Additional Further Maths Discussion Thread

Hehe....

I think i know the basic material ... i had to self teach and i was only in year 10
so i think your saying M5 is bloody hard?

i haven't really tried any step questions....i havent fully covered C3&4 yet...i will though by the end of july... after my exams finish and then i can go back to a-level maths
i downloaded the pdf for free..
there is a couple books out there... i downloaded the 6 easy pieces and the 6 not so easy pieces...which is 12 chapters of the 44 i think
but the whole booklet is part of a 4 year course..

anyway,,,, i have already done M1,C1,C2 (91,92,93..respectfully)

what would you recommend on what modules to take next year..(i only want to do AS AFM)

ryan

Standardo! No, I'm just saying that many will find it hard without adequately grasping all prequisites

Can you send me a link? Everything I found on google looks dodgy Oh right, have you got access to the whole thing though? Or at least the first volume?

Feynman is such a lad! I looked up his favourite integration technique this morning (that was really simple!) and managed to solve this awesome problem! Why not give it a go:


Well that all depends on the following: what year you are in now, what exams you are going to have sat by the end of this exam season, what areas of maths interest you the most and whether you intend to eventually do A2 FM and/or AS AFM and/or A2 AFM (?)

I'd like to know where you're getting statistics on grades for the exam session we're now sitting from...

i dont think im ready for that type of integration yet

yeah.. i have uploaded it to my dropbox account..here is the full thing : https://www.dropbox.com/s/ws6aua49aifen5x/feynman%20lectures%20on%20physics%20complete%20volumes%201%202%203.pdf

ermm.... year 11 now, i will have only sat C1,C2 and M1 by the time i start year 12.. mechanics is by far the easiest ,, but i dont want to do statistics at all .. but i will have to in year 13,, but it has been 5 years since i did any stats... and that was at GCSE..only got an A in that module

i will do A2 Fm,,and most likely only do AS AFM ,,,

Ryan

Well come back to it in two years.. or if you don't want to learn things early, five

****ing yes! Nice one broseph!

Surprised you should say that, most people that do things early tend to excel more at pure maths (from observation), though the applied aspect of M1 is so small that it doesn't particularly call on the deep conceptual understanding that is needed for mechanics in general

HAHAHAHA, why on earth were you doing statistics GCSE in year 6?!?!

Stats is easy and S1 certainly has some useful aspects. I suggest A2 Maths: C3, C4, S1.

Now for the AS Further Maths, it is rather tricky. I would suggest you do as much maths as possible in year 12 but you might end up having done all of the modules that would be taught in your A2 Further Maths class (don't you have an AS Further Maths class btw? Meaning you cannot chose?)

Three options:

Minimal/easiest: FP1, D1, M2.

Most-beneficial: FP1, D1, M2 + FP2, M3, S2 (probably best to save FP3 until year 13 as the matrices relates to undergraduate maths quite a bit and yet is useless in terms of STEP etc...)

If-you-want-fun-stuff-to-do-next-year: FP1, D1, M2, + D2, S2, S3.

Nicely done, did you teach yourself? It sounds like you've had a similar experience to me with taking things early in that the pure modules are easy and get the applied ones tend to require a little longer to revise. I am concerned about you M1 score (S1 is fine) though I imagine this is because you have not done enough Physics yet to be comfortable with the visualisations and formulation (as you obviously wouldn't have any problem with the algebra). Perhaps consider re-taking but, if you can get near to full marks (or full marks) in other mechanics modules this will more than make up for it!

Cambridge say that they allow 1 or 2 blips but you must explain why you got those results and have evidence that it was a blip (perhaps in the SAQ?)

Sounds great! I can't imagine you not getting in (unless you have some exam disasters) To qualify for BMO2 in year 11 is mental, congrats! To put it into perspective, their interview will be a notch or two easier than BMO1 (though STEP requires extra abilities and talents, the general consensus is that, with preparation, it is marginally easier than BMO1, so I'm sure you'll be fine with that too!)

Have you had any support or preparation with getting through to BMO2? Because, in my opinion, it is 10x harder to get through without reading books on olympiad geometry and developing those kinds of problem solving skills by trying ssh problems! I personally didn't do it in year 11 and a few other years though I did get through to BMO1 last year. At the time I thought it was all impossible but now that I've developed a problem-solving mindset, I can do most BMO1 and some of the BMO2 algebra questions (though theres no change I'm here even going to read the geometry ones) What did you get on BMO2 btw?

In summary, work hard at FM and, if you get decent marks then you will get an offer, though when I say "decent" that means in the context of your school so if you're at Eton and have low 80s then you are most likely pretty ****ed but if you have that at other schools you might still have a chance.

