The Student Room Group

should i take further maths a level?

i love maths and its one of the only subjects i like, but i messed around in y11 and got kicked off the further maths gcse. i think im going to get an 8 in maths gcse. would i find further maths too hard? id hate to take it and find it too hard and make me lose interest in maths. my school says u need a 7 to do it but my college im going to says 8. thanks

Scroll to see replies

Original post by phoebemcqueen
i love maths and its one of the only subjects i like, but i messed around in y11 and got kicked off the further maths gcse. i think im going to get an 8 in maths gcse. would i find further maths too hard? id hate to take it and find it too hard and make me lose interest in maths. my school says u need a 7 to do it but my college im going to says 8. thanks

If you love it, do it. It'll be fine.
Original post by RogerOxon
If you love it, do it. It'll be fine.


do you do further maths?? if so howd u find it?
Original post by phoebemcqueen
do you do further maths?? if so howd u find it?

I did, over 30 years ago :frown:

I enjoyed it. 'A' levels are where my academic ability and intelligence really took off. Being able to focus on a few subjects really suited me.
Reply 4
It's a decent workload, lots of independent practice to keep on top of it, but it is a lot of fun :smile:
Original post by phoebemcqueen
do you do further maths?? if so howd u find it?
Original post by RogerOxon
I did, over 30 years ago :frown:

I enjoyed it. 'A' levels are where my academic ability and intelligence really took off. Being able to focus on a few subjects really suited me.


haha thats great, did it help in your career because right now all i have thought about is accountancy
Original post by Interea
It's a decent workload, lots of independent practice to keep on top of it, but it is a lot of fun :smile:


thats great then thank u! dont think im prepared for the workload at a levels hahah
Original post by phoebemcqueen
haha thats great, did it help in your career because right now all i have thought about is accountancy

Of those taking Engineering Science (including joint degrees) at Oxford, ~4 (of an intake of ~100) didn't have FM, so, yes. At that time, the number one career for Oxford Engineers was Accountancy. I went into computing.
Original post by phoebemcqueen
thats great then thank u! dont think im prepared for the workload at a levels hahah

Which 'A' other level(s) are you planning on doing? The usual advice is only to do four if you're doing Maths + FM, but you typically only need three.
Original post by RogerOxon
Which 'A' other level(s) are you planning on doing? The usual advice is only to do four if you're doing Maths + FM, but you typically only need three.


maths, further maths, religious studies. i wanted to do something maths related in the future hence fm or food science (foundation year)
Original post by phoebemcqueen
maths, further maths, religious studies. i wanted to do something maths related in the future hence fm or food science (foundation year)

If you are considering accountancy as a possible career path, then you may want to choose economics.
Original post by stoyfan
If you are considering accountancy as a possible career path, then you may want to choose economics.


that was just an idea i dont really have anything set in stone yet. thanks for the idea though ill have a look what the a level is like :smile:
Original post by phoebemcqueen
that was just an idea i dont really have anything set in stone yet. thanks for the idea though ill have a look what the a level is like :smile:


From what I have seen, the only A level they really want is Maths. E.g my friend managed to get an offer from Southampton uni for Accounting with Maths, Chemistry and comp sci. Maths, Further Maths and religious studies will probably get you an offer, but who knows, if you are interested in Acounting, then you might also be interested in economics.
Original post by phoebemcqueen
maths, further maths, religious studies. i wanted to do something maths related in the future hence fm or food science (foundation year)

Check that those are acceptable for your target course, including at the top end. The workload should be fine with three.
Further maths A-Level is generally for people who want to go into a maths career or degree, so unless you're planning on doing that, I personally wouldn't recommend it.
i t
Original post by stoyfan
From what I have seen, the only A level they really want is Maths. E.g my friend managed to get an offer from Southampton uni for Accounting with Maths, Chemistry and comp sci. Maths, Further Maths and religious studies will probably get you an offer, but who knows, if you are interested in Acounting, then you might also be interested in economics.


looking at some better uni’s they want fm as well as maths, and i do really want to do rs a level as well, so we’ll see what i choose on results day. thank you
Original post by RogerOxon
Check that those are acceptable for your target course, including at the top end. The workload should be fine with three.


most unis want maths and fm so i think taking rs to have a slightly wider range would be good too
Original post by Glaz
Further maths A-Level is generally for people who want to go into a maths career or degree, so unless you're planning on doing that, I personally wouldn't recommend it.


yeah i do. and i enjoy it so i think that helps. why wouldnt u recommend? because of how hard or the workload or something else?
FM is way better than A level math imo
Original post by phoebemcqueen
yeah i do. and i enjoy it so i think that helps. why wouldnt u recommend? because of how hard or the workload or something else?

I'm just finishing year 12 this summer, so I can't really tell you from an academic perspective or whatever. I wanted to take FM because I love M and I'm pretty good at it, but my parents (teachers) and my brother and sister all told me that people don't usually take FM unless they plan to do something maths oriented in the future. My sister did FM A-Level and she dropped it after AS because she just didn't need it.

Quick Reply