My journey to 95+ UMS

Original post by Purpleunicorn197

X

Right, you're not confident you'll achieve 95+ UMS in every module (as you've made a thread about it), but you're taking C3 a year early when you don't have to. Your overall aim would be more realistic if you weren't trying to impress everyone by taking a module that's a waste of your time and effort, when you don't need to.

If you don't do as well as you want in C3 and have to resit it, you will have to declare the resit on your UCAS application. The universities you are presumably aspiring to will not like this at all and it will harm your application.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 2

OP

So its exactly 1 month until my C1 exam but I have no real intention of doing much C1 until closer to the time- bigger fish to fry!

I did a STEP I question this morning and it took me just under an hour and I did okay, the question was quite graph centered and questions involved graphs, particularly sketching are my strong point. From it I learned to be quicker to spot opportunities to use previous parts of the question- it was okay though.

Then I did a C3 past paper (June 2010) and got 73/75 so I need to work on ranges for functions and I should be fine.

I then discovered to my horror that my maths teacher had skipped out quite important parts of geometric series and differentiation in C2 that u would have otherwise completely missed!!!- its sorted now though

Did a bit of matchings revision from D1 and some series from FP1 and figured that I might call it a day.

Reply 3

OP

Original post by Glassapple

Right, you're not confident you'll achieve 95+ UMS in every module (as you've made a thread about it), but you're taking C3 a year early when you don't have to. Your overall aim would be more realistic if you weren't trying to impress everyone by taking a module that's a waste of your time and effort, when you don't need to.

If you don't do as well as you want in C3 and have to resit it, you will have to declare the resit on your UCAS application. The universities you are presumably aspiring to will not like this at all and it will harm your application.

See now there is a difference between doing extra because you want to impress and doing extra because you genuinely love and have a passion for the subject and craved more. I genuienely love maths and numbers more than people and I chose to do C3 because I wasn't challenged enough and because I just wanted more maths. So instead of criticizing me for taking on too much why dont you get back to your 5 a levels.

Reply 4

username2911200

Original post by Purpleunicorn197

See now there is a difference between doing extra because you want to impress and doing extra because you genuinely love and have a passion for the subject and craved more. I genuienely love maths and numbers more than people and I chose to do C3 because I wasn't challenged enough and because I just wanted more maths. So instead of criticizing me for taking on too much why dont you get back to your 5 a levels.

If you have a bad exam and get 85 UMS in C3, will you resit it? If you do it will have to be declared on your UCAS application, which will obviously make you look less a less attractive candidate. I think you should withdraw from the C3 exam now (obviously not discounting the work you've already done for it), and sit it when you should, to avoid this potentially happening.

If you genuinely love maths, why aren't you focusing on maximising the UMS you can get with the time you have, rather than sitting a module you don't need to sit? Loving the subject is one thing, making a stupid decision which could jeopardise your future for the sake of just doing it is another. You're definetly being challenged enough if you're not getting 100% on every past AS paper you do; there's clearly still room for improvement in little areas, that's a challenge in itself. If you want more maths, do more of the maths where you're losing the small amount of marks now, then do more maths over the holidays when you're not working towards an exam.

Yes I'm doing 5 A-levels, but I'm not doing my A2 work now. I have crucial AS exams coming up to declare on my university application, which I want to make as competitive as possible, without having to potentially resit anything I didn't have to.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

OP

Alright 72, 73, urggghhh 74 oh wait 75!!! So basically for most of the C3 past papers I've done I've tripped up on very small mistakes, the sort of thing one would see should they have checked the paper, but I am lazy so I don't. Mistakes I have made previously have gone to fixing exam technique but FINALLY 75/75!!! So happy!!!

Reply 6

Logic4Life

17

Original post by Purpleunicorn197

Alright 72, 73, urggghhh 74 oh wait 75!!! So basically for most of the C3 past papers I've done I've tripped up on very small mistakes, the sort of thing one would see should they have checked the paper, but I am lazy so I don't. Mistakes I have made previously have gone to fixing exam technique but FINALLY 75/75!!! So happy!!!

Well done! :biggrin:

Original post by Glassapple

If you have a bad exam and get 85 UMS in C3, will you resit it? If you do it will have to be declared on your UCAS application, which will obviously make you look less a less attractive candidate. I think you should withdraw from the C3 exam now (obviously not discounting the work you've already done for it), and sit it when you should, to avoid this potentially happening.

If you genuinely love maths, why aren't you focusing on maximising the UMS you can get with the time you have, rather than sitting a module you don't need to sit? Loving the subject is one thing, making a stupid decision which could jeopardise your future for the sake of just doing it is another. You're definetly being challenged enough if you're not getting 100% on every past AS paper you do; there's clearly still room for improvement in little areas, that's a challenge in itself. If you want more maths, do more of the maths where you're losing the small amount of marks now, then do more maths over the holidays when you're not working towards an exam.

