Taking Further Maths AS in a gap year for an Economics degree worth it

If you have the time i would say do the full A-level. It would make you're application far more competitive.

Reply 2

noyou1234

If you going to take the whole year out, I would take the whole a level instead of just the AS. It just depends on what subject you want to do tbh.

Reply 3

Would highly recommend you take the full A-Level. If you are finding it too difficult, you could always just book yourself in for the AS exam, that's the beauty with A-Levels.

If you are going to learn it yourself, you need a tutor or someone who can check your work and provide you a UCAS reference, specifically a predicted grade. This was such a headache for me because I went through something similar. If you can sort this out, and manage your time and schedule well, why not? :smile:

Just make sure you are 100% committed

Reply 4

OP

Sounds like a good idea taking the full A Level. I guess my only questions to that are whether it is feasible to learn the whole course within 8-9 months and which exam board to take.

Reply 5

Original post by hqppys

Sounds like a good idea taking the full A Level. I guess my only questions to that are whether it is feasible to learn the whole course within 8-9 months and which exam board to take.

Which exam board did you take for your regular Maths? It makes the most sense to carry that on because those specifications are specifically designed to be co-taught. But I would recommend Pearson Edexcel for many reasons, but mainly because there's a lot of support and resources online for help :smile:

Reply 6

Original post by hqppys

Sounds like a good idea taking the full A Level. I guess my only questions to that are whether it is feasible to learn the whole course within 8-9 months and which exam board to take.

Definitely possible to do it in one year, a lot of colleges run it like this( doing maths yr1 and fm yr2) and you'll only have to focus on one subject. For exam boards i can only speak from personal experience as i've only experienced edexcel but i do recommend it. The textbooks are well written ( for core and mechanics, cant talk about the other modules) and there are a ton of resources online for you to use

Reply 7

OP

Original post by nnnabil

Which exam board did you take for your regular Maths? It makes the most sense to carry that on because those specifications are specifically designed to be co-taught. But I would recommend Pearson Edexcel for many reasons, but mainly because there's a lot of support and resources online for help :smile:

Currently I'm doing OCR MEI so I believe I would have to do both mechanics and stats. I've researched into Edexcel and from my understanding I think you can choose the components you want to do? When I was thinking about studying for the AS, I decided on taking Further Pure Maths 1 or 2.

Reply 8

Original post by hqppys

Currently I'm doing OCR MEI so I believe I would have to do both mechanics and stats. I've researched into Edexcel and from my understanding I think you can choose the components you want to do? When I was thinking about studying for the AS, I decided on taking Further Pure Maths 1 or 2.

You have to take two modules btw, either two from the 1 list or a combined 1 and 2

Reply 9

Original post by hqppys

Currently I'm doing OCR MEI so I believe I would have to do both mechanics and stats. I've researched into Edexcel and from my understanding I think you can choose the components you want to do? When I was thinking about studying for the AS, I decided on taking Further Pure Maths 1 or 2.

Yeah, for Edexcel you can choose your components I believe you need to do Core Pure but there's also Further Stats, Decision Making, Further Mechanics and Further Pure to choose from :smile:

Reply 10

OP

So an example component combination of Edexcel FM could be Core 1, Core 2, Further Pure 1, and, Further Mechanics 2?

Reply 11

Original post by hqppys

So an example component combination of Edexcel FM could be Core 1, Core 2, Further Pure 1, and, Further Mechanics 2?

According to the spec, for the optional module(s), you can either take any two from Option 1 or matching modules from both Option 1 and Option 2.

So the above combo wouldn't work

Reply 12

You cant take that unfortunately, to take a 2 module you need to take its respective 1 module. Alongside Core 1 & 2 obviously. The exams for the 2 modules are all on the same day/time so it's not possible at all. I would say that if you like mechanics then take a look at M1, chapter 5 is the only challenging chapter in it imo.

Reply 13

swanseajack1

19

Original post by hqppys

Currently studying Physics, Economics and Maths (A*A*A respectively) and got an A in EPQ, A in Computer Science AS, and, 5 9s 6 8s at GCSE. Been rejected by LSE, Warwick, Durham and St Andrews, still waiting on Bath.Looking at the rejections the reason they give is that the competition is extremely competitive. Thus I think the reason for my rejections is most likely due to not having Further Maths. If I achieve my predicted grades I will probably reapply and take Further Maths AS in my gap year. Although, I'm wondering how much of an impact it could actually make on my application especially at an AS level. Since it's at an AS level I'm not too sure if unis would care or regard it as a substitute of an achieved AS grade. Anyone have any similar experiences or any advice?

The big issue that you have to decide is whether you wish to risk retaking a year out and possibly getting rejected again or going this year to somewhere hopefully Bath. Most universities dont require Further Maths and you could apply to get into somewhere this year through extra. Birmingham, Cardiff, Lancaster, Liverpool, Loughborough, Newcastle, Nottingham, Queen Mary, Reading, Royal Holloway, Sheffield, Southampton and York are all showing vacancies. You would need to check with the university to ensure this is correct but you could apply to these

Reply 14

OP

Original post by nnnabil

According to the spec, for the optional module(s), you can either take any two from Option 1 or matching modules from both Option 1 and Option 2.

So the above combo wouldn't work

So Core 1, Core 2, Futher Pure Maths 1, and Further Pure Maths 2 or Core 1, Core 2, Futher Pure Maths 1, and Further Mechanics 1 would work?

Reply 15

OP

Original post by swanseajack1

The big issue that you have to decide is whether you wish to risk retaking a year out and possibly getting rejected again or going this year to somewhere hopefully Bath. Most universities dont require Further Maths and you could apply to get into somewhere this year through extra. Birmingham, Cardiff, Lancaster, Liverpool, Loughborough, Newcastle, Nottingham, Queen Mary, Reading, Royal Holloway, Sheffield, Southampton and York are all showing vacancies. You would need to check with the university to ensure this is correct but you could apply to these

Thanks for bringing up UCAS Extra as I forgot you could apply to more unis, although at the moment I am leaning more towards reapplying. Unlike this year I would definitely apply to a safety choice next year being York. I'm not sure how likely it is for York to reject me with achieved grades. Would the fact that I'm reapplying be the potential risk?

Reply 16

noyou1234