The transition from GCSE to AS/A Level Maths

[TNGL]

I'm worried about my future. I wish to go to university after sixth form, but I've noticed that many top universities want A Level maths and this is where my problems lies... At present, I'm getting solid Bs and low As on occasion in GCSE maths. From what I've heard, C1 AS Maths is 'easy' or at least easier than the rest of the syllabus so I'd hope to get through that. But from there, apparently it gets quite hard and you either 'get it' or you don't. For this reason, I've selected use of maths as one of my options, but I honestly don't feel that use of maths will be able to match the value of having an AS/A Level in mathematics.

If I achieve a B in GCSE maths, I can still do maths at A Level but I'll have to attend extra lessons (which I'm not complaining about; it will benefit me), but do you think that will be enough to get me through the course? I understand that you need to have a positive approach to maths (which I do). The reason I'm finding it hard to break from a B to an A at GCSE level is because, at the moment we're just revising what we've already been through which is enough to get me a B, but doesn't secure me an A. So now I've just went through a bunch of past papers, found the questions I can't do and will then ask for help as to how to answer them in my maths class.


TL;DR
Has anybody got any stories to share of their transition from GCSE to A level maths? What was your GCSE grade in maths, and what did you/are you attaining in AS/A Level maths? Was it difficult, did you pay for a private tutor on top of revising etc?

Any help, opinions and thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[Jjustme]

No-one in my year (like 6 people lol) retook.
They all achieved their targets or higher on the first go for C1.

Got A* in GCSE Maths, got an A for my AS year and got my A2 exams in a few weeks
I didn't find it difficult but some in my class took a a couple extra lessons during term breaks, nothing major.

If you work your way through every past paper and learn how to tackle each type of question (use the mark schemes, as long as you learn how it's done and you'd be able to do it next time without one) and you should be fine! This is advice approaching exam time, this method has never failed me

 

[Mr Jack]

If you get your head down and work hard, you can get a good grade in A Level Maths, don't worry

 

[RomanNose]

Maths is not that bad, it's the other sciences which are trickier.

 

[PermaBanned]

It's nothing like GCSE, that's for sure. There are parts of Decision that i enjoyed, and Mechanics looks interesting but tbh i'm really glad i dropped it (failed C1 and D1 first time i sat them). The sheer workload people get for it here is stupid, there's no time for any of their other subjects.

I guess it's doable, but it depends on how you learn and how good your teacher is, as well as how well you fit in with the speed and style of the rest of the class. As for universities wanting it, well it depends what you want to do.

 

[Leo101b]

Well I got an A* in GCSE maths last summer along with an A in additional maths at GCSE level, I got high As on my AS papers this January and am currently bricking it for the A2 exams in 5 weeks (expecting an A* on aggregate). As far as your strategy about finding the questions you can't do in papers and asking your teacher for help goes I think that is honestly the bast way to do things because once you have seen the little trick that lets you do that question you can often apply it to a whole host of other similar questions. In my school cohort pretty everyone has done just fine in moving from GCSE to A-level standard allthough it is a fairly big step up. C1 does a nice job of getting you a bit more used to what you will be doing but by C3 and C4 stuff gets a little bit more difficult.

 

[bhavv]

I failed AS maths after getting a B in GCSE. It was the hardest thing ever, and the transition from GCSE to A level difficulty was too overwhelming. I managed to get a D in chemistry, but in Maths I was 4 points away from an E.

Maths is the hardest level, no competition.

 

[Disco Boy]

If you can't get at least an A in GCSE maths, then why do you think you will be good enough to go to a "top university" that requires A level maths? What courses at which universities are you looking at?

 

[RomanNose]

Maths has the lowest workload of any of my subjects :O.
What other subjects are you doing? Generally I have found that those who struggle with maths struggle with the sciences as well. There isn't a single person in my physics class who doesn't do Maths.

 

[BDEE]

Its 13 or so years ago, but I got a B at GCSE and ended up dropping out of A-Level.

