AQA GCSE Further Maths (Level 2) - 15 and 19 June

Don't worry - A Level (especially the early stuff) is a similar level of difficulty to GCSE Further Maths and a lot of the topics repeat.

A student who can get a C in Further Maths definitely has the ability to get an A/A* in A Level if they work hard (and assuming they got a good grade in the normal GCSE). And I'm sure you have the mathematical ability since you were given the opportunity to do the Further Maths course.

Hey, anyone doing further maths?
I haven't been a lot half the stuff (such as trig identities, matrices) so I know I'm going to struggle. I'm hoping for an A or B, but I wouldn't mind a C since I find it so difficult.
I can't imagine what A-level maths is like if I already find it hard now!

If anyone needs a hand with this, feel free to ask me - I got an A^ in this last year

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Hi there.

Personally for me, I struggle with understanding what needs to be done i.e. spotting patterns in for example the diagrams and applying my knowledge to them.

Would you say this comes with lots of practice or do you have some sort of method which you apply? e.g. do you know exactly what to do when a certain type of question is asked?

Any tips will be much appreciated. Thank you!

You've hit upon an idea right at the heart of mathematics.

Some questions, often those in textbooks, will be fairly transparent; you are taught a single method, and then use that method to answer some fairly contrived questions. It's normally obvious what you have to do, and there is rarely much thought involved. All this tests is your ability to rehearse and perform a method.

Other questions, for example those in many exams, will be tougher. It's not always entirely obvious what to do. This is probably closer to what I would call true mathematics. You have to have a good think about what you're going to do; there's nothing telling you what technique to use. This still tests sound knowledge of the methods. If you don't know the methods you're not getting anywhere. But it also tests some degree of problem-solving.

So what would my advice be? In one word: practice. In three words: practise hard questions. It's only with practice that the mathsy part of your brain gets used to problem solving. There are sometimes little hints in the question about what technique to use, as well.

Give me an example of a question you find hard, and I'll give you some more specific tips.

I hope it's not rude to ask, but are you doing maths at A-level?
If you are, do you get taught this stuff again in more detail? Because I don't understand anything in detail, like what matrices are for, why we do differentiation etc. I only know how to do the simple questions.

When I do past papers I can manage a low A with help from a textbook, and I feel it's too late to read into everything now.

We were taught further maths in November, but we also mixed in GCSE lessons which cut down teaching time, and in the end we weren't taught anything in detail... Just the basics.

Does anyone know if we are expected to remember all the functions transformations from memory? For example, y=f(x)+a moves the graph up. We did have to for GCSE.


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