I&#x27;m Starting my GCSE Admaths Course, Should I be Nervous?

Original post by ruds0207

I'm in Year 10, and I just found out that since I'm in my year's top maths set I will be doing Admaths. According to my teacher, it will be taught on top of regular GCSE Maths as a sort of extension of the subject, but after reading about how hard it is I'm really not sure whether I will do well. I will obviously still be aiming for the highest possible grade and I usually achieve around 85-90% in a maths test. I also go to a grammar school, if that makes a difference.

do it! i do add maths (it's the OCR Additional Maths FSMQ (which stands for FreeStanding Mathematic Qualification)) and I love it. I'm in my years top set and I get similar test results and if you do indeed get the opportunity to do it, I say go for it (you can always drop out in year 11, your teacher just won't say so as they don't want everyone dropping out lol). hope this helps xx

Reply 2

joonigigi

Original post by ruds0207

I'm in Year 10, and I just found out that since I'm in my year's top maths set I will be doing Admaths. According to my teacher, it will be taught on top of regular GCSE Maths as a sort of extension of the subject, but after reading about how hard it is I'm really not sure whether I will do well. I will obviously still be aiming for the highest possible grade and I usually achieve around 85-90% in a maths test. I also go to a grammar school, if that makes a difference.

Heyy I'm a student in Year 11 and I sat my maths GCSE early and have already got myself a grade 9!
Currently I'm studying Further Maths and additional maths GCSE this year because I'm in the top set of my year too xD
Further Maths (in my opinion) builds nicely off GCSE maths and is great as an additional course! I'm also doing ad maths with this, our school decided to make us do these two in the same year. I've just started and it's really good so far! If you're good at GCSE content and want an extra standing qualification then go for it!

Reply 3

Original post by ruds0207

I'm in Year 10, and I just found out that since I'm in my year's top maths set I will be doing Admaths. According to my teacher, it will be taught on top of regular GCSE Maths as a sort of extension of the subject, but after reading about how hard it is I'm really not sure whether I will do well. I will obviously still be aiming for the highest possible grade and I usually achieve around 85-90% in a maths test. I also go to a grammar school, if that makes a difference.

Why are the school pushing you to do this? It's better to get a spread of grade 9s.

Reply 4

Rufus The Red

I'm really bitter because I was told that I could do it and then haven't been given the chance. :frown:

Spoiler

Reply 5

ruds0207

OP

5

Original post by Muttley79

Why are the school pushing you to do this? It's better to get a spread of grade 9s.

They're not pushing me to do it, my teacher has already told us that during over the next year if I don't enjoy the course or if I find it particularly difficult, I have the chance to drop out and move into Set 2.

Reply 6

Original post by ruds0207

They're not pushing me to do it, my teacher has already told us that during over the next year if I don't enjoy the course or if I find it particularly difficult, I have the chance to drop out and move into Set 2.

You should not have to change set in order to opt out ... what benefit do they claim for this qualification? Which actual one is it?

Reply 7

Quadrinomial

19

Original post by Muttley79

Why are the school pushing you to do this? It's better to get a spread of grade 9s.

If you're able to do well in your GCSEs then there's no problem in taking additional maths especially if you're finding the GCSE maths course easy. It's quite useful if OP wants to take maths/further maths next year.

Reply 8

Original post by Incede

If you're able to do well in your GCSEs then there's no problem in taking additional maths especially if you're finding the GCSE maths course easy. It's quite useful if OP wants to take maths/further maths next year.

No it's NOT useful at all - if GCSE Maths is taught well there's no need for any additional courses.

Reply 9

Quadrinomial

19

Original post by Muttley79

No it's NOT useful at all - if GCSE Maths is taught well there's no need for any additional courses.

I mean, I took it and found it useful, it didn't affect my other studies either so that's why I'd recommend it. Anyway, why not learn for the sake of learning, OP has already mentioned that they can drop out if they are struggling.

Reply 10

apolaroidofus

I really love addmaths - I'm self-studying it and honestly I haven't found it to be that hard. I've done calculus, algebra, enumeration and some of the trig and it really isn't that much harder than grade 8/9 GCSE type work. Obviously there are new techniques but the standard of questions is fairly okay (if you're using the textbook, you might find some of the ones at the ends of chapters quite tricky). The only thing is that there's a fair bit of content which can be tricky to remember, but a couple of flashcards for the formulae and method will take care of that for you. If you like maths you'll really like addmaths. Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 11

alevelss.101

Original post by Muttley79

No it's NOT useful at all - if GCSE Maths is taught well there's no need for any additional courses.

i found it really really useful as i found that it bridged the gap between gcse maths and a level maths. all my friends who didn't take it, struggled because of the huge leap between gcse and a level maths but all the add maths candidates found it a lot easier. it's a great course

Reply 12

Original post by isobeln

i found it really really useful as i found that it bridged the gap between gcse maths and a level maths. all my friends who didn't take it, struggled because of the huge leap between gcse and a level maths but all the add maths candidates found it a lot easier. it's a great course

As I said if GCSE is taught well it's not needed; too many schools don't teach the whole GCSE spec ... which 'course' are you recommending btw?

Reply 13

alevelss.101

Original post by Muttley79

As I said if GCSE is taught well it's not needed; too many schools don't teach the whole GCSE spec ... which 'course' are you recommending btw?

the additional mathematics FSMQ by OCR. I agree, schools don't teach the whole spec but add maths goes above and beyond what you'd need to know to even achieve a grade 9 in the standard maths gcse and add maths is a great extension to those who are naturally good at (and/or enjoy) maths

Reply 14