Maths degree success

Littleredhen39 · 2025-08-15T09:29:38+00:00

Just hoping to pick the brains of those more knowledgeable out there. My daughter stared doing maths, further maths, chemisty and biology with a vague idea of medicine. She ended up falling in love with maths and set her heart on a maths degree. She decided to drop biology to concentrate on the other three a-levels. Predictions were A* AA and she had that offer for Manchester and AAB for Lancaster which was her insurance. She admitted to losing a lot of faith in herself and did not revise as she should have. Also had accidentally missed questions in one further maths paper and ran out of time in others. Chemistry she claimed was a disaster! She ended up with A* in Maths, B in further maths - 7 marks off an A and a surprising B in chemistry - which she was sure was a D! Lancaster have accepted her but is now ruminating that a B in further maths means she is incapable of doing a maths degree. On the open day in Manchester they did state that those who get a B in further maths may not be suited to the degree. She is now doubting whether she is good enough and I don’t know how to advise her. She really does not want to do anything else.

PeonyBulb · 15/08/2025 10:31

She missed some questions which gave her a lower grade so she seems more than capable

Octavia64 · 15/08/2025 10:44

Missing questions and running out of time suggests that the exam results underplay her ability.

she’ll be fine.

GreenSweeties · 15/08/2025 10:51

No recent experience but I have a very good maths degree from an RG with less school maths than your DD (AS equivalent). Went to study another subject but had to do 1st year maths and then switched to maths as I loved it. I didn't mind being behind others ( my own improvement mattered more). I hit my maths ceiling in my final year but many of my classmates with better entry qualifications did so earlier. Not sure what gave me the edge over them - maybe hating not understanding things and tenacity to stick at problems and willingness to try lots of things to solve. Plus I wasn't afraid to ask for help (or a hint). I still love maths to this day. I'd look to see if there are options for more applied courses or switch to stats/OR just in case (in my day a 3rd in pure maths was an achievement but I guess now its a 2:1 or bust)

MillyMolliMandi · 15/08/2025 10:54

Not revising as much as she should, missing questions and running out of time suggest she might be unsuitable...but she gives it a go.

poetryandwine · 15/08/2025 11:38

I think the question of your DD’s success is honestly open, OP. Missing questions on the FM paper means she wasn’t properly assessed. Surely the comment from Manchester Maths was meant for those who did the whole paper.

Some Russell Group Schools of Maths don’t even require FM and produce fine mathematicians, so I really wouldn’t worry.

I was a STEM admissions tutor in a maths heavy discipline in a high tariff School where most have FM and there is ongoing discussion about requiring it. DH is an emeritus maths professor in a high tariff school that does require FM. Whilst most students find university maths harder than they anticipated, neither of us sees a reason for your DD to lack confidence! Best wishes to her.

PS Lancaster Maths has a great reputation for Teaching and Learning (also research).

Original poster

Littleredhen39 · 15/08/2025 12:35

Thanks so much for all the replies. I guess you never know how suited you are to a course until you try it.

OP posts:

Britneyfan · 15/08/2025 12:36

Well I certainly hope she is able for this because my son is off to York to do maths, also can’t see himself doing anything else, and ended up with an A in maths and C in further maths at the end of the day (both lower than predicted).

He does have ADHD and always seems to have an issue into translating his ability in class into actual hard grades in exam season despite putting in a reasonable amount of actual hard work, which is frustrating, he is not yet on ADHD meds and I am very much hoping these help him in future.

But honestly I wasn’t overly concerned about the C in FM (or indeed the A as opposed to A star in maths) until right now!… can’t say I didn’t momentarily think it’s maybe not a super encouraging sign but I really do think his exam results never show his actual potential or ability in non exam situations, it’s like he has some sort of stage fright it seems. I do think the maths and further maths papers this year were particularly challenging perhaps compared to mock papers, don’t have any hard data but I know he and lots of his peers were panicking after sitting the papers, as many of them were much harder than any mocks they’d sat. And for your daughter it seems she could have worked harder beforehand and had better exam technique, both of which she can work on for the future.

