How To Revise A-Level Maths & Further Maths
Hey guys,
It's Darren. I'm a maths graduate from The University of Manchester. I've started this thread to give you guys some advice on how to improve your A-Level Mathematics grade. I've spent 5 years studying mathematics, and in that time I've learnt a lot about effective exam preparation, which will hopefully help you.
It should be noted that in all my time studying mathematics, I was never the smartest person in my class. However, my ability to revise was exceptional, which was evident from my consistently high grades. Whilst innate ability plays a role in how well you perform in an exam, I think technique and practice are far more important.
My credentials are listed below for your convenience:
I've put my advice in expandable boxes to make it easier for you to digest everything I have to say. There's a lot of it.
That's enough for now. You can find further information in the link below.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1375172&p=27126087
It's Darren. I'm a maths graduate from The University of Manchester. I've started this thread to give you guys some advice on how to improve your A-Level Mathematics grade. I've spent 5 years studying mathematics, and in that time I've learnt a lot about effective exam preparation, which will hopefully help you.
It should be noted that in all my time studying mathematics, I was never the smartest person in my class. However, my ability to revise was exceptional, which was evident from my consistently high grades. Whilst innate ability plays a role in how well you perform in an exam, I think technique and practice are far more important.
My credentials are listed below for your convenience:
•
BSc. Mathematics, First Class Honours, 89%
•
A-Level Mathematics, A*
•
A-Level Further Mathematics, A
I've put my advice in expandable boxes to make it easier for you to digest everything I have to say. There's a lot of it.
Understand the basics of problem solving.
Start problems with what you DO know.
Start with past papers, end with past papers.
Measure your progress by what you've achieved, not by how long you've been doing it.
Derive a result when you can, memorise it when you can't.
Solve questions of varying difficulty when revising.
Learn it, teach it.
Do not treat your study group and your friendship group the same way.
DO NOT CRAM THE SYLLABUS!
That's enough for now. You can find further information in the link below.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1375172&p=27126087
(edited 6 years ago)
What are the best resources you used to revise for maths, I try to do past papers but I always get stuck because I can never see the links between identities and other stuff. Struggling with c3 and c4 like mad. Can't even seem to get my head around how to work out domain and range for the life of me. I remember how to do most things but as soon as I get a question it disappears and I don't know where to start.
Posted from TSR Mobile
Posted from TSR Mobile
estelle247
What are the best resources you used to revise for maths, I try to do past papers but I always get stuck because I can never see the links between identities and other stuff. Struggling with c3 and c4 like mad. Can't even seem to get my head around how to work out domain and range for the life of me. I remember how to do most things but as soon as I get a question it disappears and I don't know where to start.
Hello Estelle,
Thanks for your question. Please remember to quote me for a response, as I don't check TSR regularly.
I used WolframAlpha to verify my results. This was important on nasty integration or differentiation questions, where I couldn't figure out the answer.
Also, if I couldn't understand something from a textbook, I usually Googled it. For domains and ranges, I found an excellent set of lecture notes here.
There were a number of times when studying maths when I wanted to punch a hole through the desk. It can be very frustrating not understanding things, but it is ultimately very rewarding when we do so.
Your mind goes blank because looking at the question triggers a state of panic. You can change this in the following ways:
•
Reduce your anxiety levels through things such as meditation.
•
Get comfortable with those kinds of questions by practising them a lot.
I hope that helps.
Cheers
Darren
Original post by DPLSK
Hello Estelle,
Thanks for your question. Please remember to quote me for a response, as I don't check TSR regularly.
I used WolframAlpha to verify my results. This was important on nasty integration or differentiation questions, where I couldn't figure out the answer.
Also, if I couldn't understand something from a textbook, I usually Googled it. For domains and ranges, I found an excellent set of lecture notes here.
There were a number of times when studying maths when I wanted to punch a hole through the desk. It can be very frustrating not understanding things, but it is ultimately very rewarding when we do so.
Your mind goes blank because looking at the question triggers a state of panic. You can change this in the following ways:
I hope that helps.
Cheers
Darren
Thanks for your question. Please remember to quote me for a response, as I don't check TSR regularly.
I used WolframAlpha to verify my results. This was important on nasty integration or differentiation questions, where I couldn't figure out the answer.
