AS-Level maths - can adults do it?

Yeah I'd definitely say that engineering maths is the harder parts of maths. It tends to use very specific topics that aren't focussed on that thoroughly at A-Level, and goes quite deep into them, while completely ignoring others as they don't have practical use.

Possibly find out what topics they're going to be teaching and get a book like "Engineering Mathematics" by Stroud if it has those topics (this book is great and has lots of examples and questions with solutions). AS level might well teach you a lot of stuff that isn't relevant, although having an A-level book to fall back out might help should you not be familiar with the basics that are assumed in the Stroud book.
 
dowie said:
The OU might be more useful for you - its specifically designed for part time study and the teaching material is likely better than anything else you'll be able to find. Take a look at the website some of the courses are specifically designed for people who haven't studied much maths for a while.
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+1.
 
Well, pure maths in generally harder than applied with a few exceptions. For engineering I think knowledge of 3x3 Matcies, basic differentiation and intergration, 2nd Order ODEs, and mechanics would brilliant starting point, and are really very methodical - Don't get put of by the names!!

Stuff that you WONT need would be statistics, numerical analysis, decision maths. But again, contact the course provider and ask what you should learn.
 
Ok, I think I need to link all you guys to the masters I'm looking at:

http://www.cege.ucl.ac.uk/teaching/postgraduate/hydrographic_surveying

The prospectus for the Masters course status this:

For the appropriate level of mathematics, the advice given to students is that
a British “A Level” in mathematics would certainly be sufficient preparation
for the course. However, given that not all applicants are likely to have this,
more specific specifications are available about the level of background
knowledge and the subjects that should be revised before embarking on the
course. Essentially, these advise the students that they are expected to have
a basic familiarity with algebra (manipulation of equations, solution of
simultaneous equations, quadratic equations, etc); geometry (properties of
circles, concepts of angular measure); trigonometry (definitions and
applications of basic functions, expansions of compound angles, application
of sine and cosine rules for plane triangles); calculus (differential calculus
including application to standard functions); matrices (definitions, simple
algebraic functions such as addition, subtraction and multiplication, inversion
of small matrices). Students are advised to prepare themselves for the
programme by studying these subjects as much as possible before arrival; it
UCL/PLA MSc in Hydrographic Surveying
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is then possible to give a fairly rapid summary of these subjects before
immediately proceeding to apply them in practice. An example of a
comprehensive mathematics text book to revise from would be:
“Engineering Mathematics” (paperback) by Stroud
Other text books are available if the above is not available locally. Another
option would be:
“Maths for Map Makers” (paperback) by Arthur Allan
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I am low on confidence with my Maths, so I want to address it fully before I start the course, I'm looking at a Sept 2011 start date.

Is the level of Maths do-able for a person that needs to brush up on GCSE Maths first?

I do have 18 months and only need to study the maths, I also have no job atm, so time is on my side.
 
georges said:
Yeah I'd definitely say that engineering maths is the harder parts of maths. It tends to use very specific topics that aren't focussed on that thoroughly at A-Level, and goes quite deep into them, while completely ignoring others as they don't have practical use.

Possibly find out what topics they're going to be teaching and get a book like "Engineering Mathematics" by Stroud if it has those topics (this book is great and has lots of examples and questions with solutions). AS level might well teach you a lot of stuff that isn't relevant, although having an A-level book to fall back out might help should you not be familiar with the basics that are assumed in the Stroud book.
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There isnt really much 'Pure' maths at A level though is there, the fun starts at university where pure is most deffinitely harder than applied :)

And i reckon you'll be able to learn from the text books as people have said, its a natural progression from GCSE
 
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If you are studying at home, then all you need to do is pay to take the exam in June, which is around £20.

I think the maths students use AQA "Core maths" - But I'm not entirely sure as I quit maths after a week or two, overburdened myself with subjects a little :p
 
Ok from that description, AS Maths certainly be adequate, although I would suggest looking at AS level Further Maths aswell. That should set you up no problem.

At my school we were advised not to take A-level maths with less than a B at GCSE, but exceptions were made. One classmate in particular got a C at GCSE and went on to get an A at A-level. Obviously he had to work harder for it, but if your out of work at the moment, that should be much of an issue.

The course will seem hard for the first month or two as you will be working to catch up rather than learn, but after that I think you will be fine :) Good Luck with your studies!
 
The key to AS and A levels is doing lots of example questions. The Core 1 + 2 is the book you want for AS and I would recommend doing at least half of the questions in this book (not a small feat). Also I'm pretty sure AS also contains either Mechanics 1 or Statistics 1, you can choose which but I would recommend Stats as Mechanics requires a higher level of maths. Good luck!
 
I've just finished, today my maths alevel :) exam went very well... There are 3 boards for maths alevel. : OCR, Edexcel, and AQA. I can't comment on the others, but AQA is a very popular board and thye have lots of past papers on the internet. I cant think of the book i used, since i handed it in today, but il have a peek on the internet. The topics in general are: Core maths, Statistics, Mechanics, and Further Pure maths. A AS-level has to be made of Core 1, Core 2 and another module, for instance statistics 1, or mechanics 1. If you want to take a full blown alevel, Then you need 6 modules overall; Core 1,2,3,4 and 2 other options, for instance statistics or mechanics, (or "decsion"). You can take surplus subjects and move ones around. I've done Alevel maths, and AS level further maths, and my modules include. -Alevel(Core1,2,3,4 Stats1,Mechanics1) Further maths-(Further pure 1,Decision1,Statistics2) and i did Mechanics 2 as an extra unit. In general Decision1 is easiest, then Mechanics1,closely followed by Statistics1, core 1 and 2 arent too taxing either.
 
With a bit of determination you can definitely teach yourself the course. If you are just going to do AS rather than the full A level I would recommend also having a look at C3 to cover the trigonometry section and also to have a look at the matrices section of FP1, this should mean you cover all the background knowledge they specify in the prospectus.

I would also suggest you take M1 as your optional choice rather than S1 or D1 as it will be far more relevant to engineering, and its not very hard.
 
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