Why the obsession with maths A level?

[demareradreams]

Inspired by another thread where posters were saying a teen should consider maths instead of psychology even though their planned next steps did not need maths A level.
Maths is great for those that like it and are good at it. Not everyone who is good at it enjoys it. There are uni courses that require maths or for which maths a level would be an advantage. But there are also many courses where it’s not needed. In law or physio, for example, like in the previous thread.
On every A level choices thread, there will be a number of posters saying the teen should do maths instead of (insert another subject). It’s often paired with statements about “soft” subjects what “universities don’t rate as highly”. However when you look at the entry requirements, it’s usually just high grades what are required and they don’t care if the student has done maths or geography or sociology or physics. Unless of course they want to so a maths or physics etc degree.
So yes maths a level is great for students who are very mathematically capable and of course it’s essential if it’s part of the university entry requirements. But for others, other A levels are absolutely fine.

Completely agree with that.

Is statistics compulsory in A level maths now, though? It wasn’t when I considered taking it - our school covered it in further maths only.

25% of the Edexcel A level Maths syllabus focuses on statistics. Those taking Core Maths, as an add-on to three A levels excluding Maths, would also cover statistics. Statistics can be covered in Edexcel FM, but only if the school/college select it as one of the options.

I think you are right, it may only be a small part of A Level Maths - Pure and Mechanics seem to feature more, although there is definitely some in the syllabus where we are.

Actually there probably is quite a lot of stats taught in Geography come to think of it (not that I did Geography).

When I did Maths A Level about 30 years ago, we had to choose between Maths and Stats (what I did) or Maths and Mechanics (what those who took Physics or other STEM subjects did). I got an A at GCSE and was predicted a B at A Level (but actually got a C).

Now my dd1 is doing Maths A Level, she says she has to do all 3 and it's not even split 50% pure, 25% stats, 25% mechanics. It's some other weird weighting apparently?

She got a 9 in GCSE Maths and was one of the top Mathematicians in her year group - even thinking of doing a Maths degree at one point!

But she is hating the mechanics element so much and finding it all much harder than expected, so the Maths degree is out of the window now 😐

@User1367349 I agree that it is bizarre how many people happily say they can't do maths but would never say they couldn't read. The examples I gave – well the pi one is slightly tongue in cheek (I did use it once in a supermarket to work out which binbags to buy) but percentages? really very basic. Tho DH does recall writing out a crib sheet for a colleague on how to work out a % and then seeing it copied and pinned above desks all over the newspaper office where we worked 😮

I also think that there's a big big gap between “scraping a pass” at GCSE and taking A level maths. How about getting an A in maths GCSE (or O level in my case #old) – will that work as a marker of numeracy?

I agree that if you are good at maths and enjoy it and will get 8/9 at GCSE without a mahoosive effort and lots of tutoring, then A level maths is a good idea. I mean I don’t think anyone is saying it’s not.

But what some of us are arguing is that A level maths is not for everyone, and in fact @MathsAndStatisticsCampus you can “go wrong” with it – if you do it bc you keep reading that you should but you don”t really enjoy it and are not good at it. DD got a 6 at GCSE, could have got a 7 with more work – maths would definitely have been a wrong move at A level for her (and she did have a last-minute change of heart about a subject and not know what to go for).

it would be better to have a system where maths, English, modern languages are all covered until 18.

To what purpose? O Level (as it was when I did Maths) was about the limit of my ability and understanding, and I never did fully grasp parts of the O Level curriculum. What would you have taught me for the next two years?

It doesn't say anything about 'better', and neither does your sample.size of one.

What it means is that students across the board have to bear in mind that they need to work at it, and can't hide behind the nonsense of "not a maths brain", which conveniently is a very acceptable excuse for girls to not engage with the subject, thus ruling out many lucrative STEM careers. It also means that teachers have to teach everyone in their classes, and not just those who seem to get their teaching approach; they can't shrug and say most of the class won't be taking maths beyond GCSE.

Honestly, so many of the answers on here are confirming why more people should study more maths! Maths A-level is hard. Kids should learn things and work hard and expand their brains. And a Maths A-level is worth more than many other qualifications because of that.

I can remember Maths just clicking once taught by certain teachers - whom I loved. Probably never said more than two words to them conversationally, but truly appreciated them still. (Unfortunately also remember the one who confessed she hadn't actually passed her Maths A Level and that explained entirely why GCSE FM diagrams were a total mystery to me until I switched school, whereupon it took all of 2 minutes for another teacher to clarily a year of perplexity).

So for all those who say they 'don't do Maths', I reckon a fair % just were unfortunate with their teacher at one point or another and then easy to slip behind/loose confidence.

A lot of A levels are hard. You can “learn things, work hard and expand your brain” just as much with many other subjects. Maths is not some kind of gold standard for that.

Appols for spelling & grammar above (no ability to edit)

Didn’t know there was a maths Alevel obsession ( although I did it myself)

Kids should do the subjects they enjoy and feel they will do well in.
Why do maths if you don’t need it moving forward….

In what way? Why is “expanding your brain” doing maths A level more worthwhile than expanding your brain with a humanity? Who decides what is worthwhile?
The point of my thread is about people claiming some subjects are more worthwhile than others, but going further and claiming (falsely) that maths A level is viewed more favourably than others, which is not true. I’d be supporting of a broader curriculum to 18 with a maths element, but I’d want that maths element to be useful to those who weren’t studying maths as a specific academic discipline.

They are all equally hard - that’s the point of standardised exams.
For some people, maths is easy, for others it’s not; same as any subject. I would have no chance of passing drama but maths would be okay for me.

Nonsense.

If you go to Uni once you’ve got your degree that’s the focus
No one is interested on what subjects you studied at A level. Academically you’ve moved on

There are many A levels harder than Maths…most of the sciences for a start. Then computer science, modern foreign languages, English literature. Etc

Expanding one’s brain isn’t just a maths thing.

The key is to do what you enjoy because life’s too short to waste it on subjects you have no interest in

I did maths A level for 2 reasons

1. I was good at, and enjoyed, maths

2. It opened up careers that paid more to me

I think it’s a often a tricky decision, my dd got an 8 at gcse and has always been good at maths, she wanted to do economics and looked at maths or statistics at A-level, did maths in the end. Shes found it really difficult, at times quite stressful, but will pass with a B or C we think, and is going to do a BA economics at uni rather than a BSc. She probably would have got a higher grade in statistics, but she’s shown she can do a really difficult thing, she’s learned a lot and I think it will support her in the future.

Very simple

highly respected subject that keep options open for further study

Surely this is self evident and the question need not be asked.

I did maths A level and got an E. Well actually an AS. Epic waste of time. 🤣 I did gcse and got an A without trying. A level was like some kind of foreign language in maths!

There is a massive jump and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you need it. I got AAB in my other exams including a language. Psychology is a lovely subject to do. So interesting and benefited me in many ways.

Depends on the person and what you are best at. I found a language much easier than maths!

It only keeps options open if you potentially want to do further study in a subject that requires it, though.

If you want to do a degree in History or English then it doesn’t really open up more options to you.

I got an A in A level maths yet I now cannot help my year 8 DC with homework as I can't remember any equations etc! I use maths a bit in my job and am good at mental arithmetic but now I doubt I pass the Y6 sats exam in maths! I actually found maths easy at school that's why I did it but I agree, if it doesn't come easily to you I wouldn't do it at A level...I think you'd have to get at least an 8 at GCSE to consider it.

My DD decided to not take but knew it was good credible one so only dropped at last min

This comment just espouses the kind of MN view of maths A level that this thread is about, so thanks for that 😂