Also, if I couldn't understand something from a textbook, I usually Googled it. For domains and ranges, I found an excellent set of lecture notes here.
There were a number of times when studying maths when I wanted to punch a hole through the desk. It can be very frustrating not understanding things, but it is ultimately very rewarding when we do so.
Your mind goes blank because looking at the question triggers a state of panic. You can change this in the following ways:
•
Reduce your anxiety levels through things such as meditation.
•
Get comfortable with those kinds of questions by practising them a lot.
I hope that helps.
Cheers
Darren
Okay Thankyou so much, that's a lot of help, I'll be using that that wolf man alpha it looks really good, thanks for the advice, I'll definitely try it!
hello i do wish to achieve an A*/A on both Maths and FM to meet my offer. i dont currently go to school but i do have textbooks which i dont like using. is it possible to achieve those grades by just watching videos (E.g examsolution.net) and past papers?
Thank you for this. Though I’m not doing a-levels yet, I am doing physics, maths and considering FM
First of all i can I just say thank you for the thread, it puts the majority of I formation in one place so I don’t have to keep on checking over and over again.
I’m a current year 12 student whos studying maths, physics and graphic communication at a level. I immensely enjoy maths and have been good at it since I was young and thus got a good grade at gcse (8/a*). However, as you’re aware, a level maths is much different and harder. I seem to be only averaging 53-58% in my practise past papers and in school papers. This equates to about a D/C grade. I really do need an A in AS maths to be predicted an A for A2 as I need an A in maths for my university course.
My main question is, which method did you find was the most effective? I do past papers and questions from the text book often and this doesn’t seem to be helping immensely. Any help would be great!
I’m a current year 12 student whos studying maths, physics and graphic communication at a level. I immensely enjoy maths and have been good at it since I was young and thus got a good grade at gcse (8/a*). However, as you’re aware, a level maths is much different and harder. I seem to be only averaging 53-58% in my practise past papers and in school papers. This equates to about a D/C grade. I really do need an A in AS maths to be predicted an A for A2 as I need an A in maths for my university course.
My main question is, which method did you find was the most effective? I do past papers and questions from the text book often and this doesn’t seem to be helping immensely. Any help would be great!
asquaredplus
Hello, I wish to achieve an A*/A on both Maths and FM to meet my offer. I don't currently go to school but I do have textbooks which I don't like using. Is it possible to achieve those grades by just watching videos (e.g.: examsolution.net) and past papers?
There's no hard and fast rules for achieving the A*/A grade. If you prefer to use examsolution.net as a study guide then by all means do so.
Here's some tips I found useful when studying mathematics.
•
If you get an answer wrong, find out why you got it wrong, and then revise your methods accordingly.
•
Have someone that you can ask for help if you get stuck. Have them show you how to do a similar question if necessary.
•
Complete enough questions on a subject so that you feel confident that you can move on.
I hope you find this useful.
Cheers
Darren
amanverma11
First of all i can I just say thank you for the thread, it puts the majority of I formation in one place so I don’t have to keep on checking over and over again.
It's my pleasure. All the advice threads I've created have the same format. I too hate scrolling through replies for what I need.
amanverma11
I seem to be only averaging 53-58% in my practise past papers and in school papers. This equates to about a D/C grade.
Whenever I finish a past paper, I mark the paper based on the mark scheme. I then jot down all the answers to all the questions I got wrong then then reverse engineer the answer to find out the fault in my methods. I then redo the method, get the correct answer, and then check the mark scheme to see that I've applied a valid method.
amanverma11
My main question is, which method did you find was the most effective? I do past papers and questions from the text book often and this doesn’t seem to be helping immensely. Any help would be great!
I used past papers as a means of telling me where I should focus my efforts when revising. The things I kept getting wrong, I'd do more questions on. The areas where I was consistently getting all the marks for each question, I'd revise very little of.
In maths it's fine to be wrong. You just need to know why you're wrong. I hope that helps.
Cheers
Darren
Original post by DPLSK
Hey guys,
It's Darren. I'm a maths graduate from The University of Manchester. I've started this thread to give you guys some advice on how to improve your A-Level Mathematics grade. I've spent 5 years studying mathematics, and in that time I've learnt a lot about effective exam preparation, which will hopefully help you.
