Self-teaching

So I have decided (for some unknown reason) that this year I am going to start a Maths A Level. I already have A Levels in Psychology, Sociology and English Literature (ABB) but for certain reasons have been told to take a long term intermission from my University course (Psychology).

I'm the kind of person who always has to have something on the go that is academic or my brain goes into overdrive - so I've decided that that something will be Maths.

I figure that it's fairly straightforward to teach myself (straightforward is probably the wrong word - but compared to my other options of History or Biology, I figure it's the best one).

I'm going to be doing Edexcel and just wanted to check a few things to make sure I've understood right!

- Theres three exam papers for the whole A Level? And you don't have to sit the AS first like you used to?
- You do two papers for Pure Mathematics and then there's one paper thats Statistics and Mechanics combined?
- Finally, is there a non-calculator paper - I know C1 used to be, but I can't see anything about it!

Thanks in advance, and if there's anyone else who is self teaching or who has self taught then please let me know what you thought/think of it!

I self taught their previous spec further maths at AS, got an A. Maths is a good subject to self teach so you probably won't struggle too much.

You should be able to find the answers you're looking for in their specification

I'm not that familiar with the new specification but I believe you only sit three papers at the end of the course. There is no longer a non calculator exam. Basically Pure Mathematics 1&2 are a combination of C1,2,3,4 with some extra bits such as proof. The other paper combines parts of S1 and M1. Each exam is 2 hours long and is worth 33.33%.
Hope that helps a bit

- Theres three exam papers for the whole A Level? And you don't have to sit the AS first like you used to?
- You do two papers for Pure Mathematics and then there's one paper thats Statistics and Mechanics combined?
- Finally, is there a non-calculator paper - I know C1 used to be, but I can't see anything about it!

You're correct for the first two points. There is no non-calculator paper anymore i.e. a calculator is always allowed.

Are you planning to take the exams in 2018 or are you going to give yourself two years? If you're planning for 2018 then you have the option of taking the old spec.

Here's some info about the new spec that might be useful.

Perfect, thank you!

I am hopefully going to take it in 2018 - I'm leaning more towards the new spec though despite this!

Another question: is it possible to use the old spec textbooks whilst studying for the new exams? I'm assuming that it is all fairly similar, just linear rather than modular?

If you haven't fully made up your mind then here's a post where I outlined some of the pros/cons of new spec vs old spec for 2018 entry.

It is possible to use old spec textbooks for questions since the spec hasn't change much. But if you're self-studying then I recommend getting a new textbook since you won't have a teacher to show you what parts of the old spec are relevant for the new spec. Also for stats/mechanics (stats especially) there are quite a lot of differences so I wouldn't recommend using S1/M1 textbooks.

So if I were you I would get new spec textbooks.