Maths, Further Maths and Physics

There's an overlap in mechanics; physics' mechanics sections will feel trivial after maths' treatment. Maths and Further maths clearly have overlap in that further maths topics require some a level maths concepts. There's a strong relationship between the subjects. A lot of the problems in physics can be winged by just being strong algebraically (eg. electricity: look at the units, what do they imply about the relationship between facts you have? can you express some value x in terms of y based on the units you have available?)

An A*A*A is achievable. Especially if you are not spreading yourself too thin with disparate subjects, there is time to put the work in to get relatively good at these kinds of problems. Maths and further maths have a high proportion of As and A*s relative to other subjects.

Just keep on top of it, solve lots of problems, make sure you understand the ideas. You'll be golden.

I’m taking Maths, Further Maths and Physics for my A-Levels. I got all 8/9s in my GCSEs with 9s in Maths and Physics. For people that have already done these A Levels, how was the workload? How do the subjects tie in together? Which subject is the hardest (presumably f maths)?

Some insight would be brilliant as I am keen to maybe get A*A*A (or higher) and am wondering if this is even remotely possible.

Thanks all!

I’m taking Maths, Further Maths and Physics for my A-Levels. I got all 8/9s in my GCSEs with 9s in Maths and Physics. For people that have already done these A Levels, how was the workload? How do the subjects tie in together? Which subject is the hardest (presumably f maths)?

Some insight would be brilliant as I am keen to maybe get A*A*A (or higher) and am wondering if this is even remotely possible.

Thanks all!

I did maths and physics at a-level (due to receive my results this August, results day is legit around the corner).

Workload (maths):
So for maths, they pretty much got us in the routine from the start of year 12 of constant practice. Our weekly homework was usually a sheet of exam questions to do or an exercise from the textbook. The teacher would take the work in and mark it and give individual feedback. We would do unit tests at the end of each topic which the teacher would mark and give back to us. So from a workload perspective, it would only seem very intense if you had fallen behind on a topic or if ur understanding of the content was not up to scratch and the topics would link together so if u were weak on one topic it could make another topic very difficult for you. I just got in the routine of doing past exam questions but the teachers never really had the expectation of independent work outside of lessons, I think they just assumed we was doing extra work but never asked to see it.

In year 13 the whole concept of topics tests and homework legit went out the window. Their main priority was to get through all the content and we would have homework every now and then for pure but stats and mechanics did give us homework on a regular basis. The lack of homework and topic tests meant that the pressure was manageable but it ramped up when we got to the more difficult topics where it was then that our pure teacher decided to give homework lol.

Workload (Physics):
So for physics, workload was quite intense from the start tbh. The teacher set us so much homework at the start and expected a lot from us but then sort of calmed down. However, our workload consisted of reading ahead on sub chapters for the following lessons, summary questions, end of chapter questions, past exam papers etc. It did seem quite intense tbh but the teacher would rarely check homework, I think he just had the expectation that we was doing the homework but I would miss out on homework tasks as he rarely checked them.

Many years ago I did these.

I found physics the hardest, mainly because you need to invest some time into memorizing the content as opposed to the maths which is almost all conceptual. (When i was in school I was exceptionally lazy and didn’t really have good revision technique or focus, whereas the maths I could figure out without the need for tediously reviewing the content).

I really enjoyed the challenge of further maths and working through it. I would also say if you are competent at further maths it should make an A* at regular maths comfortable.

To get multiple A*s/As it requires excellent understanding and work ethic, and their is of course factors like resources, aptitude & personal admin will all play a part in what you achieve, but is certainly doable and lots of top students achieve this.

Their is some content overlap (at least their was in the old modular system), it will definitely help with one part of the physics syllabus but in truth kinematics is only one part of physics A-level and I don’t think it’s big enough to really impact grades.

I’m taking Maths, Further Maths and Physics for my A-Levels. I got all 8/9s in my GCSEs with 9s in Maths and Physics. For people that have already done these A Levels, how was the workload? How do the subjects tie in together? Which subject is the hardest (presumably f maths)?

Some insight would be brilliant as I am keen to maybe get A*A*A (or higher) and am wondering if this is even remotely possible.

Thanks all!