It should be noted that in all my time studying mathematics, I was never the smartest person in my class. However, my ability to revise was exceptional, which was evident from my consistently high grades. Whilst innate ability plays a role in how well you perform in an exam, I think technique and practice are far more important.
My credentials are listed below for your convenience:
I've put my advice in expandable boxes to make it easier for you to digest everything I have to say. There's a lot of it.
That's enough for now. You can find further information in the link below.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1375172&p=27126087
It's Darren. I'm a maths graduate from The University of Manchester. I've started this thread to give you guys some advice on how to improve your A-Level Mathematics grade. I've spent 5 years studying mathematics, and in that time I've learnt a lot about effective exam preparation, which will hopefully help you.
It should be noted that in all my time studying mathematics, I was never the smartest person in my class. However, my ability to revise was exceptional, which was evident from my consistently high grades. Whilst innate ability plays a role in how well you perform in an exam, I think technique and practice are far more important.
My credentials are listed below for your convenience:
•
BSc. Mathematics, First Class Honours, 89%
•
A-Level Mathematics, A*
•
A-Level Further Mathematics, A
I've put my advice in expandable boxes to make it easier for you to digest everything I have to say. There's a lot of it.
Understand the basics of problem solving.
Start problems with what you DO know.
Start with past papers, end with past papers.
Measure your progress by what you've achieved, not by how long you've been doing it.
Derive a result when you can, memorise it when you can't.
Solve questions of varying difficulty when revising.
Learn it, teach it.
Do not treat your study group and your friendship group the same way.
DO NOT CRAM THE SYLLABUS!
That's enough for now. You can find further information in the link below.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1375172&p=27126087
This thread may be old but I am doing Maths (of course) but I am going through the textbook and don’t be as many questions neatly organising each chapter in the topics. And was wondering if this was a way that would help my ability?
Original post by DPLSK
Hey guys,
It's Darren. I'm a maths graduate from The University of Manchester. I've started this thread to give you guys some advice on how to improve your A-Level Mathematics grade. I've spent 5 years studying mathematics, and in that time I've learnt a lot about effective exam preparation, which will hopefully help you.
It should be noted that in all my time studying mathematics, I was never the smartest person in my class. However, my ability to revise was exceptional, which was evident from my consistently high grades. Whilst innate ability plays a role in how well you perform in an exam, I think technique and practice are far more important.
My credentials are listed below for your convenience:
I've put my advice in expandable boxes to make it easier for you to digest everything I have to say. There's a lot of it.
That's enough for now. You can find further information in the link below.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1375172&p=27126087
It's Darren. I'm a maths graduate from The University of Manchester. I've started this thread to give you guys some advice on how to improve your A-Level Mathematics grade. I've spent 5 years studying mathematics, and in that time I've learnt a lot about effective exam preparation, which will hopefully help you.
It should be noted that in all my time studying mathematics, I was never the smartest person in my class. However, my ability to revise was exceptional, which was evident from my consistently high grades. Whilst innate ability plays a role in how well you perform in an exam, I think technique and practice are far more important.
My credentials are listed below for your convenience:
•
BSc. Mathematics, First Class Honours, 89%
•
A-Level Mathematics, A*
•
A-Level Further Mathematics, A
I've put my advice in expandable boxes to make it easier for you to digest everything I have to say. There's a lot of it.
Understand the basics of problem solving.
Start problems with what you DO know.
Start with past papers, end with past papers.
Measure your progress by what you've achieved, not by how long you've been doing it.
Derive a result when you can, memorise it when you can't.
Solve questions of varying difficulty when revising.
Learn it, teach it.
Do not treat your study group and your friendship group the same way.
DO NOT CRAM THE SYLLABUS!
That's enough for now. You can find further information in the link below.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1375172&p=27126087
Thank you for your amazing advice, if I had seen this sooner I wouldn't be where I am right now.
So i am sitting my a level maths exams in less than a month. In my PPE exams I got an E, which I was not happy with, but not exactly surprised. Since then, I've been doing loads of questions, going over the foundations etc. I'm really nervous for the exams and I'm not sure whether I can get a B or not. I know my core 1 and core 2 very well as i will be resitting those. Very nervous for c3, c4 and m1, but i finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with those. Do you think it's possible with loads of revision? And do you have any advice? Thank you
(edited 6 years ago)
I'm sorry I didn't see that I had been quoted by you both. TSR stopped sending me emails to tell me I'd been quoted. 
