sociology, psychology and english language, which aren't really in the same field as maths either.

Anyway my real question is should I stay on and try my best to do as well as i can, or am I better getting out now while I can? I only have two weeks to decide, and either way I don't want to make a decision I'll regret.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

Hakiwadi

1

I'd say give it your absolutely best shot at it, I was the same. I got an A at GCSE and then at the start of my AS levels I was getting Ds and Es, just keep doing more and more questions and making sure you completely understand it. I also know some people that struggle with maths but kept it on and it has affected their predicted grades for uni so make sure that if you really aren't understanding it then you make the right decision whether to drop it or not. Don't be surprised if the first result isn't great, there's so much time to improve if you do choose to keep going with it.

Reply 2

JazzledJunior

4

Do not back out!

From what I can understand, you love maths and have a definite interest for it. Like with anything new, it takes time to understand it and feel at ease with it. Also, with maths, you learn in topics which means the current topic you are studying might be the one you find the hardest but the ones you study later on in the year you'll maybe find much easier. For example, I found the topic of arithmetic and geometric sequences to be such a huge step from GCSE but as the year went on I became more confident in understanding the maths concepts and answering questions on them.
The assignment should not be the decider on whether you're "good" enough to do maths but instead what you need to work on so do not worry ! (:

You've only just started A Level Maths fairly recently so the best thing to do is carry on with it through to around Christmas (at least) and make a judgement then. In the mean time, try to practise outside of lessons (past paper questions help!) and hopefully you'll gradually find it easier. With A Level Maths there are a lot of resources online, personally, I use ExamSolutions where there are videos explaining each topic.

Best regards,
JJ

Reply 3

physix111

I myself just scraped an A* at GCSE.

Got D's and E's for most assessments during the first half of the year.

Got a few A's and B's during the second half of the year.

Come out with a U - the exams were **ing awful.

Reply 4

aa98

10

With maths, the best thing you can do is practise! Initially I would go over topics on ExamSolutions (which saved me) and then I would go over past paper questions where I can apply that revision. Just keep going at it! :smile:

Reply 5

princesshan

OP

15

Thank you everyone!! I got 13% in the first assessment so a U, not great! Going to spend time with my teacher after school tomorrow going through things, somehow she still has faith in me to end up doing well?? I do want to keep doing it but I'm struggling so much so far!

Reply 6

aa98

10

Original post by princesshan

Thank you everyone!! I got 13% in the first assessment so a U, not great! Going to spend time with my teacher after school tomorrow going through things, somehow she still has faith in me to end up doing well?? I do want to keep doing it but I'm struggling so much so far!

Aww I know it's hard! You're learning so many different topics in a short period of time so it does build up when you don't understand them! Just keep aside a few hours every week just for maths so you can practise and go over the recent topics you are doing. It is hard but practise helps a lot, and do check out examsolutions.net as they have video tutorials on every topic! :smile:

Reply 7

princesshan

OP

15

Original post by aa98

Aww I know it's hard! You're learning so many different topics in a short period of time so it does build up when you don't understand them! Just keep aside a few hours every week just for maths so you can practise and go over the recent topics you are doing. It is hard but practise helps a lot, and do check out examsolutions.net as they have video tutorials on every topic! :smile:

Thank you!! Talked it through with my teacher yesterday, I'm just going to put in loads of work over half term and see how that goes!

Reply 8

User1212

2

This was me 4 years ago, my mock exams were E's and U's but i refused to quit, and got an A overall at the end of A2.

Reply 9

princesshan

OP

15

Original post by User1212

This was me 4 years ago, my mock exams were E's and U's but i refused to quit, and got an A overall at the end of A2.

Thats really encouraging! How did you do it?

Reply 10

User1212

2

Original post by princesshan

Thats really encouraging! How did you do it?

Practice! Practice! and more Practice! set aside a good couple of hours a week and work on your homework assignments, if you get stuck use examsolutions.com or m4ths.com

Reply 11

princesshan

OP

15

Original post by User1212

Practice! Practice! and more Practice! set aside a good couple of hours a week and work on your homework assignments, if you get stuck use examsolutions.com or m4ths.com

Thank you!!

Reply 12

angelscity

12

DO NOT GIVE UP UNLESS YOU REALLY REALLY HATE IT!
I'm in year 13 and took maths last year, at GCSE I got an A and was naturally pretty good at maths so I didn't practice a lot, I thought AS would be the same but I struggled a lot and did awful in mocks and kept getting Us and Ds etc, at AS i ended up with a U which is bad, I know but I definitely know it was because I refused to revise it properly and didn't try because I hated it! The point is, carry on with it if you really want to do well and practice tons and tons! Around January see if you've improved and if yes then yay but if you haven't and you really hate it then consider dropping it! Hopefully you'll do really well but remember A levels are different (but doable!!) so try really really hard at AS and make every single day count :smile:

Reply 13

princesshan

OP

15

Original post by angelscity

DO NOT GIVE UP UNLESS YOU REALLY REALLY HATE IT!
I'm in year 13 and took maths last year, at GCSE I got an A and was naturally pretty good at maths so I didn't practice a lot, I thought AS would be the same but I struggled a lot and did awful in mocks and kept getting Us and Ds etc, at AS i ended up with a U which is bad, I know but I definitely know it was because I refused to revise it properly and didn't try because I hated it! The point is, carry on with it if you really want to do well and practice tons and tons! Around January see if you've improved and if yes then yay but if you haven't and you really hate it then consider dropping it! Hopefully you'll do really well but remember A levels are different (but doable!!) so try really really hard at AS and make every single day count :smile:

Thank you, defo going to try my best to turn my bad grade around and see how it goes and how long my motivation lasts for! I'd love to be able to stick with it and do well but we'll see what happens!

A Level Maths!!

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