A level Maths and Further Maths

[ClarasZoo]

This is probably a silly question. But is Further Maths harder than A level maths? Or is it just different stuff? So do people generally get the same grade in each? My son has just done GCSE maths and hopes to get an 8 or 9 - would he be ok to do further maths - he would need an A or A* if he did take it...

I did it 11 years ago and Further Maths was definitely harder. I only got an A at GCSE and still managed it though so if he’s getting an 8 or 9 I’d imagine he’d be fine.

My son is halfway through his maths and further maths A levels. We are in Wales so slightly different but the school only allowed pupils who had A* in both maths exams we do here do further maths. Not boasting but (well actually it might come across a bit boasty as I'm insanely proud of him) the maths A level is what he calls 'easy' he really gets it and enjoys the lessons and coursework but he has to really put the hours in for the further maths. It is, as he would call it, 'solid' (apparently that means really really hard). They do the same/similar topics but sometimes not at the same time as they are doing it for A level. Seems to work ok.

He's doing it because he loves maths and wants to do it at degree level and a friend whose boys have done that really struggled when they went to uni because the ones there with further maths were ahead.

Thank you!

Different maths, not just more difficult. Having said that, many maths courses no longer require further maths for the simple reason that the content of the Further Maths A level is covered in Y1 of university.

So I would say that taking further maths cuts a bit of slack for them in the first year, as they already know the concepts. But if studying Further Maths is likely to result in a lower grade than taking an easier subject, it would be better not to take it as by lowering his UCAS tariff points he may make himself less attractive to top universities.

Of the 40ish students taking F.Maths at DS's school:
Approx. 75% get an A* in Maths A-level
Approx. 50% get an A* in F.Maths A-level

From that, it would seem that it is harder to get a high grade in F.Maths.

My DS is going both & FM is harder. I wish he'd chosen something else but he insisted. At his school (first year of new GCSE & A levels) they had to get a 7 to do maths & 8 to do FM.

My son is doing Maths and Further Maths A levels - he's at the end of year 12.

He is naturally very good at Maths - got a 9 in his GCSE and won a Maths scholarship to his 6th form. He is on an A for Maths at the moment but is finding Further Maths considerably harder though his teachers think he will succeed at it.

Both courses are made up of the same elements: mechanics, statistics and our maths. It's just Further Maths is much harder - up another level. Sorry if that conflicts with other posters but that's what my son and his Head of Maths say.

Sorry - that should say the third element is pure maths.

Further Maths is A LOT harder than Maths.

However, if planning to take Maths at uni, it is worth slogging it out as a significant part of the first year of a Maths degree is often covered in the Further Maths A Level.

I did further maths and our class was so small we could choose our own modules between us (I think further pure were compulsory though). So eg if your kid was very into physics they could do mechanics 1,2,3 etc instead of statistics 2,3. Might be worth enquiring about if there is any choice.

There is no choice in the Further Maths A level my son studies - which is the OCR board. As I said it three elements - mechanics, statistics and pure maths. Mechanics is the Physics related component.

As a teacher of a level maths and further maths, FM is harder. There are options at FM but not all schools will offer them as they don’t have anyone who can teach the discrete maths module. Able mathematicians can no longer rely on their talent but have to put the work in which is often a shock!

A long time ago but I found Maths A-level easy (got an A) but half way through Further Maths my mathematical ability ran out so got a C. Further Maths was intellectually much harder.

DD1 is in yr13 and about to take her A levels in maths and further maths (and physics, which is closely linked too). She's found further maths a lot tougher than maths - but bizarrely she prefers further maths because it's abstract, "fun" maths. She's predicted an A in maths and a B in further, but a lot of her class have matched predictions for both.

All of decision maths is now in further maths, so in view of that alone I'd say it's new content and slightly harder.
What was the 1 and 2 modules of pure, statistics and mechanics now constitute the new a level - but not all of the content as some of that has now been moved to further maths too.

Further Maths is A LOT harder than Maths. Its different stuff which is also a LOT harder. If you dont get a minimum of an 8 in maths GCSE then dont even think of FM. Its a magnitude harder.

My DC's 6th form will only.let you take maths if you have a grade 7 and further maths if you wish to take maths of science based subjects at university. The content is very different. DC says that physics would have been more use for A level maths than further maths would have been, if that makes sense. They took the FSMQ maths in year 11 which made eating into A level maths slightly easier.

Easing, but having seen their bedroom during their year 12 exams, eating may have been more appropriate!

We were not convinced that our daughter should take further maths but she insisted. She got 9 in GCSE maths. Having just sat her 'prediction' exams she is finally admitting that it may be too much!

DS got a 9 at gcse but is not what you would call a ‘natural mathematician’ He is finding the normal maths easy. The FM A level is much harder but he is enjoying it more as he finds it different and fun. He is glad he started it but only time will tell whether he sees it through to the end and the good thing is it’s an extra so no real consequence if dropping it.

However, if planning to take Maths at uni, it is worth slogging it out as a significant part of the first year of a Maths degree is often covered in the Further Maths A Level
This is true of all but the top universities - Warwick, Oxbridge, Imperial etc.
For a good mathematician it means that first year can be a bit boring as covering stuff they've done in FM A level.

DS is in Y12 and doing maths and FM. He really loves maths and will take it at university. The new syllabus isn’t module based so the two A levels are more separate than they used to be. (Previously some modules in stats, mechs and decision could count towards either maths or FM.)

He finds FM harder than maths, definitely. He got a 9 at GCSE (his only 9!) and his sixth form required a 7 for maths and a 8 for FM which seemed harsh but has turned out to be reasonable.

My take is, if you actually want to take maths at uni and FM is offered at your sixth form, you should take it. If you don’t, you think it’s too hard, why do you want to do maths as a degree?

If you want to do physics or engineering at uni FM is really useful but not absolutely essential. For other degree subjects maths alone would probably be fine.