Yes I'm doing 5 A-levels, but I'm not doing my A2 work now. I have crucial AS exams coming up to declare on my university application, which I want to make as competitive as possible, without having to potentially resit anything I didn't have to.

You have no basis for recommending that the OP should withdraw for the exam. The OP is clearly coping very well with C3, and is achieving marks that reflect that.

Are you serious? Even teachers may drop a mark or two through a careless error; does this mean that they are clearly being challenged by the content?

I'm not sure why you would assume that taking an extra module would compromise success in previous modules, especially considering a subject like Maths. C3 takes topics such as functions, differentiation and trigonometry further, in a manner that can actually help with C1/C2, also aiding the candidates in the understanding of these concepts, which is always a positive.

To be honest, this post sounds quite patronising.

Reply 8

OP

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Heyy,

So I'll skip out on this morning as I posted about it already but since then I didn't get much done if I'm totally honest, I did some past paper questions from M2 and I must say I really enjoy M2. However I'm still a little unclear about what happens with the reaction forces in terms of angles for some of the statics questions but I'll figure it out :smile:

After saving up for about a month I purchased a large whiteboard like the sort one gets in school, because that's where my best maths happens, on a whiteboard that is!! Best investment ever!! So on this newly owned whiteboard I did a really big mind map of pretty much all the fp1 content missing out the tail end of matrices which I will sort tomorrow!!

Will be up for a while yet, my brother needs to finish his computing course work and since he'll be doing that until all hours, I may as well keep him company :wink:

wish me luck!

Reply 9

black1blade

I mean getting 85 ums in c3 would hardly be the end of the world although I guess c3 is the important one in terms of getting an A* for the A2. To be fair c4 (at least in ocr) is a lot easier than c3 I find but yeah does seem kinda pointless to do it a year before. That said, I think even the toughest unis to get into can accept that you might have a bad day and mess up one exam. Maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better because I got 82ums in c1... Keep in mind that 100 ums isn't 100%, more like upper 90s so you can still make an error or two and get the max marks. I remember checking my c2 after doing it and being pretty sure I lost about 3 marks but I still got 100%. I mean I'm sure you could blag the I did it a year early card if you don't get max marks in c3, that's what I'm gonna do if asked about c1 XD.

Reply 10

OP

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Okay so keeping it short:
-C2 past paper this morning 72/75 (silly gradient error)
-FP1 past paper questions from the booklet given to me by the saint that is my further maths teacher.
-D1- went over chapter 5, I can't stand chapter 5 but will still carry on with it tomorrow... Then its just linear programming and then past papers all the way.

Then I did a STEP I question and I got it done in about thirty minutes!! Was really happy with this and it was done completely independently!!

Reply 11

OP

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Hey,

So I'm going to write for yesterday and today so...

I wasn't very well in the afternoon yesterday :s-smilie:

But in the morning I did a C2 and a C1 past paper and got 75/75 for both :biggrin:

And then got distracted on tsr for about an hour :colondollar:

.
Then I revised D1 chapter 5 which I finished today- I still don't like it but I don't despise it like I did before, I still struggle a bit with early and late start times, I can do the questions but I really don't feel confident. I also need to practice implementing algorithms, see I'm really lazy so I learned the content but didn't practice it... and that has come back to bite me...

I did my first full D1 past paper today, timing is currently a problem as it took me 1 hour and 25 minutes so I'd like it a bit faster and I got 70/75 and for that year it was 93 ums so I have to get that up a bit.

And lastly I did a STEP II question this morning (I was feeling brave :tongue:

), involving Gaussian elimination, and I did this one independently as well which I was hoping for!!! :biggrin:

Reply 12

OP

Hi,

I focused completely on further maths today, namely FP1, D1 and M2 and feel so much more confident in all three than I did at the beginning of the day which is great!!
D1- I finished revising linear programming so I have now finished D1 and its really solid now so it is just past papers from here on in.

FP1- I revised proof by mathematical induction and I definitely really like it now, once I find my system for things I really start to enjoy it.

M2- After an absolute atrocity of a past paper yesterday, I had a bit of a wake-up call with M2 so I spent pretty much the whole day going over statics making sure that I completely understand it and I do now and I ended up coming across a clever trick as to where to take moments from and dare I say I have gone from despising the questions to loving them!!!

Then a bit of Doctor Who and Casualty (I can't believe what just happened to Lily!!) and I'll call it a day there

Reply 13

OP

Hey,

Sorry, i haven't written anything for a little while, so I'll summarize what's been happening :wink:

I went to Cambridge today to visit the faculty of mathematics and I loved it so much there!! I have a lot more drive to get stuff done now.

