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A levels maths problems help!

Alright, so I just started doing my first year of a levels and from the results from my GCSEs, I'm happy that I was able to choose from a wide range if a levels.
Maths stood out for me because I enjoyed the element of problem solving to it. And from my GCSEs I got an A so I was confident that I would have a decent grade at the end of my first year.
I just want to note that I know that GCSEs are behind me and that they now mean nothing but in the first lesson I felt that everything was rushed, and I was forced to do revision in order to understand it.

I recently did a test for stats, core 1 & 2 and I did okay with stats getting a B in that area. But for core 1 & 2, I got 2 U grades.
Now I understand that this isn't the end if the world, it was only a test. But thing that got me was that I thought I had the grasp of everything that I did in lesson and from my revision after school, but there were questions on the topic which I haven't seen before. I might of been stupid and not look through the whole topic, but I felt like those healthy amount of hours have gone to waste.
This made me wonder if I should drop the subject and find another one because I don't want the same repetitive scenario to happen over and over again. I have a deadline on the 30th of September if I want to switch subjects.
P.s.
I'm doing the OCR exam board for AS level maths and in stats test they had histograms, for core 1 they had length of lines and perpendicular lines. Then for core 2 I had trigonometry (solving trig equations, sketching cos sin and tan x graphs) if you have any sources that are useful for maths revision sources, don't hesitate to share and thanks for spending time to read this :biggrin:


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Reply 1
Original post by Fruitbasket786
Alright, so I just started doing my first year of a levels and from the results from my GCSEs, I'm happy that I was able to choose from a wide range if a levels.
Maths stood out for me because I enjoyed the element of problem solving to it. And from my GCSEs I got an A so I was confident that I would have a decent grade at the end of my first year.
I just want to note that I know that GCSEs are behind me and that they now mean nothing but in the first lesson I felt that everything was rushed, and I was forced to do revision in order to understand it.

I recently did a test for stats, core 1 & 2 and I did okay with stats getting a B in that area. But for core 1 & 2, I got 2 U grades.
Now I understand that this isn't the end if the world, it was only a test. But thing that got me was that I thought I had the grasp of everything that I did in lesson and from my revision after school, but there were questions on the topic which I haven't seen before. I might of been stupid and not look through the whole topic, but I felt like those healthy amount of hours have gone to waste.
This made me wonder if I should drop the subject and find another one because I don't want the same repetitive scenario to happen over and over again. I have a deadline on the 30th of September if I want to switch subjects.
P.s.
I'm doing the OCR exam board for AS level maths and in stats test they had histograms, for core 1 they had length of lines and perpendicular lines. Then for core 2 I had trigonometry (solving trig equations, sketching cos sin and tan x graphs) if you have any sources that are useful for maths revision sources, don't hesitate to share and thanks for spending time to read this :biggrin:


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What do you mean by the bit in bold?

If you've only just started A levels you won't be expected to know C1 and C2 yet! Or is this supposed to be testing knowledge you already have from GCSE as a prerequisite?
Original post by Fruitbasket786
in the first lesson I felt that everything was rushed, and I was forced to do revision in order to understand it.


The A Level teacher has probably assumed a strong understanding of GCSE maths

Were you set holiday homework or did you do some work on maths yourself to prepare

If the answer is no - then you are not alone BUT that will mean that you have to get your knowledge up to speed very quickly


The fact that you felt very lost in your Core Test is a worry - how did others in the class do?
The others in my core 1 mostly did the same, with about 3/4 of the class having U grades and 3/4 people who did alright in it

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Original post by Fruitbasket786
The others in my core 1 mostly did the same, with about 3/4 of the class having U grades and 3/4 people who did alright in it


That is more than a whole group


But if most people did get Us then the teacher needs to rethink his/her pace
Original post by Fruitbasket786
The others in my core 1 mostly did the same, with about 3/4 of the class having U grades and 3/4 people who did alright in it

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Are you sure you got an A in gcse, my friend? So 75% of the class got U grades and the other 75% did alright?

Nvm, these things happen. I used to get Us but changed them around. Work had brah, work hard
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That's what I thought, I didn't think I had an A at GCSE, but surprisingly I did. I guess that's the only way to through it, step the f up. Thing is, my maths core 1 & 2 book for the OCR exam board don't provide a clear on how to do some questions, is there any websites or YouTube videos that would help?

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And yesh, floorless logic on explaining how well my class did xD. What i was meant to say was that 75% got U in core 1 whole 25% got higher grades than a U

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Original post by Fruitbasket786
That's what I thought, I didn't think I had an A at GCSE, but surprisingly I did. I guess that's the only way to through it, step the f up. Thing is, my maths core 1 & 2 book for the OCR exam board don't provide a clear on how to do some questions, is there any websites or YouTube videos that would help?

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Original post by Fruitbasket786
And yesh, floorless logic on explaining how well my class did xD. What i was meant to say was that 75% got U in core 1 whole 25% got higher grades than a U

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Hehe, no worries man. We all make mistakes. Try examsolutions.net and search maths24/7 on youtube. Im sure there must be tonnes of other good stuff out there too which somebody else may want to let you know about

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Thanks man, stay awesome :yes:

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