I'm not sure what your question is here. It is better to initially answer questions from different parts of the syllabus when revising, which is why I recommend past papers. When you've done this and identified the areas you're weakest in, you can go over those topics in more detail.
Hello Tania, thanks for quoting me. Use past papers to identify the areas in which you're weakest and focus your revision there. People that usually don't revise well are the people that try to revise everything. Only revise what you're not good at. I hope that's helpful.
gerib17
This thread may be old but I am doing Maths (of course) but I am going through the textbook and don’t see as many questions neatly organising each chapter in the topics. And was wondering if this was a way that would help my ability?
I'm not sure what your question is here. It is better to initially answer questions from different parts of the syllabus when revising, which is why I recommend past papers. When you've done this and identified the areas you're weakest in, you can go over those topics in more detail.
tania62
I'm really nervous for the exams and I'm not sure whether I can get a B or not. Do you think it's possible with loads of revision? And do you have any advice? Thank you
Hello Tania, thanks for quoting me. Use past papers to identify the areas in which you're weakest and focus your revision there. People that usually don't revise well are the people that try to revise everything. Only revise what you're not good at. I hope that's helpful.
I just want to thank you for this. I don't have a further maths exam anytime soon, so I was panicking about how much progress I was actually making. Then I got really demotivated because I attemped a past paper and had no idea what to do. I am certain your advice is going to help improve my confidence in further maths, and make my further maths grade match my normal a level maths grade!
Original post by benzeneboi
I just want to thank you for this. I don't have a further maths exam anytime soon, so I was panicking about how much progress I was actually making. Then I got really demotivated because I attempted a past paper and had no idea what to do. I am certain your advice is going to help improve my confidence in further maths, and make my further maths grade match my normal a level maths grade!
You're very welcome. It can take awhile to get through your first past paper, as there's a lot of filling in the gaps. Try to avoid looking at the solution, even if it means spending longer on working out how to solve the problem. I wish you all the best. Darren
Original post by DPLSK
Hey guys,
It's Darren. I'm a maths graduate from The University of Manchester. I've started this thread to give you guys some advice on how to improve your A-Level Mathematics grade. I've spent 5 years studying mathematics, and in that time I've learnt a lot about effective exam preparation, which will hopefully help you.
It should be noted that in all my time studying mathematics, I was never the smartest person in my class. However, my ability to revise was exceptional, which was evident from my consistently high grades. Whilst innate ability plays a role in how well you perform in an exam, I think technique and practice are far more important.
My credentials are listed below for your convenience:
I've put my advice in expandable boxes to make it easier for you to digest everything I have to say. There's a lot of it.
That's enough for now. You can find further information in the link below.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1375172&p=27126087
It's Darren. I'm a maths graduate from The University of Manchester. I've started this thread to give you guys some advice on how to improve your A-Level Mathematics grade. I've spent 5 years studying mathematics, and in that time I've learnt a lot about effective exam preparation, which will hopefully help you.
It should be noted that in all my time studying mathematics, I was never the smartest person in my class. However, my ability to revise was exceptional, which was evident from my consistently high grades. Whilst innate ability plays a role in how well you perform in an exam, I think technique and practice are far more important.
My credentials are listed below for your convenience:
•
BSc. Mathematics, First Class Honours, 89%
•
A-Level Mathematics, A*
•
A-Level Further Mathematics, A
I've put my advice in expandable boxes to make it easier for you to digest everything I have to say. There's a lot of it.
Understand the basics of problem solving.
Start problems with what you DO know.
Start with past papers, end with past papers.
Measure your progress by what you've achieved, not by how long you've been doing it.
Derive a result when you can, memorise it when you can't.
Solve questions of varying difficulty when revising.
Learn it, teach it.
Do not treat your study group and your friendship group the same way.
DO NOT CRAM THE SYLLABUS!
That's enough for now. You can find further information in the link below.
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1375172&p=27126087
Hi Darren
im going to be sitting my a level maths and further maths exams in 2021 but I will be sitting the new spec. There isn’t much to use for the new spec, for example we only have a few set of past papers to help us practise. Do you have any advise for any resources I can use to help me?
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