Mature student wanting to study AS/A2 Maths

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. I already have a degree and have been working in music and IT for a number of years. When I was at school I never got the opportunity to study A-Level Maths as it conflicted with Music.

I'm looking for AS/A2 Maths courses that I can do in the evenings. I live in Chester and am looking for colleges that do this, but all I see are full-time courses held through the day.

Are my only options

1) private tutor
2) online courses

Has anyone else done AS/A2 Maths later in life? What did you do?

Any advice would be really helpful

Mr Alexander

Original post by mralexander

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. I already have a degree and have been working in music and IT for a number of years. When I was at school I never got the opportunity to study A-Level Maths as it conflicted with Music.

I'm looking for AS/A2 Maths courses that I can do in the evenings. I live in Chester and am looking for colleges that do this, but all I see are full-time courses held through the day.

Are my only options

1) private tutor
2) online courses

Has anyone else done AS/A2 Maths later in life? What did you do?

Any advice would be really helpful

Mr Alexander

You could teach yourself and enter the exams as an external candidate. This is easier to do for maths than most other subjects as no component needs to be assessed by the Centre (there is no coursework).

What grade did you get at GCSE (or O Level)?

Reply 2

mralexander

OP

1

I got A in Maths GCSE (A* didnt exist then) :smile:

Reply 3

mralexander

OP

1

Also which exam board syllabus do I follow?

Edexcel? AQA?

Original post by mralexander

I got A in Maths GCSE (A* didnt exist then) :smile:

So long as you haven't forgotten everything you ever knew, you will probably manage to self-teach.

I'd go to your local library and borrow a GCSE Higher revision guide and make sure you can still:

Add, subtract, multiply and divide fractions
Collect like terms and substitute values into an expression
Understand indices
Understand surds
Solve linear equations
Expand brackets and factorise
Solve quadratic equations by factorising, completing the square and using the formula
Use sin, cos and tan to solve problems involving right-angled triangles
Use the sine rule and cosine rule
Understand the equation of a straight line

Original post by mralexander

Also which exam board syllabus do I follow?

Edexcel? AQA?

Up to you. There is a common core so most of the content is the same.

There is Edexcel, AQA, OCR, OCR MEI and others.

The most popular is Edexcel and there are plenty of decent online resources to help you with this specification. There is coursework in OCR MEI so avoid this specification.

You will take:

Core 1, Core 2, Core 3, Core 4 and two applications modules (this can be mechanics, statistics or decision maths). The possible combinations are M1+M2, S1+S2, D1+D2, M1+S1, M1+D1, S1+D1. I'd suggest you choose a pair of modules numbered 1 as this is arguably an easier pathway.

Reply 6

maggiehodgson

14

Original post by mralexander

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. I already have a degree and have been working in music and IT for a number of years. When I was at school I never got the opportunity to study A-Level Maths as it conflicted with Music.

I'm looking for AS/A2 Maths courses that I can do in the evenings. I live in Chester and am looking for colleges that do this, but all I see are full-time courses held through the day.

Are my only options

1) private tutor
2) online courses

Has anyone else done AS/A2 Maths later in life? What did you do?

Any advice would be really helpful

Mr Alexander

I too am a mature student. I decided to have a go at self teaching as I couldn't find any evening classes.

I've used AQA books and TSR and it's been hard work for me - it's been fun though. It's taken me two years whilst still working part time in the evenings. I took C1, C2 and S1 at AS level and then C3 C4 D1 and M1 in yr 2. I sat the exams at a local school - I think finding a school/college that takes external candidates won't be too hard and if you ask one place that doesn't do them I'd imagine they'd be able to let you know of somewhere local.

I was pretty up-to-date with GCSE maths before I embarked on A level and Mr M's advice on checking your current status in maths is good.

Mature student wanting to study AS/A2 Maths

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