The transition from GCSE to AS/A Level Maths

Step up from GCSE to AS level isn't too bad. There is one but it's as expected.

AS to A level is the big steup up. I got a B at GCSE an A in core 1 and B in core 2. Core 3 and 4 I got D's.

I also took mechanics. M1 I got a B and M2 an E.

but as others have echoed it's all about what you put in.
 
Tingle said:
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.
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Good job, that man :)

Also, "won a few scholarships" when read in context of your original post says someone is nailing it.
 
Pfft core maths wusses - core maths 1-4 used to be including with pure maths 1-3! We had to do either mechanics 2 or stats 2.

Goddam wippersnappers!!
 
Did Maths and Further Maths in the early 90's when it was ******* hard (after getting A(ext) at GCSE before the "*" nonsense (to get ext(ended) you had to sit another paper on top of the normal GCSE ones which was a pass/fail job)).

At A-level I wound Pure ok, Mechanical interesting and Statistics really boring. Nice thing with Mechanics then was it overlapped with Physics a lot which helped with the workload.
 
Did my A level maths in the mid 80s. Used the infamous Bostock and Chandler.
The key to succeeding at A levels is understanding the concepts and just doing lots of questions. It's boring but you would achieve your goal.
 
The trick with maths (and pretty much most education) is to take anything you dont understand and sit down trying it different ways until you do. Understanding your own way is much easier than trying to remember by revision of the standard method, in many cases there's loads of ways to solve a problem and you get taught one, but that method might not click for you so you need to find the one that does.

A good one i remember was matrices, first time i met those in school it went right over my head so i went to the study room one day and for 3 solid hours tried to understand them until eventually there was that click, that penny drop, and considering in second year uni one of our modules had a test on matrices that i got 100% in i'd say it pretty much worked.

If you work hard, do your homework to learn rather than because teacher says, and focus your revision on the bits you don't get rather than the bits you do then you can get where you need to.

I hate maths btw, especially the clinical way it's taught, sadly life rarely deals with nice whole numbers and answers you can tell are right just because they look right.
 
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.
 
Tingle said:
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.
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Onwards and upwards, friend. To paraphrase Rocky-man himself: it's not the kicking that counts, it's how you dust off from it. :p:cool:Keep working hard and look to the future.
 
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.
 
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