I'm doing maths, further maths, physics and French - but doing maths + physics in 1 year.
My combination is a very high workload and i haven't even started 6th form yet (i'm studying the same as you atm but haven't done much french work), and I'm already finding those 3 to be a high workload.
But it's doable if you are dedicated - I'd say start early and get through as much content as possible NOW before you start.
I'm finding further maths really interesting - much more than the boring normal maths - but physics is making me lose interest in the field tbh.
So yea start now and A*A*A should be acheivable

Maths, FM, Physics probably has the lowest workload of any combination, provided you're a competent mathematician - if you aren't a competent mathematician it might well be the most difficult. There's a lot of overlap, and the easiest subject is just whichever you find easiest - all A levels are equally difficult.

I appreciate the reply. However how do I know if I’m a competent mathematician? Will the work be easy or will it not be too hard to grasp?

You'll find out soon, I suppose. It's just about your ability to grasp new ideas and apply them creatively. If you're aiming for As and A*s you should probably be getting most concepts first try (although this isn't an absolute rule).

No problem - thank you
Yes I use textbooks - I'll give you a list of all the recourses I use (of course we probably do different exam boards but there might be equivilents):

Maths (edexcel):
I don't use actual textbooks - I learnt all the content through the youtube channels TLmaths (he is f**king amazing) and ExamSolutions.
Then for practice and to get to exam question standard I use the Pearson exam practice workbooks (there are 4 - pure AS, pure A2, stats + mech AS and stats + mech A2).
I also have the CGP workbook and I'm gonna do the 'physics and maths tutor' and 'maths genie' website questions later.

Further maths (edexcel):
I'm getting a head start by doing all of core pure 1 and some of core pure 2 before I start y12.
My modules are: CP1, CP2, further mechanics 1 (good for physics) and decision 1.
I have the Pearson textbook for all of these (which are great), and I'm using TL maths at the same time.
I think this will be enough tbf, apart from past papers of course.

Physics (OCR A):
For (AQA) GCSE, I read the whole textbook, making detailed notes, in about 2 months, read these and got a 9 no problem a year early.
I was hoping to do the same for A-level but it's a completely different game. Learning the textbook is nowhere near enough to get A/A*.

- I have the oxford OCR A textbook which is great, so i made most of my notes + flashcards from this and did all the questions
- I watch the Youtube channels Gorilla Physics (good for high level stuff), A level Physics Online and Science shorts (helped me add points to my notes that the book misses)
With physics, unfortunately you'll fail if you just learn all of the content (which is ridiculous i know). Most questions are about application, so you do need to know all the content, but you need to do LOADS of questions to practice exam technique, application, etc)
- The CGP workbook is amazing: the closest exam style questions that you can get
- I do the physics and maths tutor .com questions (but only ones labelled 'set 1' as 'set 2' are new spec past paper questions so save them for doing the actual papers)
- Get the isaac physics 'mastering pre-university physics' book if your school doesn't have the site, it's good for developing maths skills especially for mechanics + electricity
Also physics and maths tutor has good sheets explaining all of the many, many practicals you need to remember (there's not really a set list for ocr, but they've got explanations of basically all practicals that could come up relating to the content)

So basically physics is a mess but i'm just about getting there with those recourses - hope this helps

Okay cool. I didn’t find maths GCSE too bad (I got a 9 and took it a year early in y10), except for ratio. I could understand it and apply it, but there was always something weird about it to me 😂. I guess I do get ideas pretty quickly, so I’ll just work my hardest then.

Many people take these plus a 4th at my school. Why did you take Maths early? Unis don't like that ..

Have you got summer work to do?
If not these are great: https://www.drfrostmaths.com/sow.php?year=Full%20Coverage%20Revision%20Worksheets&term=GCSE

If you want to dip into A level - then: https://www.drfrostmaths.com/sow.php?year=A%20Level%202017&term=

I’m taking Maths, Further Maths and Physics for my A-Levels. I got all 8/9s in my GCSEs with 9s in Maths and Physics. For people that have already done these A Levels, how was the workload? How do the subjects tie in together? Which subject is the hardest (presumably f maths)?

Some insight would be brilliant as I am keen to maybe get A*A*A (or higher) and am wondering if this is even remotely possible.

Thanks all!

I don’t know tbh, my school made a few of us do it.
But I’m definitely going to be doing some of the modules on that website. Which ones are the compulsory ones? Obviously the core ones are but other than that?

I'd do the revision GCSE questions first - especially algebra.

Are you doing Edexcel? For FMaths there are options - we offer all but your school might not. It's worth downloading the spec so you know what you'll learn - Dr Frost is a teacher so it's a great website.

Have you done UKMT or looked at NRICH or Underground Maths?