The transition from GCSE to AS/A Level Maths

TNGL

TNGL

TNGL

Soldato
Joined
2 Jul 2010
Posts
3,098
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!
 
Disco Boy said:
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?
Click to expand...

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.


RomanNose said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Thanks for the words of advice and encouragement. Many people I've asked such as family and friends say I can do it, as long as I put the effort in. I always thought they were 'just saying that', but from reading the posts in this thread it really does seem as though effort and the right mentality can really help things. I'm going to speak to my maths teacher tomorrow and ask him what he thinks as well.

I'd say I'm not a lazy person as such, but I could put a bit more effort in... I will admit to that and it's something I've already began to work on.

Scotty123 said:
I found the jump quite difficult. It didn't make sense. One day, it all clicked and now a few years later here I am doing a maths PhD :P.

It was the same for some undergrad modules, used to think 'er what the hell'. Things eventually click in time and work out.
Click to expand...

Nice one. In my opinion, at the moment I don't have a problem with it clicking at GCSE level. It's more about being taught the stuff in the first place, that I need to get my grade up to an A/A*. I hope it'll all 'click' for me in AS/A Level maths though :p
 
Last edited:
Disco Boy said:
Best of luck to you, but whatever you do, don't drop economics a level in favour of business studies. Anything that ends in "studies" is not an A level worth having.

You don't suggest from your posts that you are great at maths. You do realise that an economics degree (a finance degree is a watered-down economics degree, barely worth doing) is difficult applied maths right? And that an economics degree is the best way into finance (maths, physics and chemistry being the other good degrees) a watered-down "finance studies" course won't get you as far as you are hoping.
Click to expand...

No, I'm not great at maths, but when I'm taught something I usually understand it first time, but I feel as though I'm sometimes not being pushed to understand the harder questions (grade A/A*), the final questions on the paper etc. But I've began to take action now, and have the teacher help me with them questions to help improve my grade.

Yeah, I'm thinking of not doing business studies. I'm doing it at GCSE at the moment and I get A*s in that, but as for A Level I don't think I will.

I'm hoping to be able to do an economics degree and avoid a finance degree, because from how I see it, an economics degree is valued more than a finance degree and has better prospects. This is partly why I'm starting to worry, because I don't want to do an economics degree at a 'bad' university as such, but if I had to I'd instead opt for a finance degree at a university a little better.
 
Last edited:
Dr Delphi said:
In my opinion the jump from GCSE to A-Levels is the biggest jump in difficulty you will ever come across. I didn't do too well with my A-Level Maths, P4-6 were horrific especially as I was taking further Maths on my own with the teacher, so things became a bit too intense for me to deal with at that age. However, it is very important for you to get good grades at A-Level, even more so than people realise. With my poorer results at A-Levels I still find it hard to get a job even with a first class Masters of Physics and a Ph.D. in quantum physics, in interviews I always get asked why I did so badly at that level.

Also remember these forums are frequented by people who can answer any Maths questions you have - as long you have tried to work the answer out and don't just expect us to answer it (and do your homework) for you!
Click to expand...


I would post maths questions on here, but from seeing some of the maths questions posted, my questions may seem a bit silly. But nonetheless, I guess it's good to know that there are people willing to help myself and others, so I may post a couple when I'm stuck during revision.
 
I just thought I'd update this:
If you read the beginning of the original post, you'll see that I was a little uncertain of what grade I'll get at GCSE maths. I found out I got an A (not an A*, but I'm quite happy with it) in GCSE maths today, so I'm going to take A level maths and hopefully with a bit of hard work it should go well.

EDIT:
Thanks Delphi, for helping me with a proportionality question I was slightly stumped on.
 
Last edited:
Judgeneo said:
If you're any good at maths you will find the A-level to have one of the lowest workloads, and be one of the most enjoyable.


There are 18 possible modules for Maths, completing 6 including C1-C4 gives you the Maths A-level. Another 6 including FP1-FP3 (FP1-FP2 on MEI) gives you further maths, and another 6 gives you additional further maths.

Taking the Further Maths A-level will improve your standard maths A-level by a good margin, and I highly recommend taking it at least to AS-level.
If you are afforded the luxury of being able to take both A-levels on the same exam board there are other benefits. Many of the modules for the two A-levels are interchangeable, and you're school can choose which modules go into which A-level. So you can balance your modules out to give you the best possible grades.


Again, if you want to take A-level maths, also take Further Maths, it will be a massive advantage.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I'd be able to cope with further maths as well, I'll think about it. I should take it, as it gives you quite the advantage when applying for economics at good universities, from what I've heard. But I'd rather take something different which I think I'll be able to cope with, as opposed to taking something I'm not sure if I'll be able to cope with and end up failing it.
 
Morbius said:
If you get stuck with any of it, feel free to ask. Unless it's statistics, in which case you'll probably know more than I do because I've forgotten most of it.
Click to expand...

I will with AS/A Level maths, I was less inclined to do so with GCSE maths.
 
Again, I thought I'd just update this thread for those who may find themselves in a similar situation one day. Received results on Thursday for January exams; 91/100 UMS for C1, giving me an A grade.

C2 and S1 seem to be coming along nicely as well, for the exams in May. So my advice (based on everything so far) if you're unsure whether to take maths at Sixth Form or not... give it a go and put the effort in.

EDIT:
Oh, and the syllabus is really quite enjoyable which helps I suppose.
 
Last edited:
Just an update. Got my results today, 2 A*s and an A. One of the A*s is in maths and I'm now going to be studying Actuarial Science at university, which should hopefully be a decent challenge.

Hope my 'journey' helps anyone else in the same situation.
 
Looks like I forgot to update this for 2015.

Still going strong, got a first for my 1st year of Actuarial Science and won a few scholarships for academic excellence, including one that covers my tuition fees.

Moral of this entire thread so far: Put a little more effort in to your studies and it should be worth it in the end.
 
So another yearly update on the journey so far... It seems like the degree was a good choice and thankfully (nearly) everything was very interesting to learn about this year, which made it slightly less difficult for me to average a first for my 2nd year.

I say the degree was a good choice, however, I'm not entirely sure I want to become an actuary since interning at an IB, but the prospects within IB are hardly rosy at the moment and it's clear just how much this particular bank is scaling back their operations. The hours, even as an intern aren't very sociable either, which is something I never hear actuaries complaining of.

The biggest challenges I face now are deciding between the actuarial or banking path, working towards the chosen path and getting an acceptable grade in my final year.

I do hope this thread has actually helped somebody who was in a similar dilemma as I once was and continues to help others who will soon face a similar situation. I'll keep on updating it until graduation, by which point, I would hopefully have made up my mind and secured a role.
 
So the journey's finally over... I achieved a First in my degree and have an interesting job lined up within a data science team at one of the largest consultancies in the world.

I hope this thread helps others.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom