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Sixth Form Maths

I wouldn't concur on the GCSE A* for Further Maths thing. Under similar recommendation, I didn't take Further Maths after only getting an A at GCSE. While I struggled in the first year (Got an E), the second year I got a new teacher and things clicked really well. Got a B overall after scoring >90 on all three of my 2nd year Maths papers, wishing to God that I'd done Further Maths.
 
I did further maths and didn't think it was that hard, if you think your teacher is ok then go for it because you actually learn something interesting. I found physics useless at A level because there is no maths in it. I am currently on a physics masters btw and you need a lot of maths.
 
Not sure where the A* at gcse for further maths comments are coming from. I don't think gcse grades reflect your maximum ability in subjects at all.
 
Nitefly said:
Not sure where the A* at gcse for further maths comments are coming from. I don't think gcse grades reflect your maximum ability in subjects at all.
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Indeed. But beware Further Maths isn't for the faint hearted. As you suggested OP, it is best to go and talk to your tutors as they will know your potential better than any of us and can point you in the right direction.
 
PMKeates said:
I wouldn't concur on the GCSE A* for Further Maths thing. Under similar recommendation, I didn't take Further Maths after only getting an A at GCSE.
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I agree. I got an A in maths at GCSE and picked maths just because I thought it would go well with the other subjects. It became my favourite subject in 6th form and I ended up with a high A and a merit in the AEA paper (which was so close to a distinction), and I wished I'd done further maths instead. I've now gone on to do physics and maths at uni, so your GCSE marks really don't reflect your true interests or capabilities.
 
Mechanics is a very rational subject, will help with the physics like said, a lot of people in my a-level physics had to do extra lessons(that didnt get them a qualification) just do to the physics maths stuff for their physics a-level.

Im seeing RAF here a lot, thats what i wanted to do after college - mechanics will be the best, hand in hand with physics, so do it.
 
GCSE maths is no real indication of how you'll do in A level. I only just scraped an A* at GCSE, and ended up getting a high A at a level. I know people who got Bs at GCSE and managed to pull off an A at A level. A level maths is much more interesting than the GCSE stuff.

I couldn't do Further maths as the school decided it wasn't cost effective to only teach me and one other person, so I did AS further maths in my own time, which was definitely useful as I'm now in an engineering degree.
 
I did Maths mechanics physics and electronics.

thanks for M1 module i found physics first year reallly easy, if you get spare time, start learning some A2 physics stuff in the first year independantly so you will have more time next year to spend more time on Maths, you may well need it :)

also just a warning that physics second year will have nothing to do with M2 maths.

hope this helps
 
To be honest, physics is much, much more than just mechanics, even at A-level (especially in the second year). M1 may help you in a couple of areas but it's mostly so simple that it'll come naturally anyway. Anything past M1 won't be done in physics, and you don't really need M1 anyway.

Of course, if you want to take the mechanics modules for other reasons that to complement physics, then go for it :)
 
Indeed, GCSE grades dont really offer real indication of A-levle grades. I remember at college us being told that A grade GCSE students would be predicted C at a-level, well hows that one work, no1 gets above a C?
Anyways I got a B, so i was predicted D/E at a-level maths, after having attendance low enough to be kicked out of college(45% at one point, ended up being about 60% for the year) and doing about .. 2 homeworks(it was set weekly) i got a good old C :)
 
peetee said:
Indeed, GCSE grades dont really offer real indication of A-levle grades. I remember at college us being told that A grade GCSE students would be predicted C at a-level, well hows that one work, no1 gets above a C?
Anyways I got a B, so i was predicted D/E at a-level maths, after having attendance low enough to be kicked out of college(45% at one point, ended up being about 60% for the year) and doing about .. 2 homeworks(it was set weekly) i got a good old C :)
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Was that with Further or?
 
that was the *old*(we told it was being replaced, but i do actually beleive that it never
was, and it was just our college moving over) maths.
It was Pure+Discrete+Mechanics, without further

I didnt actually sit second year, as after talking with my tutor he said i may struggle since not attending and there will be a little more in the syllabus, plus everyone had to resit 'Pure' etc in its new form.. 'Core'
One of my mates went to second year and dropped his Pure grade A to a Core grade C.
Me, as a lazy sod, decided to resit, So i effectively did the first year twice, except the second time round I didnt have to do discrete(gutted cos it was easiest) and had to do 2 more Pure/Core modules. I got worse attendance this time round and got a C again, 2xAS-level C grades is the same UCAS as a A-level C, great how i got more UCAS points than the people who wrote off their origional 1st year quals and only got a D in the end of 2nd year core :)

So no, no further =) Im lazy, Iv never done education v well really. Never been motivated for most of it.
 
look if you are going to do econ/maths/science whatever at uni, do further maths.

if you cant then you know you are studying the wrong degree.

its actually fairly easy. BTW decision is a joke, hence not really counted by most people as FM. For you id say do all the pure and all the mechs, forget the stats (but you maybe required to do S1 but thats fairly trivial). if you find the FM mechs hard, then physics at uni will be painful.
 
Yup, I'd take further or maybe Mechanics.
I take Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry.


In Maths we do all the Pure stuff and Mechanics (We've done C1 and just started C2, we're about midway with M1)
So far in Further Maths we've done FP1 and just starting FP2. We've done D1 which was a bizarre subject and we've started M2)

I didn't enjoy Discrete Maths much, it was a lot of donkey work with all the algorithms and that, Simplex took ages to get my head around.
Mechanics is great though, fits in nicely with what we did in Physics and we're doing M1 and M2 at the same time.
Pure is just pure and good stuff.
 
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