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A-Level Maths????

I only think that I have got a 5/6 in my maths GCSE, but I did no revision and I know that I could've got higher with revision. I don't know whether I should do A-level maths or not, because my GCSE result won't be great, but I might need it for a future degree
Original post by Anonymous
I only think that I have got a 5/6 in my maths GCSE, but I did no revision and I know that I could've got higher with revision. I don't know whether I should do A-level maths or not, because my GCSE result won't be great, but I might need it for a future degree


It's all well and good saying you could've done better "with revision" That attitude doesn't bode well for A-Levels, and it certainly won't work.

Ask yourself:
1. Do I enjoy maths?
2. Would I do the work?

If the answer is yes to both, you should. If not, well, you shouldn't.
You could pick as your 4th A level and could always drop it.
Colleges and sixth form usually require a B at GCSE in order to do A level maths, there is no other way unless your teacher believes you could have done much better and thought you just had a bad day and may let you off with a C.

If you didn't put the effort in at GCSE, how do you know you will at A level? It is going to be much harder and you will most probably be put off.

And did you even enjoy maths? That will also play a big factor, maths is generally considered to be one of the hardest A levels.

I am not trying to put you off, but you need to know what you are getting yourself into when choosing any A level.
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 4
I wasn't originally planning on doing A-Level maths and thought I could probably get a 6 without revision, so that is why I didn't revise, but if I take it at A-Level I know I would put the work in. I am scared about the difficulty of the questions, as I do struggle sometimes at GCSE, and I am worried whether some of it will just be based on whether you are naturally good at maths (so I wouldn't be able to get top grades). I enjoy maths sometimes, but I will need it in the future for some degrees that I am considering.

Original post by kurro
Colleges and sixth form usually require a B at GCSE in order to do A level maths, there is no other way unless your teacher believes you could have done much better and thought you just had a bad day and may let you off with a C.

If you didn't put the effort in at GCSE, how do you know you will at A level? It is going to be much harder and you will most probably be put off.

And did you even enjoy maths? That will also play a big factor, maths is generally considered to be one of the hardest A levels.

I am not trying to put you off, but you need to know what you are getting yourself into when choosing any A level.
Just do it if you want to because a B or a C in a level maths is way better for uni prospects than maybe some other A level subjects.
And at the current state of a level maths I do aqa and u need about 40% for a C so definitely not too bad as long as you do some past papers during exam leave
I suggest you take 4 subjects including maths. See how it is in the first 3 weeks and drop it if you want. Or drop it after AS exams if you don't need it for your future degree.

You don't need to be naturally good at maths, cause I suck at probability and all those statistical questions at GCSE. So I chose maths -mechanics at A level but in the first week I found out they changed everything and had to add stats ffs. So for my exams, I have 2 papers, per year and 1 paper consists of 50% stats -_-
I just kept doing past papers and finally improved.

If you do have trouble at A level, just ask the teacher for help or check YouTube and just keep doing practice questions. Past paper questions are honestly the number 1 way to improve at maths. (repetition is key)

btw what is a 6 again? (is it a B?) These numbers still confuse me :/

GL fam
Original post by Anonymous
I wasn't originally planning on doing A-Level maths and thought I could probably get a 6 without revision, so that is why I didn't revise, but if I take it at A-Level I know I would put the work in. I am scared about the difficulty of the questions, as I do struggle sometimes at GCSE, and I am worried whether some of it will just be based on whether you are naturally good at maths (so I wouldn't be able to get top grades). I enjoy maths sometimes, but I will need it in the future for some degrees that I am considering.
Reply 7
A 6 is a B, and thank you so much for the advice :smile:
Original post by kurro
I suggest you take 4 subjects including maths. See how it is in the first 3 weeks and drop it if you want. Or drop it after AS exams if you don't need it for your future degree.

You don't need to be naturally good at maths, cause I suck at probability and all those statistical questions at GCSE. So I chose maths -mechanics at A level but in the first week I found out they changed everything and had to add stats ffs. So for my exams, I have 2 papers, per year and 1 paper consists of 50% stats -_-
I just kept doing past papers and finally improved.

If you do have trouble at A level, just ask the teacher for help or check YouTube and just keep doing practice questions. Past paper questions are honestly the number 1 way to improve at maths. (repetition is key)

btw what is a 6 again? (is it a B?) These numbers still confuse me :/

GL fam
I got into a level maths with a 5, but I had to really convince them I was capable. But it could also depend on the rest of your results, if they’re high they could give you the benefit of the doubt. It was different for me because the only GCSEs I have is maths and English (language I think). But I still got to do physics, computer science and maths at a level, just finished year 13 actually!
i did my mocks today
I hope your A-Levels went well!! How have you found maths, because I can't decide out of maths and geography?
Original post by Anonymous
I got into a level maths with a 5, but I had to really convince them I was capable. But it could also depend on the rest of your results, if they’re high they could give you the benefit of the doubt. It was different for me because the only GCSEs I have is maths and English (language I think). But I still got to do physics, computer science and maths at a level, just finished year 13 actually!
I hope they went well x
Original post by xXLinZigne.xx
i did my mocks today
nah man 51 percent
Original post by Anonymous
I hope they went well x
Original post by Anonymous
I hope your A-Levels went well!! How have you found maths, because I can't decide out of maths and geography?


I genuinely love maths, I want to go into engineering at uni. I found it easy in class, to grasp concepts and answer questions but the exam papers were a different story. I struggled a lot with format, but it was probably due to my lack of exam experience! But I kept doing past papers, so I feel pretty okay about it. The exams are kinda wordy sometimes, so you need to be able to pick out information. It was a new spec so we didn’t have much past exam material which sucked. But it’s such a useful subject to have, but if you like geography or want to do something with geography then it’s up to you. I liked the maths course, I found it very interesting. My favourite was the integration by parts and implicit differentiation!
Reply 14
Original post by Anonymous
I only think that I have got a 5/6 in my maths GCSE, but I did no revision and I know that I could've got higher with revision. I don't know whether I should do A-level maths or not, because my GCSE result won't be great, but I might need it for a future degree


πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚I got a 9 and find it so hard and do so much revision
Well done!! I wish I revised now
Original post by XxAb
πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚I got a 9 and find it so hard and do so much revision
I don’t know whether to pick maths or geography...
Maths will probably much more useful for a degree in the future, but I am a lot better at geography and find geography more interesting

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