I did my mock for C2 and D1 on Tuesday And should be getting them back next week but they both went well. I've got a C3 and M2 mock next week which should be interesting

I've been reading how to think like a mathematician (I forget who its written by) but I really like the bits on set theory and there is currently more of my own notes in the book than actual printed text :tongue:

And lastly, the biggest achievement of the week, I was feeling ridiculously brave one lunch time so i took to the whiteboard in G18 and did a STEP III question and this is how it turned out...

PS. I got it right!!! :biggrin:

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 14

OP

Heyy,

Had quite an interesting day today:

I did a STEP II question this morning and it took about 40 minutes for quite a strong answer which I'm happy with. I think I'm going to keep doing the STEP questions very regularly now, I'm a lot more confident with them so probably one every morning before school- although, knowing me that is quite ambitious.

Past papers:
D1 75/75 A
M2 74/75 A*
M1 70/75 A

All three are 100 UMS, which I'm very happy with.

So even though I have maths AS (and A2) coming up my teachers decided it would be funny to put the rest of my mocks the week after my last exam so I kind of have to stop ignoring physics and chemistry now...

So I went over my notes for circular motion today and I can honestly say, I really don't like it! I mean I can do it but I really don't understand it. If centripetal force acts to the centre (say if you were to spin a yo yo over your head) then what force is keeping the string taut?

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 15

black1blade

Damn you good. I haven't really tired any step questions yet but they seem really hard and intimidating and I really don't know if I'm good enough for them. Recently I've been getting pretty interested in science so instead of going for maths at cambridge, I think I'll go for natural sciences instead then maths with physics at other unis. Maths is definitely still my best a-level subject but I don't know if that ability to do well in maths papers simply comes from my: really good exam technique, ability to memorize things, very quickly see what to do on basic a-level questions and ability to scrutinize and check through my work to make sure I haven't made silly mistakes. Maybe I'll try out some step I questions over the summer to see if I can even do the basic ones but I'm not really optimistic that I have the ability to approach these much longer problems especially under timed pressure. Also yeah I'm doing all my further AS and A2 + physics and chemistry A2 next year so the prospect of having 2 3 hour maths exams seems like a bit of a nightmare...

But yeah awesome to see someone who is really talented at maths, who can tackle these step problems. Don't be complacent but as long as you work hard you'll definitely get into cambridge for maths I reckon :biggrin:

.

Reply 16

OP

Hiya,

Was soooo tired today!
School was rather productive though, everything went hill when I got home though, I was too tired to actually do anything.

I got my C2 mock back today and got 75/75 which was cool.
I had an FP1 mock this morning which I probably was told about, but I forgot :colondollar:

and then half way through it a year 7 class came into the room and spent the rest of the period there... so guess how that went.

I got some M1 done in my free and after school and have found that I get confused between M2 and M1 so I need to practice M1 vectors questions... for my M1 mock tomorrow- yeah not going to happen, I'm tired.

I taught GCSE further maths at lunch (my school doesn't have a teacher that does it, so I do) which was refreshing, we're sort of hitting the past papers hard now which resulted in the teaching of limiting values of sequences and some matrix algebra, the enthusiasm makes me happy :biggrin:

And I think I'll call it a day there :wink:

Reply 17

OP

Original post by black1blade

Damn you good. I haven't really tired any step questions yet but they seem really hard and intimidating and I really don't know if I'm good enough for them. Recently I've been getting pretty interested in science so instead of going for maths at cambridge, I think I'll go for natural sciences instead then maths with physics at other unis. Maths is definitely still my best a-level subject but I don't know if that ability to do well in maths papers simply comes from my: really good exam technique, ability to memorize things, very quickly see what to do on basic a-level questions and ability to scrutinize and check through my work to make sure I haven't made silly mistakes. Maybe I'll try out some step I questions over the summer to see if I can even do the basic ones but I'm not really optimistic that I have the ability to approach these much longer problems especially under timed pressure. Also yeah I'm doing all my further AS and A2 + physics and chemistry A2 next year so the prospect of having 2 3 hour maths exams seems like a bit of a nightmare...

But yeah awesome to see someone who is really talented at maths, who can tackle these step problems. Don't be complacent but as long as you work hard you'll definitely get into cambridge for maths I reckon :biggrin:

.

Why thank you :smile:

STEP is the sort of thing you kind of have to get used to, but the only way to do that is to start trying! One thing to note about applying for NatSci and Maths with physics is that might be a bit far spread in terms of personal statement. I do STEP so often because I genuinely really enjoy it and find it a nice break from the mundane, very repetitive A level maths so enjoying it does help with motivation. But you honestly won't know until you try! How come you aren't doing AS further maths this year? And yeah the idea of 2 and 3 hour long exams terrifies me as well don't worry about it too much though.
And honestly, the next person to mention the word complacent to me will get a chair thrown at them- my further maths teacher just doesn't stop :wink:

Reply 18

black1blade