I liked discrete maths and statistics, but struggled with pure. My best mark on pure 1 was an E and then couldn't pass pure 2.

It ruined my experience of college as I suffered on everything else due to the difficulty I had with maths. I wish I had taken something different from the start and I might have done better overall.

I really think they are right when they advise only A / A* GCSE results are acceptable for going on to A-Level.

Of course that is if it isnt easier these days like is so often said?

 

[PermaBanned]

Maths is the hardest level, no competition.

I'll definitely agree with that. With other subjects (i do three sciences) it might be hard to get the 'right' right answer that they want for the marks, but there's nothing too difficult about grasping most of the concepts. With maths there was just so much content to get through every single lesson, i'd just started to get my head round one thing by the time we'd moved on to two others.

I don't mean to discourage you, but really the two most important questions should be "Do you enjoy maths?" and "What are you thinking about doing at uni and why?"

Oh, and i believe i got an A at GCSE Maths.

 

[Ricochet J]

TL;DR
Has anybody got any stories to share of their transition from GCSE to A level maths? What was your GCSE grade in maths, and what did you/are you attaining in AS/A Level maths?

I did GCSE intermediate maths and got a B. I never knew the higher level stuff as I wasn't in that class. I hated maths.

I convinced my college to let me do A Level maths as I wanted to do mech eng at university. They agreed. At college the learning experience was different so I started to enjoy maths a lot. I smacked A's all of my modules except from stats which I got a B.

I was once like you - afraid of what to expect from A Level maths. I'm not going to bull **** you, it is hard at times. However when I was stuck I always asked my teacher and he always gave me help.

In a nut shell do it.


Right now in my career I do A LOT of fluid mechanics, which is applied maths (as well as engineering). So that's a lot of partial differential equations, Navier Stokes, couette flow etc. It's enjoyable because I understand it.

 

[timebomb26]

I did GCSE maths in year 10 and got an A* so decided to take maths A level as well. I struggled with stats at first because it was the last double class of the day and it is SO BORING. I got a U, then retook and got a D, then decided to actually revise for it and got 100%. Mechanics is all pretty simple really, as well as C1/C2/some of C3. I struggled a bit with C3 and C4, but if you work hard enough you'll get it.

Like someone mentioned past papers are your best friends. They'll have nearly identical questions each year (with different values etc) so as long as you revise from them you should be fine. I ended up with an A, which actually surprised myself. It was all because I aced stuff like M1/M2/C1/C2/S1/D1, which are all straight forward. As long as you do well in the easier modules a few bad marks in touger ones shouldn't bring you down too badly.

 

[GreatAuk]

I got a lowish A in GCSE maths, and tbh I always found it quite dull and difficult. I was always the "when will we use this in real life, Miss?" guy, and was only doing maths because it was compulsory.

I realised that A level maths was required for lots of university courses, so took it anyway, with some trepidation... Anyway, I found that AS maths was actually quite interesting, I started to enjoy it, and in fact it wasn't really that hard once you got used to just doing the questions. I carried it on to A2, and after rushing through the whole A2 syllabus in one term (before January) and getting an A, I retook in summer and got an A*.

I would say that if you have enough willpower to listen in lessons, do the homeworks, and work through plenty of past papers, maths A level can be very straightforward. You just have to persevere sometimes and then you will see the light, which I never really experienced with GCSE maths (I probably just didn't try hard enough). So in my experience, going from not being very good at GCSE, you can still do well at A level, and even enjoy it too!

I took further maths to A2 as well (did it with minimal lessons until after my A2 January, after which my other maths lessons turned into further maths lessons for the remaining three modules for the two of us who wanted to do it), and got a low A. Further maths in my experience was just like ordinary maths, but just an alpha version on steroids - you could still do well by putting work in and doing the questions until it al made sense, but it just required more mental power to work out what to do, and learning how to do the questions took a lot longer.

