The Student Room Group

S2 or D1 for A2 maths?

I know this question has been asked a lot but i wanted an updated perceptive on this. So i have done AS Maths(C12 S1) and AS FM( F1 M1 M2) and got high A in both. For A2 im taking c34, f2 f3 m3 and either s1 or d1. The course im taking in uni is a combined degree of Computer Science and Physics.
I liked S1 and dont know how D1 is. If i do D1 id have to self study but ive been reading it easy and fast to learn. So i was thinking i can use the extra time for Chem Phy and FP which is way harder for me than Maths. So what do you guys think?
Sorry you've not had any responses about this. :frown: Are you sure you've posted in the right place? :smile: Here's a link to our subject forum which should help get you more responses if you post there. :redface:
Original post by Sinister6807
I know this question has been asked a lot but i wanted an updated perceptive on this. So i have done AS Maths(C12 S1) and AS FM( F1 M1 M2) and got high A in both. For A2 im taking c34, f2 f3 m3 and either s1 or d1. The course im taking in uni is a combined degree of Computer Science and Physics.
I liked S1 and dont know how D1 is. If i do D1 id have to self study but ive been reading it easy and fast to learn. So i was thinking i can use the extra time for Chem Phy and FP which is way harder for me than Maths. So what do you guys think?

are you doing the old spec? in regards to D1 or S1 it depends if you like stats or not, personally im doing D1 as I think its 10x easier and its essentially just a memory test on whether you can remember all the algorithms
Original post by Gent2324
are you doing the old spec? in regards to D1 or S1 it depends if you like stats or not, personally im doing D1 as I think its 10x easier and its essentially just a memory test on whether you can remember all the algorithms

Yup old one. I've already done s1, I'm debating whether to do s2 or d1 :/
S1 was fine for me. I didn't particularly find it interesting like the fp or m units but it was simple. But idk about s2
Original post by Sinister6807
Yup old one. I've already done s1, I'm debating whether to do s2 or d1 :/
S1 was fine for me. I didn't particularly find it interesting like the fp or m units but it was simple. But idk about s2


Well just compare the books and see what you like, I imagine for most people s2 will be harder than d1
Original post by Sinister6807
Yup old one. I've already done s1, I'm debating whether to do s2 or d1 :/
S1 was fine for me. I didn't particularly find it interesting like the fp or m units but it was simple. But idk about s2


Presumably you're not n England?

Do D1 - it's far the best for your degree. Why is your school not teaching it?
Original post by Gent2324
Well just compare the books and see what you like, I imagine for most people s2 will be harder than d1

Well we started the first chapter of s2 in school and it seems ok. Ive seen the D1 book online and it seems tedious and silly and also long.
Ive read other threads where people claim s2 is easy and that it's really easy to lose marks in d1 if u mess something up.
Original post by Muttley79
Presumably you're not n England?

Do D1 - it's far the best for your degree. Why is your school not teaching it?

Nope not England
Our school has been teaching s2 for years now so idk and we do have a really great math teacher.
Original post by Sinister6807
Nope not England
Our school has been teaching s2 for years now so idk and we do have a really great math teacher.


OK - it's just that the modules have gone in England except for resits. We gave our students a free choice so sometimes I had three modules on the go at once.

D1 is very CS orientated and lots of resources online.
Original post by Sinister6807
Well we started the first chapter of s2 in school and it seems ok. Ive seen the D1 book online and it seems tedious and silly and also long.
Ive read other threads where people claim s2 is easy and that it's really easy to lose marks in d1 if u mess something up.

yeah d1 is tedious and sometimes a little bit convoluted, but the only thing that stops you from getting an a star in D1 is forgetting the algorithms and the definitions, i like it because it gives you a break from the other maths as it has literally nothing to do with normal maths and is a completely new sector. on some of the algorithms there are alot of things oging on, on especially things like the planarity algorithm and route inspection with more than 4 nodes. none of it is ever hard though, its just a bit tedious. but the main reason i did d1 is because i hate stats and mechanics, so we are doing D1 and FP1, fp1 is great, but fp2 is like second year uni stuff and is ridiculously hard so we did d1 instead. and dont be fooled that d1 is long, some diagrams take up the entire page and we are already halfway through the book in about a month
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Sinister6807
Nope not England
Our school has been teaching s2 for years now so idk and we do have a really great math teacher.

oh yea and i agree with what muttley said, d1 will be very useful for computer science, as you look at ways to do complex actions in a simplified way, for instance how to find the square root of a number following set instructions etc.
Original post by Muttley79
OK - it's just that the modules have gone in England except for resits. We gave our students a free choice so sometimes I had three modules on the go at once.

D1 is very CS orientated and lots of resources online.

Yea i believe we are the last batch with this syllabus in our school.
I know D1 focuses on Cs but i think Cs also has stats and since im also doing physics i think stat would be way useful in that. But idk
Original post by Gent2324
yeah d1 is tedious and sometimes a little bit convoluted, but the only thing that stops you from getting an a star in D1 is forgetting the algorithms and the definitions, i like it because it gives you a break from the other maths as it has literally nothing to do with normal maths and is a completely new sector. on some of the algorithms there are alot of things oging on, on especially things like the planarity algorithm and route inspection with more than 4 nodes. none of it is ever hard though, its just a bit tedious. but the main reason i did d1 is because i hate stats and mechanics, so we are doing D1 and FP1, fp1 is great, but fp2 is like second year uni stuff and is ridiculously hard so we did d1 instead. and dont be fooled that d1 is long, some diagrams take up the entire page and we are already halfway through the book in about a month

Thanks for your view on d1. I actually loved the M modules although m2 was my hardest paper. F modules are also great, but s1 was meh.
Ill be getting the d1 book frm a friend on sunday so i can go through it and see if i wud like to do it. Btw if i were to self study, how long wud i take?
Original post by Sinister6807
Thanks for your view on d1. I actually loved the M modules although m2 was my hardest paper. F modules are also great, but s1 was meh.
Ill be getting the d1 book frm a friend on sunday so i can go through it and see if i wud like to do it. Btw if i were to self study, how long wud i take?

cant answer that as i have no idea how good you are at revising, and time management. all i can say is that you probably wont need much help for decision.

Quick Reply

Latest