The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

additional further maths a level

if you aren't aware it's been discontinued, i'm just curious to see who\how many would be interested in it had it have been available to take xD

Scroll to see replies

I would have considered it a lot, but honestly I see no reason to take it as I would prefer to spend my time on the normal FM A level, my other A levels and STEP etc haha.

How about yourself? I suppose if you know you can do it without affecting your other grades, there is no reason not too. Just more pressure.
Reply 2
Avatar for TSR George
TSR George
OP
17
Original post by richmaths
I would have considered it a lot, but honestly I see no reason to take it as I would prefer to spend my time on the normal FM A level, my other A levels and STEP etc haha.

How about yourself? I suppose if you know you can do it without affecting your other grades, there is no reason not too. Just more pressure.

ok, yeah i understand that
yeah true only reason i was wanting for it to exist is i've learnt a lot of the modules out of interest so i thought why not get it examined officially as well, ig i thought if there's enough demand for it then maybe it could be "reinvigorated".
apparently department for education have to review qualifications every few years which is what's happening here, but idk why they didn't re release it with the other 2
Pretty sure there was never enough of a demand anyway. Was always overkill. Maths and FM is enough. Plus doing something else at 16-18 is probably a good idea as I'm not sure only doing maths from 16-21 is really the best idea.
Reply 4
Avatar for Compost
Compost
19
There were only a ever few hundred entries a year, mostly from private schools or people who self taught it. It only really existed because there was a choice of units in Maths and Further Maths - AFM just contained all the remaining units.
Reply 5
Avatar for TSR George
TSR George
OP
17
Original post by zetamcfc
Pretty sure there was never enough of a demand anyway. Was always overkill. Maths and FM is enough. Plus doing something else at 16-18 is probably a good idea as I'm not sure only doing maths from 16-21 is really the best idea.

that's true, although i meant like relative demand compared to how it was in the past (even if it was like barely 500 odd before), was just asking to see if there's anyone at all interested in it. in my case i would be doing it (done the modules) additionally to other a levels so it wouldn't risk over specialisation
did you do your a levels back when they were "modular"?
Reply 6
Avatar for TSR George
TSR George
OP
17
Original post by Compost
There were only a ever few hundred entries a year, mostly from private schools or people who self taught it. It only really existed because there was a choice of units in Maths and Further Maths - AFM just contained all the remaining units.

yeah that's a point, although there is a degree of choice in these a levels too. you need to choose any 2 optional modules for further (with a constraint being you can't do X2 if you haven't done X1 where X is a module identifier), so i can't see why it's not possible to just say eg. "do 4 extra modules from the remaining, with the previous constraint still applying". just for argument's sake lol
Reply 7
Avatar for Compost
Compost
19
With the current system for Edexcel at least, you can enter for extra units for FM and they will calculate your final grade using your best 2 optional units -but what you can't do is get another A level out of it.
Yes. Much better system than the current.
Reply 9
Avatar for TSR George
TSR George
OP
17
Original post by Compost
With the current system for Edexcel at least, you can enter for extra units for FM and they will calculate your final grade using your best 2 optional units -but what you can't do is get another A level out of it.

yep i understand that :biggrin: my point was that there could have been an additional FM a level in the new spec using a method as described, similarly to how there was in the past, but they decided against it and i was confused as to how come (demand can only increase generally (or stabilise) with time, and there are still modules and choice available). my conclusion is that it's due to the restrictions in choices of what combination you can take, and perhaps they got lazy to implement another solution for AFM, but i may be missing something (maybe funding?)
Original post by zetamcfc
Yes. Much better system than the current.

ah ok, how come? i guess from the student's perspective it would have made things easier right?
I think it was only Edexcel that offered it (and it had almost happened by chance) but Ofqual decided, very early on, not to develop criteria for it so no exam board could offer it..
You could pick which ones you wanted to do. They would also rearrange the modules to give you the best grades. Say if on my decision I got 90 ums but on say mechanics that I did for FM I did poorly. They would swap the decision to add to the FM to give me a better grade as long as it didn't reduce the normal maths grade.
Most Sixth Forms and Colleges do FS1 and FD1 or FM1 and FD1. Although some like to do FM1 and FM2 or FD1 and FD2.
Original post by Compost
I think it was only Edexcel that offered it (and it had almost happened by chance) but Ofqual decided, very early on, not to develop criteria for it so no exam board could offer it..

oh right, that’s unlucky lol. do you know how it happened (you say it was offered by chance?)
Original post by zetamcfc
You could pick which ones you wanted to do. They would also rearrange the modules to give you the best grades. Say if on my decision I got 90 ums but on say mechanics that I did for FM I did poorly. They would swap the decision to add to the FM to give me a better grade as long as it didn't reduce the normal maths grade.

ah got you, and this would transfer generally to any subject? i think the new FM still has a similar criteria however it’s less “free” than that
Original post by thegeek888
Most Sixth Forms and Colleges do FS1 and FD1 or FM1 and FD1. Although some like to do FM1 and FM2 or FD1 and FD2.

mine did fp1 fs1 last year, i think this year they offered fm1 fs1
No only maths, from my experience.
No, as Maths and FM (and AFM) were the only subjects where the modules were applicable to more than one A level.

FM has choice, but only within the A level itself (which is true for some other subjects -e.g. History) but there is no choice within Maths anymore so nothing can swap between them.
Original post by Compost
No, as Maths and FM (and AFM) were the only subjects where the modules were applicable to more than one A level.

FM has choice, but only within the A level itself (which is true for some other subjects -e.g. History) but there is no choice within Maths anymore so nothing can swap between them.

Original post by zetamcfc
No only maths, from my experience.

sorry for the delay
ok understood, i guess it means they saw the 3 maths a levels as categorically having the same massive bunch of content, just separated out into separate a levels conventionally (and to have manageable chunks). the new exam papers are more challenging tho, to what extent do you think the modular exams had broader coverage of content?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you