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I'm taking A-Level Maths, starting September, in conjunction with Biology, Chemistry and Physics... any advice? Also what do you guys think of it? BTW, I am on OCR
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It's really heavily problem-solving + modelling based (similar to the new 9-1 GCSE maths). So don't expect to just be memorising and applying methods like the old A Level maths was. There's also no optional components for the Maths A Level (there are optional stuff for the Further Maths though). It means you will have to do a little bit of statistics and mechanics. I think the biggest shake-up would be that for the statistical portion of the exams, you'll be required to be knowledgable about a certain large dataset of numbers. For edexcel, it's the temperature and weather of certain locations around the world everyday for like a year or two. I'm not sure what OCR are doing.
Maths teachers at my school said they like it, because you get to do more interesting stats/mech in the Maths A Level, whereas before the interesting stuff would be stuck up at M3 / S3. OCR is also not a very common exam board for maths (or is it OCR MEI?)
Maths teachers at my school said they like it, because you get to do more interesting stats/mech in the Maths A Level, whereas before the interesting stuff would be stuck up at M3 / S3. OCR is also not a very common exam board for maths (or is it OCR MEI?)
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#3
(Original post by Eulogy)
It's really heavily problem-solving + modelling based (similar to the new 9-1 GCSE maths). So don't expect to just be memorising and applying methods like the old A Level maths was. There's also no optional components for the Maths A Level (there are optional stuff for the Further Maths though). It means you will have to do a little bit of statistics and mechanics. I think the biggest shake-up would be that for the statistical portion of the exams, you'll be required to be knowledgable about a certain large dataset of numbers. For edexcel, it's the temperature and weather of certain locations around the world everyday for like a year or two. I'm not sure what OCR are doing.
Maths teachers at my school said they like it, because you get to do more interesting stats/mech in the Maths A Level, whereas before the interesting stuff would be stuck up at M3 / S3. OCR is also not a very common exam board for maths (or is it OCR MEI?)
It's really heavily problem-solving + modelling based (similar to the new 9-1 GCSE maths). So don't expect to just be memorising and applying methods like the old A Level maths was. There's also no optional components for the Maths A Level (there are optional stuff for the Further Maths though). It means you will have to do a little bit of statistics and mechanics. I think the biggest shake-up would be that for the statistical portion of the exams, you'll be required to be knowledgable about a certain large dataset of numbers. For edexcel, it's the temperature and weather of certain locations around the world everyday for like a year or two. I'm not sure what OCR are doing.
Maths teachers at my school said they like it, because you get to do more interesting stats/mech in the Maths A Level, whereas before the interesting stuff would be stuck up at M3 / S3. OCR is also not a very common exam board for maths (or is it OCR MEI?)
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#4
(Original post by thegalaxy)
OCR do two specs - A and B (which is the MEI spec). My school does MEI for the old spec but they haven't told us what board they're using for the new spec. I do know that Statistics and Mechanics are mandatory now and were optional under the old spec.
OCR do two specs - A and B (which is the MEI spec). My school does MEI for the old spec but they haven't told us what board they're using for the new spec. I do know that Statistics and Mechanics are mandatory now and were optional under the old spec.
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(Original post by Eulogy)
It's really heavily problem-solving + modelling based (similar to the new 9-1 GCSE maths). So don't expect to just be memorising and applying methods like the old A Level maths was. There's also no optional components for the Maths A Level (there are optional stuff for the Further Maths though). It means you will have to do a little bit of statistics and mechanics. I think the biggest shake-up would be that for the statistical portion of the exams, you'll be required to be knowledgable about a certain large dataset of numbers. For edexcel, it's the temperature and weather of certain locations around the world everyday for like a year or two. I'm not sure what OCR are doing.
Maths teachers at my school said they like it, because you get to do more interesting stats/mech in the Maths A Level, whereas before the interesting stuff would be stuck up at M3 / S3. OCR is also not a very common exam board for maths (or is it OCR MEI?)
It's really heavily problem-solving + modelling based (similar to the new 9-1 GCSE maths). So don't expect to just be memorising and applying methods like the old A Level maths was. There's also no optional components for the Maths A Level (there are optional stuff for the Further Maths though). It means you will have to do a little bit of statistics and mechanics. I think the biggest shake-up would be that for the statistical portion of the exams, you'll be required to be knowledgable about a certain large dataset of numbers. For edexcel, it's the temperature and weather of certain locations around the world everyday for like a year or two. I'm not sure what OCR are doing.
Maths teachers at my school said they like it, because you get to do more interesting stats/mech in the Maths A Level, whereas before the interesting stuff would be stuck up at M3 / S3. OCR is also not a very common exam board for maths (or is it OCR MEI?)
Thanks again!
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(Original post by thegalaxy)
OCR do two specs - A and B (which is the MEI spec). My school does MEI for the old spec but they haven't told us what board they're using for the new spec. I do know that Statistics and Mechanics are mandatory now and were optional under the old spec.