-I taught myself maths last year (C1,2,3,4 M1 S1) in year 11, I did badly in M1 as I put minimal effort in over just one term, wasn't motivated, didn't have teacher's guidance etc.. But I am very confident in M2 and M3, especially M3, and I'm also hoping to get close to full UMS in physics, so hopefully that will show I am quite capable in mechanics This year I am having a few lessons with teachers, but they're really just there to mark work and answer any questions I may have, most of the material I cover by myself.

-I qualified for BMO2 this year, year 12 (although I have been advanced a year so I was 15), I'm the only person from my school to have ever gotten that far

- I wasn't really expecting it, the BMO1 was quite easy so I though boundaries would be higher, but I still got in, to my surprise. The questions in BMO2 just weren't working for me though and I got a pretty embarrassing result (1), as I didn't do a lot of prep for it. This summer I'm attending an intense summer camp for olympiad style maths in California for 3 weeks, and I will work hard throughout the rest of the summer, as I really want to get a respectable mark in BMO2 next year.

-Thanks for all the support! Sometimes I have days where I think my achievements are great and I'll be set to get an offer, then other days I come on here and see what other people are getting...

im thinking concentrate on my GCSE's first, then look back at A-level
i didnt start stats in year 6... when i meant 5 years ago i meant when i was in year 13..so it would be 5 years since i did stats, when i was in year 13
i did it nov yr8

well yeah the school im going to move to will do C1-3,M1-2 and Fp1 in year 12...then C4,D1,S1-2,M3,FP2 in year 13
i am thinking of completing C1-4,M1-2,Fp1-2 and D1-2 in year 12..and Fp3,S1-2,M3-4 in yer 13

but that is only if i finish doing C4,Fp1 and a bit of M2 before the start of year 12

how long did it take you to do the modules? ... in terms of content jump per modular context which is the highest?

Ryan

Omg that literally sounds like the best thing ever Dude, you're gonna destroy it! If you want to get good at BMO2-style things then go on www.brilliant.org and stuff like that! Also check some of the problems on "The Proof Is Trivial" (before it got taken over by advanced level maths so problems 80-100ish perhaps?) At the start of the year I could barely do BMO1-style questions but now I can have a crack at anything amongst the topics I'm good at, all as a result of just getting obsessed with doing maths all the time!

Thanks so much for introducing me to Brilliant! The problems are great- however in number theory I messed up one of the 'assessment' questions so got stuck in level 4 and solved all the weeks problems quite quickly but they were fun whilst they lasted, I'm guessing they're about cambridge interview level. I had a glance at T.P.I.T, the problems look like they need a bit more attention

...

I'm doing the AS of this.

I don't know exactly which modules will count to which subject but I'd imagine it'll end up M3, S4 (my favourite) and FP3 counting towards AFM and S3 and FP2 towards my FM... you guys doing M4 and M5... you suck. I hate you I could probably hack D2 but would hate it...

Your favourite module is S4, what do you know?

I know about the t-distribution and the F-distribution and consistent estimators and Type I and II Errors

I find the estimators topic fairly interesting but nothing in S3 and S4 (in my opinion) is anywhere near as interesting as the stuff you do in M5.

Just had a little look through the questions. Stormed through the first few and then did the last few. I'm curious as to how you did "find the smallest integer n<1000 such that $|\sqrt{2}-\frac{k}{n}|$, where k is an integer, is smaller than for all preceding n".

I think that officially discussion of interview questions is supposed to be embargoed, as some interview questions are inevitably repeated. That said, one of the questions I was asked at interview had come up before in general discussion on the STEP thread (And is in fact a relatively popular question so I doubt I was the only one) and I know that another one I received at interview has been leaked on here and discussed in certain threads. However, any time I've seen someone explicitly post an interview question (i.e. they said it was one of them) the question has been removed.

I'm doing the AS of this.

I don't know exactly which modules will count to which subject but I'd imagine it'll end up M3, S4 (my favourite) and FP3 counting towards AFM and S3 and FP2 towards my FM... you guys doing M4 and M5... you suck. I hate you I could probably hack D2 but would hate it...

Tbf, the more I do M3, the more I get into it the easier it is but I can still imagine M4 and M5 being awful.

Good luck

I know about the t-distribution and the F-distribution and consistent estimators and Type I and II Errors

Also I use brilliant.org

I can't seem to find that question.. I've done the weekly ones from number theory level 4, it doesn't seem to be in there? Thanks for the interview advice, I would really like to shine there, hopefully my work over the summer will enable me to do so.