Should I take Further Maths

7

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

Reply 1

ros_

7

Original post

by VDUSEN

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

FM would be very difficult (as it is for all students), but I wouldn't worry about senior maths challenge- some people just don't thrive at it. If you think you are a good mathematician then go for it, you can always drop it later. Maybe just take it on as a 4th and then you can figure out how you feel about it later

Reply 2

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper, Careers Forum Helper

19

Original post

by VDUSEN

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

What other subjects are you planning on doing?
You could always do it as your 4th subject (most 6th forms allow this) and see how you go. If the worst comes to the worst then you could always drop it (and you would still have your other 3 subjects to carry on with).

Reply 3

ari.j1

9

Original post

by VDUSEN

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

i am y13 doing maths, further maths, physics and dt, and i definitely think you should take it. I was in the same situations, 9s in gcses but always didnt do great on maths challenges- those types of questions are quite specific and not everyone is good at them, and they are not at all indicative of how you will do in a level maths and further maths. Personally, I think you should take further, at least give it a shot (you can drop if you regret it), as the benefits are worth the hard work. I am currently predicted A* in fm, and am so happy I took it- though it can be hard work, it is interesting, gives an advantage in uni applications, and honestly makes regular maths make much more sense. Do you enjoy maths? If you find it interesting you should definitely take it as well. What other subjects are you taking?

Reply 4

Phelena

13

Original post

by VDUSEN

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

People tend to make FM sound harder than it is. If you can make effective use of having twice as many lessons as normal, it's a fairly reasonable difficulty, and all that means is that you have to enjoy spending more time doing maths than any of your other subjects.

I know someone who got a bronze in year 12 and a gold in year 13 (after doing further maths for a year); so you'll probably get better with the ukmt stuff anyway. Really it's just a few tricks and problem solving / speed thinking skills, which you'll want to improve at whether you take further maths or not.

Reply 5

future456

3

Original post

by VDUSEN

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

Senior Maths Challenge has a different assessment style to A-level Further Maths, it's fine.

I got Bronze Award in Y12 and Y13 and I still got an A in A-level Further Maths (7 marks below A*).

I know a student who got Participation Award in Y12 and Bronze Award in Y13 and he got A*A* in Maths and Further Maths.

Reply 6

Not_Dane_Heart

5

Original post

by VDUSEN

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

So long as you enjoy maths then you will find it fun, what is worth doing is if you know (or have at least a vague idea of) what you want to do at university then you should see if there are universities that want furthermaths for the course. So obviously if you wanted to study maths at uni then you should definitely do furthermaths A-Level. For other subjects like physics, engineering, comp sci etc. some specific universities might want furthermaths while others may not, if you are interested in applying for places like Cambridge then further maths is a must.
As far as the senior maths challenge is concerned, I think the highest I have ever gotten is a silver? It is a different sort of maths really, I have found furthermaths fine and quite enjoyable actually. I would recomend taking it as a fourth, and if you do find it too hard then you could always drop it, that is what I have done and I have found it fine. But yeah, my biggest recomendation is looking at university requirements.

Reply 7

AltAccount00

15

Original post

by VDUSEN

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

Senior Maths Challenge is COMPLETELY different and it's not an indicator of general mathematical ability any more than anything else is. I really struggle with the timed, short question multiple choice format, but am predicted A*A* in maths and fm (one of which i'm going to take early even though my school isn't helping me), but never did well in ukmt. (worth noting i guess that i am very good at the open answer later rounds but that's a worry for another time). If you're getting bronze on smc in y11 that's already a great starting point.

Reply 8

Collei_DO

1

Original post

by VDUSEN

I am a GCSE student and I have to pick my A-levels soon. I am predicted a 9 in maths and I do think I am quite good at it however when it comed to the senior maths challenge I always do really bad, like most of the time I get bronze. Since everyone says FM is hard anyway should I still take FM or would it be quite challenging

I would like to suggest you to choose Further Maths based on the majors you would like to choose in the future, first of all. If you want to study Economics, Maths, physics, or associated subjects, you will have to study Further Mathematics, but if you want to study other science subjects, such as Biology. Further Mathematics is not compulsory, and I would suggest you to focus on these core subjects for a better preparation of your personal statement.
Trust me: A-Level Further Mathematics is not such hard as people said. It depends on your skillfulness in GCSE and A-Level Mathematics as well as your methods to study. I’d like to say that the best way to study Further Maths is to do past papers everyday once you studied the methods of problem solving. As far as you can ensure and balance your studies of other subjects, you can choose to do about 5 questions every day about the topic you are studying. This also applies to other subjects are are studying. People may find it difficult for some concepts such as Complex number, but it you find it difficult to understand the theory and concepts of it, just ignore the concepts and do past papers to memorize the ways to do the questions. Further maths is the best subject to study through exam-oriented learning methods. Just study it like an Indian or Chinese, and you will find it very easy.

Should I take Further Maths

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