OCR do two specs - A and B (which is the MEI spec). My school does MEI for the old spec but they haven't told us what board they're using for the new spec. I do know that Statistics and Mechanics are mandatory now and were optional under the old spec.
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#7
(Original post by Eulogy)
It's really heavily problem-solving + modelling based (similar to the new 9-1 GCSE maths). So don't expect to just be memorising and applying methods like the old A Level maths was. There's also no optional components for the Maths A Level (there are optional stuff for the Further Maths though). It means you will have to do a little bit of statistics and mechanics. I think the biggest shake-up would be that for the statistical portion of the exams, you'll be required to be knowledgable about a certain large dataset of numbers. For edexcel, it's the temperature and weather of certain locations around the world everyday for like a year or two. I'm not sure what OCR are doing.
Maths teachers at my school said they like it, because you get to do more interesting stats/mech in the Maths A Level, whereas before the interesting stuff would be stuck up at M3 / S3. OCR is also not a very common exam board for maths (or is it OCR MEI?)
It's really heavily problem-solving + modelling based (similar to the new 9-1 GCSE maths). So don't expect to just be memorising and applying methods like the old A Level maths was. There's also no optional components for the Maths A Level (there are optional stuff for the Further Maths though). It means you will have to do a little bit of statistics and mechanics. I think the biggest shake-up would be that for the statistical portion of the exams, you'll be required to be knowledgable about a certain large dataset of numbers. For edexcel, it's the temperature and weather of certain locations around the world everyday for like a year or two. I'm not sure what OCR are doing.
Maths teachers at my school said they like it, because you get to do more interesting stats/mech in the Maths A Level, whereas before the interesting stuff would be stuck up at M3 / S3. OCR is also not a very common exam board for maths (or is it OCR MEI?)
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#8
(Original post by y-star7)
Is it really that much more problem solving as I don't really like that. I got an 8 at gcse but is the new spec a lot harder or would you be able to Still achieve the grade you want equally as the old spec.
Is it really that much more problem solving as I don't really like that. I got an 8 at gcse but is the new spec a lot harder or would you be able to Still achieve the grade you want equally as the old spec.
(Original post by Deyb)
Thank you so much for your reply! I think my exam board is OCR MEI/ OCR B. I got an 8 in GCSE maths, but I am just scared that I will not understand....are the concepts hard to understand? Also, do you have any resources you would recommend for the new spec?
Thanks again!
Thank you so much for your reply! I think my exam board is OCR MEI/ OCR B. I got an 8 in GCSE maths, but I am just scared that I will not understand....are the concepts hard to understand? Also, do you have any resources you would recommend for the new spec?
Thanks again!
I think the most important thing in maths is to make sure that you understand fully what the teacher is saying and that if you don't, you ask someone. Because if you just continue, your issues are just going to snowball.
In terms of revision resources, for maths the most important stuff is past papers and """fake""" past papers. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of these for the new spec, but there is a lot of stuff for the old spec, and that stuff is still useful, you just need to make sure you understand the new content.
This guy's website: https://madasmaths.com is a favourite among a level maths students and he already had 20 or so ""fake"" past papers for the new spec.
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(Original post by Eulogy)
A good thing about maths is that it builds up gradually. So at the beginning of A Levels, you'll be pretty much doing GCSE Grade 7-9 stuff over again. Stuff like solving simultaneous equations which have one quadratic and one linear, solving quadratic equations etc. and then it just builds up from there. Nothing should be really hard to wrap your head around, as long as you understand all of the stuff that came before it. The problem that a lot of people have with maths is that they fall behind eg. don't understand a main topic, but then just continue on and what that means is that they really struggle to understand stuff past that.
I think the most important thing in maths is to make sure that you understand fully what the teacher is saying and that if you don't, you ask someone. Because if you just continue, your issues are just going to snowball.
In terms of revision resources, for maths the most important stuff is past papers and """fake""" past papers. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of these for the new spec, but there is a lot of stuff for the old spec, and that stuff is still useful, you just need to make sure you understand the new content.
This guy's website: https://madasmaths.com is a favourite among a level maths students and he already had 20 or so ""fake"" past papers for the new spec.
A good thing about maths is that it builds up gradually. So at the beginning of A Levels, you'll be pretty much doing GCSE Grade 7-9 stuff over again. Stuff like solving simultaneous equations which have one quadratic and one linear, solving quadratic equations etc. and then it just builds up from there. Nothing should be really hard to wrap your head around, as long as you understand all of the stuff that came before it. The problem that a lot of people have with maths is that they fall behind eg. don't understand a main topic, but then just continue on and what that means is that they really struggle to understand stuff past that.
I think the most important thing in maths is to make sure that you understand fully what the teacher is saying and that if you don't, you ask someone. Because if you just continue, your issues are just going to snowball.
In terms of revision resources, for maths the most important stuff is past papers and """fake""" past papers. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of these for the new spec, but there is a lot of stuff for the old spec, and that stuff is still useful, you just need to make sure you understand the new content.
This guy's website: https://madasmaths.com is a favourite among a level maths students and he already had 20 or so ""fake"" past papers for the new spec.
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