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Hi i want to do A level further maths in my gap year. What steps should i take to do so and achieve highly? Im self learning and will sit the exam privately. How much will it cost and how can i inform the exam board i will be sitting the qualification?


I am not entirely sure how you intend to self study. Do you want to take an A Level course online or do you want to get a textbook and work through it yourself?

Should you wish to take an A Level course online, the costs ranges from £400-900, and the courses are specific to the particular exam board that you want to do your exams with. When judging the course, you want to judge it based on what other students got from the specific course as opposed to what they think of the overall college, because the quality of the course comes down more to the individual tutors you get than the college itself.

Should you pick a textbook and study it yourself, you want it to be with the exam board you're studying with. Although the specification between all 3 exam boards are similiar, there are nuances between them.

To book your exams as a private candidate, you would need to do the following:
1. Go to the exam board’s website (there are 3 exam boards for UK A Levels: OCR, EdExcel, and AQA)
2. Find the private candidate section of the website
3. Find a list of approved exam centres for your exam board (ideally the ones closest to you)
4. Contact a handful of exam officers at your chosen exam centres to see if you can book for your exam
Normally, exams would come with exam and admin fees and can cost roughly £250 per subject if you apply early (sometime between November and February within a certain academic year). If you apply late (usually after April), late fees can incur and this cost can go up to £350 per subject.

If you have done A Level Maths, you should have the calculators you would need. The other material you might want to consider are exam practice books and revision guides specific to your chosen exam board.

You will need to do your research on which exam board you want to do your exams with. Further Maths is also 100% exam across all exam boards as far as I know, so you're just focusing on the exams and nothing else.
Reply 2
Original post by MindMax2000
I am not entirely sure how you intend to self study. Do you want to take an A Level course online or do you want to get a textbook and work through it yourself?

Should you wish to take an A Level course online, the costs ranges from £400-900, and the courses are specific to the particular exam board that you want to do your exams with. When judging the course, you want to judge it based on what other students got from the specific course as opposed to what they think of the overall college, because the quality of the course comes down more to the individual tutors you get than the college itself.

Should you pick a textbook and study it yourself, you want it to be with the exam board you're studying with. Although the specification between all 3 exam boards are similiar, there are nuances between them.

To book your exams as a private candidate, you would need to do the following:
1. Go to the exam board’s website (there are 3 exam boards for UK A Levels: OCR, EdExcel, and AQA)
2. Find the private candidate section of the website
3. Find a list of approved exam centres for your exam board (ideally the ones closest to you)
4. Contact a handful of exam officers at your chosen exam centres to see if you can book for your exam
Normally, exams would come with exam and admin fees and can cost roughly £250 per subject if you apply early (sometime between November and February within a certain academic year). If you apply late (usually after April), late fees can incur and this cost can go up to £350 per subject.

If you have done A Level Maths, you should have the calculators you would need. The other material you might want to consider are exam practice books and revision guides specific to your chosen exam board.

You will need to do your research on which exam board you want to do your exams with. Further Maths is also 100% exam across all exam boards as far as I know, so you're just focusing on the exams and nothing else.

Thank you so much! I achieved an A in A level maths, and was with edexcel so it seems appropriate to remain with edexcel.
I would like to get the textbooks and self learn the full course in my gap year and sit the exam in June 2024.
Would it even be possible to study the full AS and A level further maths course in one year?

Also I heard we have to sit 4 papers in further maths, 2 core pure papers, and 2 optional ones.
Would it be possible for me to sit the 2 core pure papers with the 2 decision papers? Because I’m aiming to study Computer Science.
Thank you so much! I achieved an A in A level maths, and was with edexcel so it seems appropriate to remain with edexcel.
I would like to get the textbooks and self learn the full course in my gap year and sit the exam in June 2024.
Would it even be possible to study the full AS and A level further maths course in one year?

Also I heard we have to sit 4 papers in further maths, 2 core pure papers, and 2 optional ones.
Would it be possible for me to sit the 2 core pure papers with the 2 decision papers? Because I’m aiming to study Computer Science.


