Is additional maths GCSE hard?

Scroll to see replies

I see well you must be a good teacher! by the way like last year when you posted GCSE unofficial mark scheme's will you do it this year for alevels? like the june one you almost instantly posted online after I took the exam it was quite nice so I don't get ultra happy or ultra dissapointed.

I post answers to OCR A Level papers. Arsey does the same for Edexcel A Level papers.

Reply 21

Robbie242

Original post by Mr M

I post answers to OCR A Level papers. Arsey does the same for Edexcel A Level papers.

Oh thanks! I'm with edexcel

Reply 22

Alix23

I'm going to be self studying add maths on top of finishing the GCSE in school, possible?

Reply 23

Mr M

Study Forum Helper

Original post by Alix23

I'm going to be self studying add maths on top of finishing the GCSE in school, possible?

Possible but difficult. Will you be receiving any tuition?

Reply 24

Alix23

Original post by Mr M

Possible but difficult. Will you be receiving any tuition?

Yep, seeing my tutor for the first time tomorrow :smile:

Reply 25

username714290

I got E for it because my teacher was terrible and we spent most of the year doing our statistics coursework
It is a lot of work and difficult but if you can understand it easily, it'll be fine for you

Reply 26

Samriddha

I think it depends on how much you like and enjoy Maths. If you are naturally very good at Maths, then you should be able to manage it, but since it has AS level Maths it will take some work as it will seem much more difficult then your standard GCSE work. If you are someone who could probably get an A* in GCSE Maths without revising, it's probably worth doing, otherwise consult your teacher. You could still manage it, but alongside 11 GCSEs it might be unnecessary to increase your work load. 11 A*s or whatever would look better than 6 A*s 5 As and a C in FSMQ. I'm presuming a lot but just giving you an opinion. Good luck! I'm sure you'll do well if you decide on doing it! :smile:

Reply 27

nombo

Original post by Mr M

Yes but they don't pay an awful lot of attention to them. I thought you were talking about social situations e.g. "Hey great to meet you dude. I've got 10 GCSEs and 1 FSMQ."

Oh, I do that all the time too.

I joke.

Reply 28

ubi1

i want a grade A in maths gcse what must i do and what percent is that in exam?

Reply 29

ubi1

what must i do to get a grade A in maths gcse?

Reply 30

nombo

Original post by ThatPerson

I'm in Year 11 and I will be taking the additional maths GCSE this year. Is it hard and is there a lot to learn? We will learn all the content this year.

Also if you did additional maths GCSE, what were your experiences like? And did it help with A-Level maths if you did that as well?

Thanks.

Hey, how's it going? I've finished GCSE Maths (in Nov), and I got an A*! Not that high-scoring - 81% and 70% - but it doesn't matter! Now I'm preparing for Add and GCSE seems so much easier! Are you finding that too?

Reply 31

ThatPerson

Original post by nombo

Yeah, it's definitely way more manageable than I first thought. Sometimes I found concepts initially challenging (I was completely confused with Matrices for about an hour; 2x2 multiplication just didn't click), they eventually clicked.

Although the papers are much harder than GCSE level. I can usually finish those papers quite quickly and get an A*, but these papers require me to take my time and be more careful on each question.

Reply 32

tory88

Additional Maths was fantastically helpful at A level, in fact our maths teacher largely skipped over most of C1 and C2 - 2/3s of the AS.

Reply 33

Rhetorical Hips

As a student that is doing last minute revision right now? Yep it's pretty hard, but it is meant to be an extra challenge for the better pupils. If you're offered it I'm sure the school has faith in you. And yeah it is nice to have an extra qualification to give you an edge over others (even if unis don't really look at your GCSEs). Also, there is the bonus of already having done some of the course if you choose maths at A-level (given that you can do add maths, you clearly are good at maths and could probably do A-level).

Saying that though I'm doing the WJEC Additional Maths so I don't know if things are different with our board. I mean with WJEC there is no grade system, just pass, merit and distinction. If you fail it doesn't come up on your results.

And yeah I'm only a student so this is all speculation from what I've been told.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 34

Femto

It may be an excellent module for some, but I didn't take it at all. And it didn't seem to affect my grades at all - or the ease in understanding certain concepts - when it came to A level. I'd say if you're in tune mathematically already then taking Additional Maths may be more dependent on your level of interest in mathematics itself rather than how useful it may be.

Reply 35

donkey123

Gcses are piss easy, you'll be fine.

Original post by ThatPerson

Do you think it will take a lot of extra work? I already have 11 GCSEs to worry about :smile:

I just want to ascertain how it will be so I don't become swamped with work.

Reply 36

ThatPerson

Original post by donkey123

Gcses are piss easy, you'll be fine.

Who resurrected this thread?

I posted it in 2012; I've finished it now :tongue:

Reply 37

AparnaX

I finished ocr additional maths this year and found it fairly easy by the end. In the beginning it was kind of like wtf especially things like binomial expansion. But its not actually too bad. However, my maths teacher was absolutely excellent and we did loads of practise in class so I don't know if you'll have a similar experience unless you have a great teacher too. I mean, at home, I didn't even revise much. I did like 2 or 3 past papers before the exam and then found the exam quite easy so it shows how well school had prepared me.

But then despite the preparation people in my class who got easy A*s in the igcse were getting Ds, Es and Us in additional. A few didn't even bother taking the exam. So I guess it depends on the person. At the other end of the spectrum 2 students got 100% in the additional maths mock.

For me personally, additional maths was a pretty good experience as I found edexcel igcse extremely easy so I didn't have to spend much time on it at all. But it all depends on how you find it. My advice would be to listen in the lessons, make sure you understand everything and make connections. Don't waste your time learning stupid formulas like how to find the length of a line on a graph because its just the bloody pythagoras theorem. Suvat equations and binomial expansion (to some extent) are the only things you'll just have to memorise, so ensuring you understand everything will really help.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 38

Lily<3

Hmmm, our school is making anyone who Is in set one (around 60 people in total I think) take add maths as well as our GCSE maths. Whilst I guess it might make me better at maths I'm not very happy about it as I think it will just add more pressure onto everything else! Hardly anyone wants to do it :frown:

and no, its not optional unless you get moved down which seems a bit unfair... ah well, maybe I'll be happy if I end up taking it at a-level and it means I find the work easier!