The transition from GCSE to AS/A Level Maths

The thing about learning maths is the teacher is an important part of the lesson. My teacher was horrible, I ended up leaving school barely scraping a C grade. Yet I went to college doing an NVQ which came with a tagged on maths class of similar standard to GCSE, And I ended up with distinctions.

Do you feel your math skills could be down to the teacher? There's a good chance when you reach your A level classes, the teacher will help you grasp maths in a better way than a GCSE school teacher can.

My thoughts on the matter anyways :)
 
I was going to add that it might be worth trying to source the A level syllabus and watch a few of the khan academy lectures to get a flavour of the topics, you may not understand it but you should gather the basic concepts behind it. I think they are well presented to the extent Id use them as a tool not for when you are stuck but one to use in addition to teaching to help concrete understanding...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
wannabedamned said:
The thing about learning maths is the teacher is an important part of the lesson....
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Could not agree more with this statement. If i hadnt had a pretty kickass maths teacher at school who was more interested in actual mathematics than just getting people able to blindly follow algorithms to pass exams I might not be where I am today.

Also in my experience of tutoring both GCSE and A-Level I've found that what students take away from their schoolteachers is generally what affects their performance the most, rather than 'inherent intelligence'. The number of times i've had an 'OHHHH' moment with my students simply because i took the time to properly go over what they'll eventually agree is a very simple concept, makes it all feel worthwhile at the end of the day :D (to be fair everything's simple here but still)
 
Tingle said:
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.
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To my recollection the sort of Maths questions that get posted generally range from first year university calculus stuff through A-Level all the way back to basic division and working with fractions.

There are always a few haters when it comes to the more basic topics, but most people are generally happy to help and offer advice where possible. :)
 
Totally sailed through IGCSE maths on A*, didn't really pay much attention at all. Going to Further Maths A-Level I suddenly found it all much harder, but then my classmates caught up to me whereas before I'd easily been top of the glass, and missing half of the year with health problems hasn't helped. I'd say it's definitely doable off of the back of a B but you have to be willing to put in the work from day 1 as you have no hope of cramming.

Got my C1, C2 and FP1 next week, FP1 being the only one I'm still unsure on but that's because the focus has been so much on C2 for the last couple of weeks. Paid off mind as I got 72/72 in the last mock :)
 
got a B in GCSE Maths and B in GCSE Statistics.

took it for A-Level, got an A in Core 1.

have Core 2 and Statistics exam next week, finding arithmetic and geometric series/progressions a bit too much to handle but the rest are fine, as for Statistics, everything is fine except the probabilities which aren't independent...:mad:
 
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.
 
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Tingle said:
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.
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Good stuff :)
 
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.
 
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.
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this is what ive found after finishing my AS Maths and getting a B overall.
i enjoy it that much it doesnt even feel like a proper subject :rolleyes:
its just the whole class getting along and having some laughs, that getting a lot of homework doesnt even feel....a lot..
if that makes sense :p
 
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.
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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.
 
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.
 
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.
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I will with AS/A Level maths, I was less inclined to do so with GCSE maths.
 
I got a B in GCSE Maths (Intermediate level), and I struggled big time with AS Level. I really wanted to go and do Computer Science at Uni, so I hired an external tutor and really tried my hardest. I failed my first attempt at AS level, and the 2nd year I managed to scape a D.

I will add that I was messed about hugely by the college at the time, and this definitely didn't help my grades. I didn't get a long with my main tutor for maths either, I eventually made an official complaint against him.
 
A-Level Maths was an interesting time for me. I spent the first year (AS) absolutely unable to get any of it; I got an E in the end on the back of a strong M1 score, but P1 and S1 were dire.

Due to that M1 score, I went in the M2 class instead of the S2 class, and my tutor changed - everything was suddenly very different! I was then disappointed if I didn't get 100%, and absolutely everything made perfect sense - I went from not even understanding what calculus was, to being able to do most of it in my head.

My recommendation is, therefore, to go ahead and give A-Level Maths a go, and if you aren't doing well, ask to try another tutor. I think if you approach it in the right way there's no shame for either the student or the tutor - people think and learn in different ways, and being matched to a tutor that works in the way that best suits you is critical.
 
+1 for the "Got a B at GCSE for did not get A-levels at all".. Even did the GCSE a year early because we were 'ahead of our class'..

Got an E in AS level math, didn't bother staying on or resitting.
 
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.
 
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I got a A at GCSE then took mechanics, I did not enjoy it very much and dropped after the first year with a D. As the others have said, it is a big step up from GCSE, but as with all A levels if you put the effort in you will do well (providing your not stupid which clearly your not). I didn't find maths the hardest, I thought chemistry was harder as you are literally told to forget what you have been told in GCSE as it's wrong. (I took chemistry, maths mech, history and computing)
 
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