FSMQ and further maths

[postolympicblues]

Please could someone excplain what the advanced level FSMQ which is something some kids do in Y11. This is for my DS1 who is wanting to know
Also I don't understand maths/further maths as na A2 levels.Looking at the website there just seems to be alist of modules.do you have to do certain ones for maths and different ones for further maths? DS1 has just finished AS levels and willdefinitely want to drop biology leaving chemistry physics and maths.They all seem to be subjects which require understanding more than a lot of work eg essay writing ,he is realistically expecting to get As and maybe an A*.Trouble is he finds even at AS the number of free periods was more than enough to get the work done and sometimes general studies or PE was cancelled resultng in even more hanging about time.He is wondering about doing some more maths modules at AS level by himself.

[prettydaisies]

FSMQ is something my daughter has done in Year 11 , having taken her GCSE maths at the end of y10. I don't think it would interest your son, as the content is similar to some of the A level stuff. At my dughter's school, she will now do all the modules for her A level maths in Y12 and the modules for further maths in Y13. They don't teach one of the modules C1? I think. It's assumed they can already do it. The other modules will be taught. Although maths and further maths are 2 A levels it is taught in the space of one A level with an extra 2 hours teaching.
If he is really good could he ask to do the further maths at school, but they might by now have covered quite a lot more. Does he have to drop biology? Do they offer a GCSE he could do or some sports coaching course or community service or would he be allowed to do some volunteering in his spare time?

[mnistooaddictive]

A level maths is 6 units of which 4 must be core1-4. The other 2 can be any from the list. Further maths is units further pure 1-3 and then another 3. The stats/mechanics/decision units can be used for either maths or fm. The exam boards usually put them together to maximise results. The fp modules would require extra teaching.
Fsmq is halfway between gcse and a level.

[noblegiraffe]

Is there any chance he could pick up AS further maths, taking lessons with Y12? It would depend on how further maths is taught at his school.

If he wants to self study extra maths modules for fun (this would be useful if he is planning on taking maths or related at uni) then it should be possible for the school to enter him and for his best module results to count. The ones he should probably be looking at would be the applied modules - there are three branches, statistics, mechanics and decision maths. So if he has taken S1 and M1 for AS and A2 he might want to look into D1. Or if he is wanting to study physics at uni and has done M1, then M2 would be useful. The only problem is that if he picks something that the school doesn't teach then if he gets stuck, the teachers might not be able to help (I'm an A-level teacher but would need to put some work in to cover the material in modules I haven't taught). Still, he would be able to get help from Internet forums like the Student Room.

[gelatinous]

If he wants to do further maths AS, then he would need to study Further Pure 1 and any two other applied modules (Statistics, mechanics or decision) in addition to his maths modules. If the school can't support him then as well as the student room, the further maths network might be able to help - they provide distance learning support to people wanting to self study further maths (usually when their school doesn't offer it) and it's not uncommon for students to self study further maths AS in this way.

The Core modules (C1,C2,C3 and C4) must form part of the maths A level and the Further Pure Modules (FP1, FP2, FP3) must form part of the further maths A level (with only FP1 needed for the AS), but the other modules are flexible about where they go (except maths can have nothing higher than a 2 in its modules except for C3 and C4, and can only have a '2' when the corresponding '1' module is also there - so, M1 and M2 (+all cores) is a valid combination for maths, as is S1 + S2 or S1 + M1 (very popular) etc... S1 and M2 would not be allowed.

Within those rules about what can/can't count for maths the modules are shuffled between maths and further maths to optimise grades first for maths and then for further maths.

For your ds who should get an A, the important modules in maths A level to focus on to try and get an A are C3 and C4. An A is awarded if you gain a 90% average in those two modules as long as the overall result is at least an A (which it usually is in that case).

I hope that makes sense.

[IShallWearMidnight]

another thing to do is the Extended Project (although that need some teacher input for assessment) - DD did hers on fractals which was a nice add-in to her "why I love Maths" UCAS personal statement.

Also STEP exams - doing past papers can easily fill up any free periods, and will be helpful if he wants to do a maths degree, even if it's not a requirement for his chosen uni. Papers 1 and 2 cover Maths A Level, 3 is FM (I think).

DD created a spreadsheet to calculate her grades from Maths and FM, so she knew going into the final modules which ones she needed to ficus on, and which ones were less vital. She ended up one UMS point below an A* for FM and was gutted (one of the Pure modules was a nightmare last year).