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A-levels subject?

Hello i just wanted to ask about the a level subjects i am going to choose:
whats the difference between: Maths,Further Maths and Pure Maths.

and what is the difference in what i would study in those thanks :smile:
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 1
hey
Well I studied/am studying Maths and Further Maths. Pure Maths wasn't an option; it was more or less included within the Maths and Further Maths syllabuses.
I am taking the OCR MEI specification for your interest.
So for Maths I had to study Core 1 (which is more advanced maths than GCSE with drawing graphs, algebra, finding equations of lines etc.), Core 2 (which is all to do with differentiation, integration, more graphs and is harder than C1, I felt) and Statistics 1 (this is some of the basic GCSE stuff then you go on to do distributions around the mean and then hypothesis testing)
For Further Maths I had to study Further Pure Maths 1 (this is all to do with complex numbers ie square root of -1, matrices and i think we are about to go onto graphs), Decision Maths 1 (this is actually really fun as you have to find the shortest length between two towns and you have certain ways of getting there. This uses a lot of algorithms and is very logical and uses a lot of images) and finally Mechanics 1 (which I haven' t begun but it is all about the motion stuff you would have done in Physics)

I think that generally Maths at A Level involves a lot more graphs, especially the pure maths sections. You also get to the point where they are making up letters to fit with previously unexplainable theories such as the square root of -1!) If you enjoy maths and want a challenge then do it :smile: I think it depends what modules you would be doing at your school and the exam board so look these up. I know at my school I had to do Maths to do Further Maths. I am only doing AS by the way so I can;t help you with regards to A2

Good luck :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by sophie2015
hey
Well I studied/am studying Maths and Further Maths. Pure Maths wasn't an option; it was more or less included within the Maths and Further Maths syllabuses.
I am taking the OCR MEI specification for your interest.
So for Maths I had to study Core 1 (which is more advanced maths than GCSE with drawing graphs, algebra, finding equations of lines etc.), Core 2 (which is all to do with differentiation, integration, more graphs and is harder than C1, I felt) and Statistics 1 (this is some of the basic GCSE stuff then you go on to do distributions around the mean and then hypothesis testing)
For Further Maths I had to study Further Pure Maths 1 (this is all to do with complex numbers ie square root of -1, matrices and i think we are about to go onto graphs), Decision Maths 1 (this is actually really fun as you have to find the shortest length between two towns and you have certain ways of getting there. This uses a lot of algorithms and is very logical and uses a lot of images) and finally Mechanics 1 (which I haven' t begun but it is all about the motion stuff you would have done in Physics)

I think that generally Maths at A Level involves a lot more graphs, especially the pure maths sections. You also get to the point where they are making up letters to fit with previously unexplainable theories such as the square root of -1!) If you enjoy maths and want a challenge then do it :smile: I think it depends what modules you would be doing at your school and the exam board so look these up. I know at my school I had to do Maths to do Further Maths. I am only doing AS by the way so I can;t help you with regards to A2

Good luck :smile:

Ok thanks really much so basicallly Further Maths is more difficult maths than Maths?
Reply 3
Original post by Shahid786
Ok thanks really much so basicallly Further Maths is more difficult maths than Maths?

YES it is. I have now done two-three months of it and I can't understand FP1 at all :O D1 is okay once you know the methods and M1 I've just started which is kinda fun but it looks quite difficult to get my head around. But yeah there is a point when maths just starts to go crazy and it's like they're speaking a whole other language :/ I think you will be fine. The main thing to do is to just practise questions and do ALL the past papers and make sure you get high marks :smile: I felt a bit like this with C1 and C2 last year but I got As in both modules after I did all this practice :biggrin:

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