A-Level Maths Help!!

8

Hi, I'm in Year 12 doing maths, further maths and physics. in my school, we do all the year 1 maths content until january, and then all the fm year 1 content until the end of the year [we have about 15 hours a fortnight]. right now, i hate maths. like i just cannot do it, i was an amazing student last year, but now i just can't do exam questions and everything is going so fast. everyone says that to be good in a level maths + fm, you have to practice and do exam questions. but i can never get through more thn 2 qs without looking at the asnwers or getting violently stuck. if i can't do year 1 maths, how will i do further maths??
please give me any tips that can get me out of this slump!! i want to apply for engineering so an A* in maths and like an A in fm is basically necessary.

Reply 1

aditya nair12344

18

Context: i am in Year 13 i do A Level maths, i dont do further maths but basically all my friends do, did it at GCSE but thought better off it, in our school we do all of A level maths content in year 12 if you do furtheer maths, and then allof further maths in year 13 as further maths is like a As course kinda, so yes it is a lot A level maths to keep up with and yes it is all exam questions and how much independent pratice you do at home websites like maths genie and a level maths revision website are good to egt exam specific question and videos for help and do a lot of past papers too when you have covered enough content, come home after each lesson and go over and no questions on the topics you did, and learn the stuff you need to remember, but only because you are applying to engineering doesnt mean you necessarily need A* and A a A and A would be really goo at certain unis depends what kind of engineering and what uni but remember you get 5 choices to apply to so you can have back up and still get into a very good uni ! good luck ! anything else feel free to ask

Reply 2

daniya08

5

Original post

by bhs009

Hi, I'm in Year 12 doing maths, further maths and physics. in my school, we do all the year 1 maths content until january, and then all the fm year 1 content until the end of the year [we have about 15 hours a fortnight]. right now, i hate maths. like i just cannot do it, i was an amazing student last year, but now i just can't do exam questions and everything is going so fast. everyone says that to be good in a level maths + fm, you have to practice and do exam questions. but i can never get through more thn 2 qs without looking at the asnwers or getting violently stuck. if i can't do year 1 maths, how will i do further maths??
please give me any tips that can get me out of this slump!! i want to apply for engineering so an A* in maths and like an A in fm is basically necessary.

Hi, I'm a year 13 student doing Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Compsci predicted A*s and have just sent in my UCAS application for engineering, so am in a similar circumstance to you.

First of all, I want to congratulate you for asking for help, your perseverance shows you're hardworking and based on your willingness to get yourself help I'm sure you will be just fine!

Now, the next step is to find what the problem is. Everyone learns differently so it could be that the way you're teacher teaches the content just doesn't make sense? I am a big fan of watching YouTube videos for difficult topics, just make sure you watch the correct content for your exam board. A couple of my favourites are Zeeshan Zamurred and TL Maths. I know you focus on solving exam questions in your question but it is important you understand a topic completely before attempting questions. It might also be that the way the videos explain it make more sense in your head then how teachers have, so you choose to adopt that method.

Now onto actual exam questions. I recommend Physics Maths Tutor for topic specific questions. You mentioned not being able to do more than a couple of questions without looking at answers. I don't actually think this is a problem at all. In fact, I would recommend your practice begins with of one or two worked solutions to remind yourself of the topic (for this you can look at the answer to the first question of a worksheet or watch a video of someone solving a question before you start the worksheet.) After this, attempt questions on your own in increasing order of difficulty. Make sure to check each question after you've done it so you aren't making the same mistake on every question. If you get the question right, continue to a harder question, if not reflect on where you went wrong. If it was a silly mistake, make a note to yourself so you remember to check for that mistake in the upcoming questions. If the mistake is more critical, go back to your worked solution or model answer and add to your notes.

I would also recommend to keep a bank of the type of questions you consistently get wrong. This would be very good to do as revision before exams.

You are on the right track, keep pushing! Very good luck and feel free to ask any questions!

Reply 3

Yttrium_39

5

Hi! I'm in Year 13 doing Maths - exam questions are definitely a great way to go, but also make sure you understand how and why you use equations/skills etc. I'd really recommend going over textbook questions - they're often designed to help with fluency + understanding first, and then apply this to exam questions. Looking at mark schemes is good for seeing where you've gone wrong, and seeing how you should approach a question. PMT has lots of worked solutions so I'd definitely check those out. But also make sure to ask your teachers for help and resources.
Hope this helps and if you have any questions, please ask! :smile:

Reply 4

bhs009

OP

8

thank you all!!

Reply 5

Muttley79

20

Original post

by bhs009

Hi, I'm in Year 12 doing maths, further maths and physics. in my school, we do all the year 1 maths content until january, and then all the fm year 1 content until the end of the year [we have about 15 hours a fortnight]. right now, i hate maths. like i just cannot do it, i was an amazing student last year, but now i just can't do exam questions and everything is going so fast. everyone says that to be good in a level maths + fm, you have to practice and do exam questions. but i can never get through more thn 2 qs without looking at the asnwers or getting violently stuck. if i can't do year 1 maths, how will i do further maths??
please give me any tips that can get me out of this slump!! i want to apply for engineering so an A* in maths and like an A in fm is basically necessary.

You can do engineering at many good unis without FMaths so don't panic.

Engineering is a degree where RG is totally irrelevant - in fac some of the best are Bath, Loughborough and for Motorsport/auto & EVs, Oxford Brookes.

Do you use Dr Frost?

Reply 6

bhs009

OP

8

Original post

by Muttley79

You can do engineering at many good unis without FMaths so don't panic.
Engineering is a degree where RG is totally irrelevant - in fac some of the best are Bath, Loughborough and for Motorsport/auto & EVs, Oxford Brookes.
Do you use Dr Frost?

Sometimes, I usually use the textbook questions, mathsgenie, bicen maths and pmt questions!