How can i sit A level further maths?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?