The step up from A2 maths to FP2 (A2 further maths) was much bigger than the step up from AS maths to A2 maths, which in turn was much bigger than the step up from GCSE to AS maths,, in my opinion. I had a look at some FP3 stuff, and it looked like another massive step up again (although with maths it can be hard to tell as it is essentially completely indecipherable until you have learnt a specific method), but I suppose what I'm trying to say is that hard work will get you a long way in maths - just grind long enough and you'll level up, it's all about how long you're prepared to grind for.

Some people said that the one guy who did 3 maths A levels was just a genius (he got A*A*A in the maths ones, plus two other A's, he's doing maths at uni now), but they neglected to mention how while everyone else spent free periods trying to throw mints down girls open blouses, he was working from a maths book, how he always did his homeworks, and just had a great work ethic in general. Imo pretty much anyone can get good at maths (certainly to A level - perhaps you need a certain acquired skillset for STEP papers and stuff, but I can vouch for this to A level), you just need to put the work in.

 

[Megahurtz400]

Buckle down, work hard, get help when and if you need it and you can do anything

 

[mr_stat]

For a little confidence, I was in your position (about 10 years ago now) that I had a okay grade at GCSE maths (I got a B - but probably lucky to get that) and all the courses I wanted to do at University required a decent grade in Alevel maths (A or B). The transition is harsh, but totally achievable - I ended up with a grade B (2% shy of an A).

My advice would be spend a good deal of time on the core (pure maths), really understand the content - don't just move on once you can get a passing mark on a homework assignment.

Good luck m8.

Mr_stat

 

[mattx2]

Its 13 or so years ago, but I got a B at GCSE and ended up dropping out of A-Level.

I liked discrete maths and statistics, but struggled with pure. My best mark on pure 1 was an E and then couldn't pass pure 2.

It ruined my experience of college as I suffered on everything else due to the difficulty I had with maths. I wish I had taken something different from the start and I might have done better overall.

I really think they are right when they advise only A / A* GCSE results are acceptable for going on to A-Level.

Of course that is if it isnt easier these days like is so often said?

This is word for word what I was about to post. I did a-levels about 10 years ago got a B at GCSE and failed miserably at a level just coudn't get my head round it

 

[Nitefly]

I wouldn't pay any attention to what anyone says you should find hard, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses.

As above, with a bit of effort you can get a decent grade I'm sure.

 

[Marmot]

Don't worry about maths. Couple of years ago I had to learn how to do calculus and a whole host of other stuff, in order to pass an exam and get into Durham Uni as a mature student. I got a D at GCSE, and learning differentiation/integration/quadratic equations/partial fractions/etc from scratch was hard but I did it, and ended up breezing the paper. My point is, if I can do it anyone can, just gotta put the time in.

 

[TNGL]

If you can't get at least an A in GCSE maths, then why do you think you will be good enough to go to a "top university" that requires A level maths? What courses at which universities are you looking at?

I'm at a solid B at the moment and sometimes get As, one of the main problems at my school being that they aren't bothering to teach us anything above B grade questions, and are instead going over what we've already learnt. This is one of the reasons that I've began to take 'action' now, by asking my teacher to help me with topics I need help with. I don't quite understand what you mean by, 'good enough'... but if you're referring to my mathematical abilities, it's not too late to improve my GCSE grade and hopefully get through A level maths as well with the 'correct' approach.

I want a career in finance (hopefully economics, but that will depend heavily on my maths grade which I'm not too sure about at the moment), so the courses I'm looking at are Finance, economics or economics and finance. By top universities, I mean the top 20 in the guardian 2012 university league table... not the top 3 universities in the country.

Maths has the lowest workload of any of my subjects :O.
What other subjects are you doing? Generally I have found that those who struggle with maths struggle with the sciences as well. There isn't a single person in my physics class who doesn't do Maths.

Other subjects I hope to take are, computing, economics and statistics (may switch this to business studies). As for GCSE science, I didn't opt for additional or triple science but for core science I didn't do too bad. I ended up with a B overall, with chemistry part A at a C being my worst. As for physics and biology it was As and Bs.

Edit: Just saw some others have responded, I'm not ignoring your replies, I just haven't read them yet.