Question about the new Further Maths A level

Thanks StainlessSteelCat, I found the specification for OCR maths and further maths.
It seems for maths there are no options and all students do ore maths, mechanics and stats, but for further maths there is the core maths, then a choice of two from stats, mechanics, what used to be decision maths or pure maths. I have only skim read it, and will look more later.

Content in all exam board specs has changed. Some content has moved to AS maths, and vice versa. Some new content is in, possibly more in options than core. I've not taught the old spec further maths so I can't comment more than that on the changes.
All subjects are moving to linear format. This means that students can still sit an AS exam, but that does not count towards the A2 exam they sit at the end of 2 years.
All exam boards can have different structures for core and options. I'd advise talking to you DD's A-level teachers about what options they are planning on doing, and you can get the full specification from the exam board website.

Is there somewhere I can find out about the new spec? I thought there were only A level exams after 2 years study for both maths and further maths. I also thought for A level mathematics these would consist of 3 exams, two covering core subjects and one either covering either stats or mechanics, but decision maths was being dropped as an option.
Will further maths consist of what was in FM1, 2 and 3 modules? Could anyone explain or link to somewhere that does explain? Dd will be doing OCR.

Am new to teaching Futher maths, and this has been very educational, thank you for the information about different boards and options, particularly about challenging the more able students outside the AS content.
I hope the OP has found it half as useful as I have!

It's definitely true, it's something dd is doing, so she will end up with further additional maths. It's a bit sad if others won't get the opportunity. It doesn't actually add anything of value to the university application, but dd enjoys it.

It is one of those things that unless you have a student doing it, you are not aware of it.
But traditionally, Edexcel always had at least 18 modules to offer. I remember doing A Level using the P1-6 M1-6 and T1-6 textbooks a long long time ago. Not sure how many there were when I took the exams because I was also doing the decision modules as well.

Didn’t know that Edexcel did it too, GHGN! Never noticed OCR only had 17 modules, but you didn’t get anything for doing 15 either.

I think only Edexcel and MEI had up to 18 modules. None other exam boards had 18 so it did not exist. If you google Edexcel Additional Further Maths then there are plenty of information on this.

It was the OCR MEI syllabus who gave an extra AS/A-level for 15 or 18 modules taken. if you did the normal OCR syllabus (or other exam boards) you didn’t get extra qualifications as far as I’m aware.

with the old A levels you could do maths, further maths, and then you could do extra modules and end up with additional further maths AS or A level as well.
Not sure this is true. DS did the old A levels and did a number of extra FM modules that were not on the curriculum at college. Self taught and sat the exams. They were simply put into the pool of module grades and the best ones used for the Maths and FM A levels. They didn't add up the unused ones to make another AS.

If only 8 out of 220 doing FM, assuming that 220 in the lower sixth then it is not a very popular subject. Therefore, it is quite common for teachers not having to deal with STEP on a regular basis. My last school had around 120 doing Maths and 30-40 doing FM in a cohort of 200. It was quite normal to have anything from 6 to 10 students per year requiring STEP plus a lot more requiring support for other entrance exams. In my current one, although we have quite a few Oxbridge offers every year, very few are for STEM subjects and Maths offers are almost non-existent. Because of this, only a few of us are equipped to deal with this level of Maths if a student comes and asks a question. The teachers in your son’s school might be able to do it but if they don’t do it regularly, they will forget things or feel less confident when dealing with it.

As a starting point, drfrostmaths website is a good place to start with, especially the materials for his Zeta club. It is a bit too much in some aspects but overall it is very good. The madasmaths website is the next place to visit, especially the harder a level paper that he made and the booklets for each topic. After that the booklets by Stephen Siklos will set you on the way to do STEP papers. I am not sure if the STEP correspondence course is still running or not but it is another place to go to.

Thanks. I am interested in the comparison. The class size is the same (only 8 doing FM out of 220 cohort). All got 9s at GCSE. The A level teaching appears good and my son has very good results. The lack of push for STEP worries me.

2 can do it easily. A few more could if they must do the exam and practise properly. Some of them are taking the AEA paper in a few weeks so to speak. However, you need to take into account that I teach in a selective school that historically tends to be in the top 30-50 in the country for A Level results. They receive every little help they can get in a class of 5 to maximum 8 students.

GHGN,

Thanks.

I can help my son, but the STEP questions are hard compared to Maths or FM A level, and I feel a little bit fear when looking at STEP II & III. Keep calm and carry on.

Would your able Y12s be able to complete 4 STEP I question?

IOI is the International Olympiad in Informatic, the equivalent of the International Maths Olympiad. There is a UK Olympiad I think, similar to the BMOs.

TheFrendo I used to be but private schools pay more so I sold my soul and went with the money :)

I don’t teach it explicitly but throwing in a lot of STEP and MAT problems as extension will keep my students busy so I can do puzzles for fun in the meantime. On a serious note, any decent teacher can do the same because STEP 1 and MAT papers come with details solutions. The teacher only need to give it to the student and let them get on with it. If the student gets stuck then give them a hint. It is not that difficult to do, just a little bit of effort.

Btw if he likes computing and is that good at Maths, has he tried any of the IOI style problems? It can keep him busy for hours and I am certainly talking from experience.

GHGN,

You teach STEP? My son's college does not, it has to be self taught. Are you in a state school?

I have never been a big fan of doing the Additional FM. All the students I knew that set out to do 18 ended up with 15 modules. I did 14 when I did my A Level by self studying D1 and D2 as it was easy for me. I attempted two extra Mechanics modules but gave up in the end because it was such a slog. There is a lot of Physics/Mechanics if one plans to do Maths at Cambridge so yes Physics and Mechanics are recommended.

I just moved school and in this one, I don’t think I will have anyone doing extra modules at least for the first sitting. I teach them MAT, AEA and STEP 1 in year 12. If anyone wants to go for Cambridge Maths then we will do STEP 2 and 3 in year 13. That is the current plan. It might well change in the future depending on what the papers will look like in the summer. I thought it won’t be much more difficult but the Specimen papers did make me feel concerned.

Get him to look at STEP. My son is interested and I have been looking at the questions. STEP I is much harder than A level, but very interesting.