Many schools study the full FM A Level in one year, so it is possible, especially that you’ve got a whole year solely dedicated to one A Level. And yes, you can sit both decision papers.
Hi i want to do A level further maths in my gap year. What steps should i take to do so and achieve highly? Im self learning and will sit the exam privately. How much will it cost and how can i inform the exam board i will be sitting the qualification?

Sit the edexcel exam board, take FM1 and FP1 modules so that you can use Bicen maths throughout the whole Alevel and he will allow you to do well.
Thank you so much! I achieved an A in A level maths, and was with edexcel so it seems appropriate to remain with edexcel.
I would like to get the textbooks and self learn the full course in my gap year and sit the exam in June 2024.
Would it even be possible to study the full AS and A level further maths course in one year?

Also I heard we have to sit 4 papers in further maths, 2 core pure papers, and 2 optional ones.
Would it be possible for me to sit the 2 core pure papers with the 2 decision papers? Because I’m aiming to study Computer Science.


Personally, I have a problem with EdExcel, but if it works for you the by all means.

One A Level in one year is fine.It's when it's more than 2 A Levels that it gets a little tricky. Just think of it like taking 2 A Levels in 2 years.
The more prominent question is whether you have enough time to do this alongside everything else that you want to do in your gap year.

The following is the UK's FM spec for EdExcel:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/A%20Level/Mathematics/2017/specification-and-sample-assesment/a-level-l3-further-mathematics-specification.pdf
You would need to do 2 core maths papers, then you have the option of either doing 2 Option 1 papers or one Option 1 and one corresponding Option 2 (see page 9 of the PDF).
Option 1 Papers
3A: Further Pure Mathematics 1
3B: Further Statistics 1
3C: Further Mechanics 1
3D: Decision Mathematics 1

Option 2 Papers
4A: Further Pure Mathematics 2
4B: Further Statistics 2
4C: Further Mechanics 2
4D: Decision Mathematics 2

So yes, you can do 2 decision maths papers should you wish (Option1 + corresponding Option 2), unless I am misinterpreting the table myself.

Good luck.
Reply 6
Original post by MindMax2000
Personally, I have a problem with EdExcel, but if it works for you the by all means.

One A Level in one year is fine.It's when it's more than 2 A Levels that it gets a little tricky. Just think of it like taking 2 A Levels in 2 years.
The more prominent question is whether you have enough time to do this alongside everything else that you want to do in your gap year.

The following is the UK's FM spec for EdExcel:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/A%20Level/Mathematics/2017/specification-and-sample-assesment/a-level-l3-further-mathematics-specification.pdf
You would need to do 2 core maths papers, then you have the option of either doing 2 Option 1 papers or one Option 1 and one corresponding Option 2 (see page 9 of the PDF).
Option 1 Papers
3A: Further Pure Mathematics 1
3B: Further Statistics 1
3C: Further Mechanics 1
3D: Decision Mathematics 1

Option 2 Papers
4A: Further Pure Mathematics 2
4B: Further Statistics 2
4C: Further Mechanics 2
4D: Decision Mathematics 2

So yes, you can do 2 decision maths papers should you wish (Option1 + corresponding Option 2), unless I am misinterpreting the table myself.

Good luck.


Okay great! But how do I know what to learn for AS fm and then the A level. Will I need to learn AS core pure, AS decision, and then A level core pure andA level decision? So how many topics am I actually learning?
Okay great! But how do I know what to learn for AS fm and then the A level. Will I need to learn AS core pure, AS decision, and then A level core pure andA level decision? So how many topics am I actually learning?


I appreciate that the EdExcel spec might not be very clear (another reason why they're not my favourite), but you shoudl be able to gather what you need from it if you look through it.

But how do I know what to learn for AS fm and then the A level?
Pages 13-23 detail what you need to learn for the 2 core papers (9 topics)
Pages 42-44 detail what you need to learn for the 2 decision papers (5 topics).
You should be learning 14 topics in total

If you're self studying, you would need the specific textbooks from EdExcel to learn from. This you can't skip unless you're studying an online A Level course.

As you're sitting the A Level exam, there's no differentiation between AS and A Level material. If you want to only sit the AS exam, you follow the AS specification, which is not listed above. If you want the full A Level, then you follow the A Level spec.

The above is presuming that you're studying UK A Level FM. If you're doing International A Level FM, then the above won't make sense and you would follow a different syllabus.