Pros and cons of doing AS maths in y11

I scraped a C at O level maths and was pleased with that.

You don't know one of the other four do you?
You may do...

It would have been 1975!
Not good enough though. Lumbered with Bs when at 15 it would be an A easily.

A B grade at O level was considered quite respectable (well it was in 1975)

My DD's school did what Chopstickandchillicrab mentioned. DD then did AS in Maths and FM then A level.
I was unlucky enough to do my 'O' level maths two year's early. A group of five, mixed sex and hand picked, we all got Bs. Not good. The school never tried it again.

This would be perfectly doable for an exceptionally able mathematician, but I'd be more inclined to ask the school about whether they support the Intermediate and Senior Maths Challenges, which allow people who are naturally talented at problem solving to shine, and possible get into the Olympiad rounds. The workload is not so silly, but really needs and identifies natural talent. Top universities will look well on a good performance in those competitions. At my school (a long while before formal AS came in) a small group of us did the first half of the A level course in 5th form having done O level a year early, along with all the other O levels, and then did the single A level in 6-1. It gave us a big solid tick by the time it came to uni applications. SheGot... obviously had a similar but more recent experience. This is not intrinsically a bad idea, but needs some planning and confidence that the school knows what it is doing, and that the pupil concerned is really up to it - the range of talent in maths is so wide at the top end that this is not a problem for the truly able. I do not think a university entrance tutor is going to look down on someone having done their A level maths early. I used to do Oxford maths admissions and I have no idea where the notion that it looks bad comes from.

Don't be stupid *brioche"
How patronising

I was in top set Maths and got a C when I took it early, actually. I tried a re-sit alongside the Psychology GCSE and got a D. Thankfully they kept my first grade.

I already know I don't have even half an aptitude for the subject, as Brioche put it Why they put someone with dyscalculia in top set maths and basically talked me through it constantly for four years is beyond me, but I didn't complain. It meant I got to drop it a year early and do another GCSE where I got top marks instead.

GCSE maths is piss easy.Anyone with half an aptitude for the subject gets A with their eyes closed*

• I cannot believe you have posted this! The majority taking Gcse do not get an A*

For you, maybe Brioche. Not everyone finds maths as easy as you do. And you would do well to remember that.

*DS refused to do it. Sat there in lessons with his arms folded. He hated maths and wasnt going to do it at A level.
After an interesting meeting with the head of maths he dropped it, and still got A for maths GCSE which he was told he wouldn't get unless he was in the top ie AS set.

GCSE maths is piss easy.Anyone with half an aptitude for the subject gets A* with their eyes closed.

..and don't forget if she is planning on doing maths at uni some of them eg cambridge and durham will want to see her UMS.Those who have taken it at the right time will be over 95%. The AQA Level 2 in FM is a much better idea.

My ds1 did the further maths gcse as well as normal maths gcse. Getting a* in both and is now doing maths, further maths, physics and computer science a levels. He did s lot of predatory work for the maths and further maths a levels over the summer after his gcses. But that is cos he is an oddball who likes maths and it's relevant for all the programming and app design he does. It was never suggested to do an as during gcse years. Sounds like a bad idea to me for all the reasons others have stated.

DS refused to do it. Sat there in lessons with his arms folded. He hated maths and wasnt going to do it at A level.
After an interesting meeting with the head of maths he dropped it, and still got A* for maths GCSE which he was told he wouldn't get unless he was in the top ie AS set.

The best mathematicians at our secondary (top one or two sets, depending on strength of year) do an extra GCSE in additional/further maths (sorry, forgot exact name). I think that's probably a better way to enrich years 10/11 than by attempting as AS level out of step.

My son has just gone into Y12. He took Maths GCSE in Y10, got A*, took AS Maths in Y11 and got AAB (hadto teach himslf most of it as there "were no classees he could join") and has just started A levels in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Further Maths. Makes my brain hurt!!

Bad idea. Those of us who were in first set maths at school were allowed to take the GCSE a year early, and then in the final year we had a choice between GCSE Psychology or AS Level Maths. Those of us who did GCSE Psychology mostly got A*s or As. The ones who did AS Level Maths all got Us, and it dented their confidence - none of them went on to do it at A Level if I remember correctly.

DD's school make the brighter students take IGCSE maths in January and statistics in June. Apparently IGCSE maths is harder than GCSE and is good preparation for A level.

Yes that's correct noble.

The early GCSE and then AS were well planned and executed by the school ( and would not have gone ahead if there were any suggestion that a good grade was in jeopardy).

I hadn't appreciated that this was being suggested now, half way through the first term of year 11.

Not paying sufficient attention.

Shegot I expect your DS was properly prepared and it wasn't suddenly dropped on him partway through Y11?

There will always be the odd student where early entry works out ok, but on the whole it produces lower results. That's why the DfE so strongly discourage it that they amended the league table rules to stop schools doing it. (And that was just early GCSE!).

My DDs did the Edexcel level 3 algebra qualification in year 11 which was excellent preparation for AS.

My DS did AS level maths this summer in year 11 alongside 8 GCSEs (he had taken 2 early).

It was fine (he certainly didn't kill himself with work He got an A and a very high UMS score.
He knew he was staying for sixth form (loves it and has only been at the school since year 9 so doesn't want a change).
It will allow him to take an extra A level in sixth form and have enough time for other stuff.

My school trialled doing the AS in Y11 four years ago (C1, C2 and S1). Relatively few students were ready (ie going to get A grades) to sit it at the same time as their GCSEs, it was just too much. Plus the universities are not keen on A level/FM A level taking three years. So we had a rethink.

After looking at all the options we chose for our most able mathematicians to study for and sit the OCR Additional Maths FSMQ. It is an interesting paper, challenging, and prepares students well for Y12. The content can be covered in existing maths lessons, no extra time is needed.