Soldato
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Maths was my easiest A-Level by far. It had the least work as well. Further Maths on the other hand...
The transition from GCSE to AS/A Level Maths
- Thread starter TNGL
- Start date
Hm, this topic is relevant to my interests! 
I'm starting A/AS Levels in September and I hope to be taking Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry. I don't seem to struggle too much with Maths or any of my sciences at the moment; I hope the jump doesn't overwhelm me too much...
I'm starting A/AS Levels in September and I hope to be taking Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry. I don't seem to struggle too much with Maths or any of my sciences at the moment; I hope the jump doesn't overwhelm me too much...
Im in Year 12 doing maths, I got a B in maths GCSE but tbh thats because I was self taught GCSE maths and didnt put much effort but mate when it gets hard this is the godly website: http://www.examsolutions.net/
Its fukin awesome it'll be the reason I get an A in as maths ;p
Its fukin awesome it'll be the reason I get an A in as maths ;p
Soldato
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- Wales
Secondary school maths is just following instructions to solve generic problems, any idiot can do it.
If Terk swears can I link to this?
http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=math
If Terk swears can I link to this?
http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=math
Soldato
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- 7 Jan 2007
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- Sussex, UK
I finished my GCSE's in 1999. I got a D in maths, and then a C on a resit, I did A-level Geography, Env Science and business studies, oh and general studies. I came away with ABCD which was amazing for me.
I did Earth Science at UEA and without being good at Maths, and not having studied A-Level maths I found the degree very hard to grasp topics like Geophysics, the process bit I understood but the mathematical underpinnings I never did understand.
I finished with a 2:2, its all fine now, got an awesome job and career It just took some graft at work.
Looking back they never should have let me on the course without A-level maths. I was not advised well, but back in the 90's it wasn't much thought about, my parents didn't know or understand either.
So yes, do A-level maths and do your best at it as it will help you massively at uni.
At the end of the day GCSE, A-level, degrees are just paper exercises. Life starts at work, you can be a guy with a first but be socially retarded, lazy or a clock watcher or a guy with a 2:2 who can talk well, puts the graft in, see's the big picture etc etc.
I did Earth Science at UEA and without being good at Maths, and not having studied A-Level maths I found the degree very hard to grasp topics like Geophysics, the process bit I understood but the mathematical underpinnings I never did understand.
I finished with a 2:2, its all fine now, got an awesome job and career
It just took some graft at work.Looking back they never should have let me on the course without A-level maths. I was not advised well, but back in the 90's it wasn't much thought about, my parents didn't know or understand either.
So yes, do A-level maths and do your best at it as it will help you massively at uni.
At the end of the day GCSE, A-level, degrees are just paper exercises. Life starts at work, you can be a guy with a first but be socially retarded, lazy or a clock watcher or a guy with a 2:2 who can talk well, puts the graft in, see's the big picture etc etc.
There seem to be people in my year who are either terrible at maths or just don't put any effort in and think that A Level maths is going to be a simple A Level that they can wing on...
I'm looking forwards to seeing how they get on next year
I got a B at GCSE , only got a C at a-level because I found out about girls and white lightening, got a 2:1 in maths and stats at uni though. Maths is like sport tbh even a fat spotty kid can practise enough and become 'all right'. If you can get a B at GCSE you can do any amount of maths imo.
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.
Hope my 'journey' helps anyone else in the same situation.
I actually got a D in GCSE Maths. When I worked in a school a few years back I remember walking into an A level maths lesson, looking at the board thinking to myself 'lol wut' Literally a load of jibberish that I would never understand
I remember being in an A-Level maths class and thinking that. Just loads of triangles and lines coming out everywhere. Mechanics wasn't my strong point.
My younger brother got accepted today to study Mathematics at uni today too. Congrats to you to the both of you!
A at GSCE level Maths here (2005)
Went on to do A-level maths with mechanics.
Core 1 Got an A
Core 2 Got a B
Mechanics 1 B
Core 3 got a D
Core 4 for an E
Mechanics 2 D.
It steps up vastly in the 2nd year, and I won't lie it is diffcult.
Something just didn't click with me, maybe given more time / effort that thing would have clicked and I would have done better in my 2nd year. When it got into various stages that were not applicable to 99.9% of 'ever day' applications I did lose interest, I knew I wasn't going to University to study Maths so maybe my concentration waned.
I would consider myself very abled when it comes to Mathmatics, currently working with numbers, percentages, fractions, ratios, interest on a daily basis.
2nd year A-level is not a walk in the park, but if you put your mind to it, and the effort and time, then what is there you can't do? I put my down to simply losing interest.
EDIT: Didn't realise as an old thread. CONGRATS!!!!!
