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How should I prepare for A-level maths??

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To answer your questions:

1) any gcse topic that you find particularly hard, maybe do some practice of that, because a large chunk of gcse stuff they assume you know so they sometimes go over stuff quickly. Trigonometry is a definite if you struggle with it as it does come up loads, and also you need to be pretty solid with algebra and rearranging and stuff like that

2) No, unfortunately not.... it takes the hard bits of gcse and then there’s loads of new stuff

3) I would say no, wait until after you start because then teachers can give you any books they want you to have and you can buy anything they recommend after starting...

4) I’m not fully sure, sorry

Hope I’ve helped you!

Thanks for the advice, it really helped! :biggrin:

Reply 21

NoaDewally

Original post by username3973192

I'm gonna be doing Edexcel and I got a few questions:

1. What GCSE topics should I have a thorough understanding of? Is it all of them or specific topics?

2. Is the first year basically GCSE grade 8+ stuff?

3. Should I get any books? If so which ones? And are the CGP headstart ones any good?

4. Does anyone know of any good revision websites that I can use to prepare?

Thanks :smile:

1. Some topics from GCSE overlapp with year 1 of the course so these are good to look at ..
- completing the square with coefficients of X greater than 1
- graphs skills and straight lines
- general algebra and laws of indices
- inequalities
- circles

2. A level does not overlapp much with GCSE, prepare yourself to be doing new, harder content from Christmas as you will need to work hard. For Edexcel the year 1 course gives you skills to do year 2 topics that are then assessed so working hard in year 12 is really important.

3. The gcp books are alright but they cover the GCSE overlapp only. For the course the official Edexcel textbooks are really good. They have online versions too so you don't have to carry your books everywhere! I suggest it king over GCSE topics to prepare so you've got a secure base to work off...

4. The best revision you can do is going over these topics... For when you start the course crash maths is pretty good and physics and maths tutor too...

I hope I haven't put you off maths a level! As somebody whose just finished, it's worth all of the hard work, but it's VERY hard work to get the top grades...

Good luck! 😊