A lot of unis don’t even ask for further maths at all, so it seems that an A star in maths and a B in further maths not far off being an A is surely a pretty great start. There will be people with much lower grades doing maths degrees. Back in my day (went at the end of the 90s to study medicine), unless you were aiming for law or medicine or Oxbridge, there really weren’t the same high hurdles to clear when it comes to exam grades in order to get into uni. Back then I really don’t think anybody would have blinked an eye at the thought of a student with an A star in Maths and B in Further Maths as not being eminently capable of a degree in the subject. And Maths hasn’t changed all that much…

I freely admit I am out of touch with what is really required of young people these days as I definitely got a bit of a wake-up cap when we started looking at what grades unis were looking for, but it sounds to me like your daughter’s confidence in terms of what to work on, (and perhaps exam technique plus/minus exploring if there is some neurodiversity making her struggle so much with time in exams as she could be entitled to extra time if so like my son, I dread to think what he’d have achieved without it as he is also still always fairly tight for time even with his extra time!)

If it’s the only thing she can imagine doing and she loves the subject these are great reasons to go ahead with confidence, in addition to her objectively pretty great grades really.

Britneyfan · 15/08/2025 12:38

Please encourage your daughter to stop ruminating and focus on the amazing success she has achieved in her grades, especially if she thinks she should and could have worked harder in reality! Lots of reasons to be optimistic surely. Go out to celebrate!

Needmoresleep · 15/08/2025 12:39

I've told this story before but it may be useful.

DS was unsure whether even to take FM as his teachers were not wholly supportive. He did and did fine, going on to read economics. He then struggled with some first year University stats courses and asked his tutor for help. The tutor was great and took him out for a coffee (very few first years do what they should and ask for help - academics can be very generous in giving it.)

His advice was to spend a couple of hours before a lecture reading through the material so you know what to expect, concentrate during the lecture, then spend 2-4 hours going through the content working on problem sets etc until you are sure you understand. University moves fast. They covered half a FM paper in a single lecture. It is difficult to move forward without a solid base. Then, during Christmas and Easter holidays, revise so that knowledge is cemented for the next term. DS worked pretty standard 9-5 but following that advice, did well. Slow and steady works a lot better when trying to absorb concepts.

You don't need to do it alone. There were only nine on DS' very mathematical econometrics degree, and by the third year they had commandeered a room in the library and worked together.

That said it seems that maths can be quite an unforgiving degree. Some find it a lot more interesting than school maths, like some find A level more interesting than GCSE. Whereas some, not always who you would expect, flounder. Most maths degrees seem to have "escape routes", degrees you can transfer into if the maths becomes too tough. The example we know was a bit of a maths superstar at school but looking back was probably heavily tutored and hit a wall when they started University. A lot of tutoring goes on, so if your DD came close to an A without it, she should not worry too much.

Britneyfan · 15/08/2025 12:41

And I’m taking the comment about a further maths B meaning students may not be suitable for the course with a fairly large pinch of salt. You have to remember there may well be ulterior motives behind such statements! Of course every uni would ideally like all their admissions to be getting all A stars in everything ideal, that’s a safe bet for them in terms of outcomes, which are increasingly important when students pay so much for their degrees. But it absolutely can’t be taken to mean that no student getting less than A stars at the start of the course will be capable of achieving a good degree surely. Otherwise taken to extremes this philosophy would write off all children after the first year of primary school who aren’t at the top of their class.

poetryandwine · 15/08/2025 12:43

Much good sense and advice in the post from @Needmoresleep

Britneyfan · 15/08/2025 12:49

Needmoresleep · 15/08/2025 12:39

I've told this story before but it may be useful.

DS was unsure whether even to take FM as his teachers were not wholly supportive. He did and did fine, going on to read economics. He then struggled with some first year University stats courses and asked his tutor for help. The tutor was great and took him out for a coffee (very few first years do what they should and ask for help - academics can be very generous in giving it.)

His advice was to spend a couple of hours before a lecture reading through the material so you know what to expect, concentrate during the lecture, then spend 2-4 hours going through the content working on problem sets etc until you are sure you understand. University moves fast. They covered half a FM paper in a single lecture. It is difficult to move forward without a solid base. Then, during Christmas and Easter holidays, revise so that knowledge is cemented for the next term. DS worked pretty standard 9-5 but following that advice, did well. Slow and steady works a lot better when trying to absorb concepts.

You don't need to do it alone. There were only nine on DS' very mathematical econometrics degree, and by the third year they had commandeered a room in the library and worked together.

That said it seems that maths can be quite an unforgiving degree. Some find it a lot more interesting than school maths, like some find A level more interesting than GCSE. Whereas some, not always who you would expect, flounder. Most maths degrees seem to have "escape routes", degrees you can transfer into if the maths becomes too tough. The example we know was a bit of a maths superstar at school but looking back was probably heavily tutored and hit a wall when they started University. A lot of tutoring goes on, so if your DD came close to an A without it, she should not worry too much.

Edited

This sounds like really good advice, thank you.