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a level maths resources

Hi everyone, i have decided to retake my maths a level next year after receiving a C last year. I am self studying and aiming for an A, i was wondering what are the best resources to use?

Reply 1

robertgallacher

Statistics videos:
https://www.youtube.com/c/ExamSolutions_Maths/playlists?view=50&flow=grid&shelf_id=6

Year One / AS Pure book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edexcel-level-Mathematics-Textbook-Further/dp/129218339X?pf_rd_r=WVP7ZJ5WWEAQY2C6S07X&pf_rd_p=15b60bc4-354f-4e4b-9ad1-7f12f925a65d&pd_rd_r=0d0a379f-9e24-496a-9b5d-5e6a41b23b51&pd_rd_w=4rsiH&pd_rd_wg=Bofpb&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d

Year Two / A2 Pure book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edexcel-level-Mathematics-Textbook-Further/dp/1292183403?pf_rd_r=WVP7ZJ5WWEAQY2C6S07X&pf_rd_p=15b60bc4-354f-4e4b-9ad1-7f12f925a65d&pd_rd_r=0d0a379f-9e24-496a-9b5d-5e6a41b23b51&pd_rd_w=4rsiH&pd_rd_wg=Bofpb&ref_=pd_gw_ci_mcx_mr_hp_d

If you want a challenge:
https://madasmaths.com/archive_iygb_practice_papers_syn_practice_papers.html

Reply 2

deerme

this thread has an amazing bunch of links: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5860630

videos and past papers: https://www.revisely.co.uk/alevel/

excellent collection of notes, past papers: https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/

another excellent collection of videos, notes, past papers: https://www.mathsgenie.co.uk/

not for a level specifically but still useful: https://www.khanacademy.org/

Reply 3

mathstutor24

CGP have some excellent student books. These books are particularly suitable for self study since you don't need to worry about the teaching order as it's been figured out for you - you work from the beginning of the Y1 book to the end of the Y2 book in order.

CGP have student books for AQA, Edexcel and OCR exam boards, although the spec is pretty much the same across all boards (main differences between the boards are question style and grade boundaries).

(If you are sitting Edexcel exams, I can personally recommend the CGP Edexcel student books for self study - past students have always preferred these over the official Pearson textbooks when working independently).

There are many great resources online to complement any tuition book. TLMaths and ExamSolutions are both favourites, and there are many great sites that have lots of questions and/or past exam papers (see below). You can also download the spec, formula booklet, actual past exam papers and mock papers etc from the exam board sites (although not the most recent papers, for obvious reasons!).

Since you're re-taking the A level, you will already be aware that the new spec includes more problem solving / modelling questions.

Naikermaths (new spec) (unofficial)
Practice papers: AS Level Pure (Y1), A Level Pure (Y2), A Level Mechanics

MadAsMaths (unofficial)
I.Y.G.B. Practice Papers: A Level Practice Papers 2019 spec:
MP1 (Y1 Pure)
MP2 (Y2 Pure)
SYN (combination of Y1 & Y2 Pure)
MMS (Stats & Mechanics)

Physics & Maths Tutor - A Level Papers
NB All papers/resources are the old spec but you can use them for practice if you pick and choose.
* Remember the new spec includes more problem solving / modelling questions than the old spec *
Also, refer to the current spec, since some questions in the following papers are void because they aren't in the new spec:
C1, C2 (Y1 AS Pure)
C3, C4 (Y2 A level Pure)
M2 (projectiles, non-constant acceleration and moments), & M1 for mechanics practice

Reply 4

George2111

@robertgallacher thanks for the links, I'll definitely check those questions and videos out. I have a couple of ocr books but are the edexcel ones better? Also do you think i should stick to taking ocr exams next year as that is the exam board i previously studied with?

Reply 5

George2111

@mathstutor24 thanks for the resources. i previously undertook the ocr spec whilst i studied at college. Do you think it would be best for me to stick with that exam board?

Reply 6

George2111

what would you consider the best ways to organise maths questions/notes as previously mine were a mess?

Reply 7

mathstutor24

Original post by George2111

@mathstutor24 thanks for the resources. i previously undertook the ocr spec whilst i studied at college. Do you think it would be best for me to stick with that exam board?

I would be inclined to suggest you stay with OCR, since you've had previous experience of that board. Although the spec is basically the same across all the boards, the style of questions are slightly different, so the familiarity of sticking with OCR might be better. However, if you pop along to the other boards' websites, you can download past papers for free - so you could have a go at their papers to see if you like their style of questioning more.

Edexcel 2018 past papers
Edexcel 2017 sample papers
AQA 2018 and sample papers

With regards to the CGP student books, I'm pretty confident that the OCR student books are exactly the same as the Edexcel student books in terms of the way they explain concepts and give exercises. I have the Edexcel books myself which means I can access them online. Having just logged into my account and compared the pages in my student book to the samples pages shown in the OCR student book on the topic of Integration, I can confirm that the pages are carbon copies of each other (I've attached screenshots of them here so you can see). The teaching order seems to be the same across the 2 books too. So if you are studying the OCR course, buy the OCR student books - you won't lose anything in terms of the way they teach it, but there may be subtle differences in the spec that translate into the content so always best to stick with the books specifically for the board you are sitting.

Hope this helps.

CGP Edexcel.png189.8KB

CGP OCR.png383.4KB