A level Maths 2017 Thread (New Spec: Maths in First Year)

Yeah that's true but I was meant to take the old specs this year but suddenly switched to the new for Maths xD

How tf

Thanks!

I actually like the new spec better - the FM has an all pure option with modulo arithmetic, Euclidean algorithm etc and Cayley tables. Though volume of revolution is moved to FM but now has it over y axis. Small angle approximations and from first principles (differentiation) are nice additions.

The applied I think I'll be fine with since a lot of it I've already done with the older units.

Do you think the actual exams will be a lot harder than previosu C1-C4?

Do you think the actual exams will be a lot harder than previosu C1-C4?

I'm not in year 12 so I wasn't naturally meant to do the new specification.

Do you think the actual exams will be a lot harder than previosu C1-C4?

From looking at the specimen papers (Pure maths paper 1 and 2), they don't look harder.

From looking at specimen papers, the individual questions don't seem harder but there's not enough of them to judge. But there are fewer exams for the whole of A Level which means each new spec exam will cover more stuff than an old modular exam - this is going to make them harder for the average student. Also you can't do e.g. 30 C2 papers to get good at C2 anymore. I'd guess the difficulty will be similar to an IAL C1/2 paper or C3/4 paper but it could be harder or easier.

Because of a lack of papers and teachers not being familiar with the new spec, in the first few years the grade boundaries will be low like they were for 9-1 GCSE last year. It's very hard to guess what they'll be though.

One interesting thing for the 2018 exam that you will be taking is that the vast majority of students will be taking FM in 2019 so they will be high ability students. When I first heard that I thought this would mean that the 2018 boundaries would be high but apparently boundaries are adjusted to make sure there's no disadvantage taking the exam alongside high ability students.

U should be doing old spec then

Yeah, I agree that they may be around the difficulty of the IAL papers. I mean hopefully boundaries don't rise beyond something silly like 95% for an A* otherwise it'll be a bit dangerous

How far are people through the course? No idea if we are going through it quick enough

we started Yr 1 intregration

Are you doing the A level this year or next year?

How far are people through the course? No idea if we are going through it quick enough

Finished the old spec and soon the new - just got to finish the textbooks.

We've basically finished the year 2 applied but around half way through the pure year 2 i think, got a bit to go.

We've basically finished the year 2 applied but around half way through the pure year 2 i think, got a bit to go.

I think that's going fast enough at it. Is your whole class doing it early?

That sounds fine to me. If you only have half of pure Y2 to go then you'll only be focusing on that so that shouldn't take too long.