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Grade Boundaries A level Maths 2022

I'm sitting a 1 year A level in Maths this year and I wanted an idea as to roughly what % will qualify for an A*? Recently I've been getting 80-85% on my tests but i want to get that up to 90%+ for the final tests, and it would be useful to know roughly where I am currently at (The grade boundaries for A* in my school are 90% but thats apparently pessimistic.) I am sitting Edexcel and I can't seem to find a clear answer in previous years (there is stuff talking about AS marks but I am not sitting AS...)
(edited 2 years ago)

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based on these grade bounadries it looked like 72% was an A*
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/Support/Grade-boundaries/A-level/gce-subject-grade-boundaries.pdf

schools tend to use higher boundaries then the real ones
Original post by Volcan0
I'm sitting a 1 year A level in Maths this year and I wanted an idea as to roughly what % will qualify for an A*? Recently I've been getting 80-85% on my tests but i want to get that up to 90%+ for the final tests, and it would be useful to know roughly where I am currently at (The grade boundaries for A* in my school are 90% but thats apparently pessimistic.) I am sitting Edexcel and I can't seem to find a clear answer in previous years (there is stuff talking about AS marks but I am not sitting AS...)

The grade boundaries are not set until ALL papers are marked. It's pointless worrying ...
Original post by Muttley79
The grade boundaries are not set until ALL papers are marked. It's pointless worrying ...

Are you an examiner who marks 100s of scripts for A-Level Maths yet? :smile: lol
Original post by thegeek888
Are you an examiner who marks 100s of scripts for A-Level Maths yet? :smile: lol

I have done but have senior leadership role which means I don't mark A level now.
Original post by Muttley79
I have done but have senior leadership role which means I don't mark A level now.

Is it the Edexcel exam board? I wonder, for Further Maths, do you teach Further Mechanics 1? Further Mechanics 2? Further Decision 1? Further Statistics 1?
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by thegeek888
Is it the Edexcel exam board? I wonder, for Further Maths, do you teach Further Mechanics 1? Further Mechanics 2? Further Decision 1? Further Statistics 1?

Yes - I have taught all options as we allow students to choose.
Original post by Muttley79
Yes - I have taught all options as we allow students to choose.

Would you say FM1 and FM2 are more highly regarded for admissions to Law degrees? Or FS1 and D1? :s-smilie:
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by thegeek888
Would you say FM1 and FM2 are more highly regarded for admissions to Law degrees? Or FS1 and D1? :s-smilie:

There are no preferences....
Reply 9
Original post by thegeek888
Would you say FM1 and FM2 are more highly regarded for admissions to Law degrees? Or FS1 and D1? :s-smilie:

They won't ask which options you took as the majority of them would neither understand nor care about the difference.
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by EOData
They won't ask which options you took as the majority of them would neither understand nor care about the difference.s

I would have thought university admissions tutors would be impressed with FM1 and FM2 as Mechanics is much more challenging than other options.

I enjoyed GCSE Statistics, so doing FS1 is only natural and I also love FD1 but because I am not doing Physics at A-Level, I can do FM1 and FM2. All other modules are not really as interesting or have resources as widely available.

Edexcel mentions some candidates can be entered for more than 2 Further Maths options. More importantly, Edexcel still has very similar topics with the new specification currently and also the International A-Level. So there are a lot of questions to practice. :wink:

D1 used to be an AS-Level module and FD1 is mostly the same in terms of topics with some like The Simplex Algorithm included from the old D2. :smile:
Reply 11
Original post by thegeek888
I would have thought university admissions tutors would be impressed with FM1 and FM2 as Mechanics is much more challenging than other options.

I enjoyed GCSE Statistics, so doing FS1 is only natural and I also love FD1 but because I am not doing Physics at A-Level, I can do FM1 and FM2. All other modules are not really as interesting or have resources as widely available.

Edexcel mentions some candidates can be entered for more than 2 Further Maths options. More importantly, Edexcel still has very similar topics with the new specification currently and also the International A-Level. So there are a lot of questions to practice. :wink:

D1 used to be an AS-Level module and FD1 is mostly the same in terms of topics with some like The Simplex Algorithm included from the old D2. :smile:

Law admissions don't much care whether you did Sociology or Further Maths so they have no reason to care what FM options you took.

The grade boundaries for the different options will be set to make them all of comparable difficulty so Mechanics will not be more challenging options. (The grade boundaries for the old D1 were sometimes very high - there was one (?Jan 2012?) where you needed 63% of the raw marks for an E as the content was not that difficult.)
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by EOData
Law admissions don't much care whether you did Sociology of Further Maths so they have no reason to care what FM options you took.

The grade boundaries for the different options will be set to make them all of comparable difficulty so Mechanics will not be more challenging options. (The grade boundaries for the old D1 were sometimes very high - there was one (?Jan 2012?) where you needed 63% of the raw marks for an E as the content was not that difficult.)

D1 isn't the same as the new FM options

January 2012 /75 D1 grade boundaries A 67 ... B 61....C 56....D 51.....E 46

46/75 = 61% but bands very narrow
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by thegeek888
I would have thought university admissions tutors would be impressed with FM1 and FM2 as Mechanics is much more challenging than other options.

Why?

Personally I found mechanics easiest and I love teaching it.
Original post by Muttley79
D1 isn't the same as the new FM options

There are hardly any new topics in FD1 when compared to D1. Only Linear Programming has "The Simplex Algorithm" which used to be in D1 prior to 2009. My friends and tutor say it is an 'easier' module and can score marks much more easily compared to FS1.
Original post by thegeek888
There are hardly any new topics in FD1 when compared to D1. Only Linear Programming has "The Simplex Algorithm" which used to be in D1 prior to 2009. My friends and tutor say it is an 'easier' module and can score marks much more easily compared to FS1.

The questions aren't of similar standard though ...it's NOT easy to get the marks - the mark schemes are 'picky' - have your friends taken the exam?
Original post by Muttley79
Why?

Personally I found mechanics easiest and I love teaching it.

Yes, I agree, Mechanics is easiest. Because now I am finding Mechanics much easier since discovering some very helpful YouTube channels and lectures too. :smile:
Original post by thegeek888
There are hardly any new topics in FD1 when compared to D1. Only Linear Programming has "The Simplex Algorithm" which used to be in D1 prior to 2009. My friends and tutor say it is an 'easier' module and can score marks much more easily compared to FS1.

We do that at university in my Economics course!
Original post by thegeek888
Yes, I agree, Mechanics is easiest. Because now I am finding Mechanics much easier since discovering some very helpful YouTube channels and lectures too. :smile:

oooh I'm struggling with mechanics:frown:. Any tips and/or advice you would like to share?
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Muttley79
The questions aren't of similar standard though ...it's NOT easy to get the marks - the mark schemes are 'picky' - have your friends taken the exam?

My friends do FD1 and FM1 as their options and they have got a mix of A*, A and B grades but A* and A in FM1. However, they did not tackle FS1 due to the nature of actually 'thinking' about the question asked in the exam! :frown: lol :smile:

FD1 is still somewhat similar in a lot of questions, especially for Algorithms. But Critical Path Analysis and Linear Programming (topics that make up more than a third of the total marks) feature heavily in the A-Level FD1 exam.

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