Anyone doing maths degree without further maths?

Cambridge - https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/mathematics
The Maths Tripos needs Further Maths. But you could argue you're an exceptional case (though the chance is slim)
Alternatively IB Higher Level Mathematics (preferably AA) in IB (basically A-level math)

So even without Further Math in these universities you're not doomed. If you want a PhD in maths who will care if you've done Further Maths in A-level?

I want to do a maths degree but haven’t done further maths, is it really hard? Would maths with a foundation year help?

I seriously doubt Cambridge maths accepts anyone without A-level FM except in the most extraordinary cases where it's not available to the student and they demonstrate comparable ability somehow.



In a sense it may not matter as much because a lot of degree level maths is so different to A-level anyway; the main issues are

a) you've only experienced studying maths as 33% of what you're doing - going on to spending 100% of your time studying it is a big leap, and you may find it's not your cup of tea

b) the topics form A-level that are probably going to come up a lot in degree level maths (other than calculus) are mostly covered in FM (i.e. matrices, complex numbers, a few other selected topics). So not having that background puts you on a bit of a backseat, even if you are due to learn it in the course anyway, and again you won't have exposure to that before so you can't make as good a judgement as to whether degree level maths is something you want to pursue.

A maths with foundation year course is probably more designed for people without even A-level Maths, although they might cover some FM content in it depending on the structure. You would probably be better off just taking a gap year and sitting FM as an independent candidate though in that case.

As per my comment in your other thread though, fundamentally degree level maths is just so different to A-level. I'd recommend you see if you can look at some degree level textbook e.g. an introductory analysis textbook (or something like Spivak's Calculus), or an introductory linear algebra (if it's abstract/proof based) or abstract algebra textbook. Munkres' "Topology: A First Course" has a chapter zero which introduces a lot of concepts used widely in (degree level) pure maths which are quite foundational, but which should be accessible to a school student, and are in the same kind of style that degree level maths is done in, so that might also be worth a look if you can find a copy somewhere online or in a library (the rest of it not so much though as it will presuppose a fair bit of analysis and maybe linear algebra I expect).

I seriously doubt Cambridge maths accepts anyone without A-level FM except in the most extraordinary cases where it's not available to the student and they demonstrate comparable ability somehow.



In a sense it may not matter as much because a lot of degree level maths is so different to A-level anyway; the main issues are

a) you've only experienced studying maths as 33% of what you're doing - going on to spending 100% of your time studying it is a big leap, and you may find it's not your cup of tea

b) the topics form A-level that are probably going to come up a lot in degree level maths (other than calculus) are mostly covered in FM (i.e. matrices, complex numbers, a few other selected topics). So not having that background puts you on a bit of a backseat, even if you are due to learn it in the course anyway, and again you won't have exposure to that before so you can't make as good a judgement as to whether degree level maths is something you want to pursue.

A maths with foundation year course is probably more designed for people without even A-level Maths, although they might cover some FM content in it depending on the structure. You would probably be better off just taking a gap year and sitting FM as an independent candidate though in that case.

As per my comment in your other thread though, fundamentally degree level maths is just so different to A-level. I'd recommend you see if you can look at some degree level textbook e.g. an introductory analysis textbook (or something like Spivak's Calculus), or an introductory linear algebra (if it's abstract/proof based) or abstract algebra textbook. Munkres' "Topology: A First Course" has a chapter zero which introduces a lot of concepts used widely in (degree level) pure maths which are quite foundational, but which should be accessible to a school student, and are in the same kind of style that degree level maths is done in, so that might also be worth a look if you can find a copy somewhere online or in a library (the rest of it not so much though as it will presuppose a fair bit of analysis and maybe linear algebra I expect).