Went on to do A-level maths with mechanics.
Core 1 Got an A
Core 2 Got a B
Mechanics 1 B
Core 3 got a D
Core 4 for an E
Mechanics 2 D.
It steps up vastly in the 2nd year, and I won't lie it is diffcult.
Something just didn't click with me, maybe given more time / effort that thing would have clicked and I would have done better in my 2nd year. When it got into various stages that were not applicable to 99.9% of 'ever day' applications I did lose interest, I knew I wasn't going to University to study Maths so maybe my concentration waned.
I would consider myself very abled when it comes to Mathmatics, currently working with numbers, percentages, fractions, ratios, interest on a daily basis.
2nd year A-level is not a walk in the park, but if you put your mind to it, and the effort and time, then what is there you can't do? I put my down to simply losing interest.
EDIT: Didn't realise as an old thread. CONGRATS!!!!!
Got an A* at GCSE, just finished AS and A2 level maths this year (c1-4, m1-2)
Picking up results soon
Good luck fella.
In Scotland it's slightly different.
I failed my Higher math. And my Physics results didn't even get a mention in the results, it was that poor. Didn't stop me going to Uni and getting an Honours Degree in Physics though.
Just do past papers until you are blue in the face. Most of the time the new papers are just re-hashing the same questions from the previous papers, with different numbers and wording. But they are the same questions. You just need to train yourself to realise what it is they are asking you, and learn the process for each type of question.
I failed my Higher math. And my Physics results didn't even get a mention in the results, it was that poor. Didn't stop me going to Uni and getting an Honours Degree in Physics though.
Just do past papers until you are blue in the face. Most of the time the new papers are just re-hashing the same questions from the previous papers, with different numbers and wording. But they are the same questions. You just need to train yourself to realise what it is they are asking you, and learn the process for each type of question.
The gap between GSCE Maths and A-Level maths is not insignificant.
In 1996 I got A* for GCSE Maths, but a couple years later only C for A-level Maths. Stats was a breeze, pure was OK, but mechanics did my head in.
As with anything tho, it comes down to motivation. I doubt there's many people who couldn't get A-level maths if they really wanted to. If I'd put the effort in I could have improved that C a fair bit, but I was too slack
Learning is often hard, of course. There is a natural resistance to getting your head around new concepts. It is sometimes painful, and can seem futile at the worst of times. But persistence is key. I honestly think most people could learn just about anything if they really wanted to, if they put the time and effort in.
In 1996 I got A* for GCSE Maths, but a couple years later only C for A-level Maths. Stats was a breeze, pure was OK, but mechanics did my head in.
As with anything tho, it comes down to motivation. I doubt there's many people who couldn't get A-level maths if they really wanted to. If I'd put the effort in I could have improved that C a fair bit, but I was too slack
Learning is often hard, of course. There is a natural resistance to getting your head around new concepts. It is sometimes painful, and can seem futile at the worst of times. But persistence is key. I honestly think most people could learn just about anything if they really wanted to, if they put the time and effort in.
There is definitely a gap.
I did Maths in Singapore, scoring consistently around 45-55, so around a D when I was in secondary school.
Came to the UK and started Year 10 GCSE and finished GCSE Maths with an A* at Year 11 (Summer 2003)
Did Double Maths and complete A-Level Maths in Winter 2004, achieved a C.
GCSE Maths gave me a slight disillusion that I am good at Maths, thus I did Double Maths to speed things up, making more time for second year for something else on top of my 3 different sciences. Obviously overstretched my capabilities... Xbox and Halo obviously didn't help either.
I did Maths in Singapore, scoring consistently around 45-55, so around a D when I was in secondary school.
Came to the UK and started Year 10 GCSE and finished GCSE Maths with an A* at Year 11 (Summer 2003)
Did Double Maths and complete A-Level Maths in Winter 2004, achieved a C.
GCSE Maths gave me a slight disillusion that I am good at Maths, thus I did Double Maths to speed things up, making more time for second year for something else on top of my 3 different sciences. Obviously overstretched my capabilities... Xbox and Halo obviously didn't help either.
Ha, sixform, never understood why someone would elect a school over a FE college.
Anyway, A level maths is hard but if you graft and study then you'll get an A. Treat it like a full time job - 8 hours a day dedicated to learning and studying.
You'll need to study hard to get top marks but it'll be good practise because you'll need to study even harder at university.
Looking back I laugh at how hard I thought life was back then.
Anyway, A level maths is hard but if you graft and study then you'll get an A. Treat it like a full time job - 8 hours a day dedicated to learning and studying.
You'll need to study hard to get top marks but it'll be good practise because you'll need to study even harder at university.
Looking back I laugh at how hard I thought life was back then.