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Original poster

Further Maths A level

76 replies

MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 31/01/2012 21:20

Argh. DS2 (year 11) has to choose his A level subjects for next year. He isn't really sure exactly what he wants to study at university so he is choosing subjects that hopefully keep things open for him rather than closing things down.

He might want to study Economics, Statistics, Physics or Physics with Philosophy or possibly even something else Grin at uni, he just doesn't know.

He had thought Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Economics but he's having a last minute crisis about Further Maths.

How hard is it, does anyone know? He is now wondering if he should swap it for something else, but in so doing he does rule out lots of university courses in the process.

And we have to decide by tomorrow evening as we have to talk to the teachers about the chosen A levels at parents' evening.

OP posts:
Original poster
MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 31/01/2012 21:25

Oh and I should say: he does lots of extra curricular writing, so his writng skills would be kept-up.

OP posts:
twooter · 31/01/2012 21:26

Have no idea now, but I did it for a levels, and whereas I only got a D for further maths, it made the normal maths seem really easy.

Original poster
MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 31/01/2012 21:29

twooter - yes, thank you. DH said exactly the same.

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CMOTDibbler · 31/01/2012 21:29

Further maths would be a def advantage if he goes onto do physics - my school didn't offer it, and the maths component of my degree was much harder for that

ZuleikaJambiere · 31/01/2012 21:29

As twooter, and I'd add that it made the first semester of my Maths degree also a lot easier I was familiar with concepts that those without further maths hadn't seen before. I don't think it made any difference to the offers I received from the universities I'd applied for. And this was 15 years ago, so things may well be different now

Original poster
MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 31/01/2012 21:40

CMOTDibbler - thank you, good point re the Physics.

ZuleikaJambiere - Yes. DH said that too. Grin

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strictlovingmum · 31/01/2012 21:46

DS is doing A level maths, further maths, physics, chemistry and economics out of all of them further maths is by far the hardest one in his words.
Definitely an advantage to take further maths if your DS is thinking of taking either physics or maths further/degree for some uni's if not all is a necessary requirement.
Your DS first option sounds good minus the philosophy, better would be to opt for maths simply for purpose of physics, physics without maths will be very hard on him.
His second option sounds even better, all subject closely interwoven, and maths of course is always smart move as are sciences,good luck to him.

webwiz · 31/01/2012 21:48

What is he expected to get for GCSE? At my DCs school you need to be expecting an A* to study Further Maths. DD2 did it and yes it is harder than normal maths but she still enjoyed it. She has gone on to do Maths at university so it was very helpful to her.

Original poster
MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 31/01/2012 21:54

He already has IGCSE maths at A (he did it early) and is currently working on a FSMQ which he would currently get a B in if he sat it now but an A is likely come June (there is no A in that exam).

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strictlovingmum · 31/01/2012 21:54

I second thatwebwiz A* GCSE maths to enrol for A level Further Maths and A GCSE for Physics and Chemistry to study both sciences for A level.

Original poster
MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 31/01/2012 22:00

Yes, school wouldn't even allow him to consider taking FM if he didn't have the A* at GCSE.

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strictlovingmum · 31/01/2012 22:01

In that case it would be shame not to take his Maths Further, yes it is hard work but I believe it will serve him right especially in conjunction with physics, in you OP he has it in both of his choices, your DS sounds as if he is not a stranger to hard work, I am sure he will do well.Wink

Original poster
MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 31/01/2012 22:06

strictlovingmum - sadly he is a stranger to hard work. Grin But I sort of feel the volume of work will be less if he has four partially overlapping subjects (as above), rather than 3 overlapping and one distinctly separate A level.

I must go to bed. Thanks for reassurances to date.

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TheSecondComing · 31/01/2012 22:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

strictlovingmum · 31/01/2012 22:19

TheSecondComing DS too struggled at the beginning, so and so that after first parent consultation I did wander if he made the right choice, dust is settling now, he applying himself more and and putting good two hours every day into his studies, results are almost immediate, he is doing very well now, key is the hard work, I also think DS underestimated the jump from GCSE's to A levels, I think he get it now, Grin

StealthPolarBear · 31/01/2012 22:24

O did it. IME it was more of the same, did modular so needed to study more modules. I think his a level choice is excellent, leaves his options wide open.

noblegiraffe · 31/01/2012 23:51

If he has got a good A* at GCSE then he should be ok with Further Maths. It is one of the hardest A-levels, but it also gets the highest proportion of top grades, because only the best at maths sit it. So if he copes, he is likely to do well.

One thing that might be worth considering is that at my school the way they sit the modules in Further Maths means that they actually finish their maths A-level early - my Y13 Further Maths students no longer attend normal Maths lessons as they finished all the modules for it in January. This would free up time to concentrate on the final modules for his other subjects if his school does similar.

Needmoresleep · 01/02/2012 08:59

We are at the same point. It is not an easy one. One argument for Further Maths is that, if you are going on to a degree where maths is used, it is easier if you learn as much as possible in a supportive school environment, than later on through lectures and text books. In short though it is far from an easy option at school if the maths has to be learned at some point it is easier to learn it there than later. However this is on the basis that Further Maths is a fourth A Level, which enables more flexibility in terms of target grade than if a child were sitting three.

Other considerations are that, even with four A levels, you will be spending half your time studying maths, not great perhaps if maths is not your passion. The clincher for us is that the first three subjects were pretty obvious, but not the fourth, so it might as well be Further Maths. One thing that has become clear is that it will not be an easy option, though at the moment our child is saying they are happy with this.

Original poster
MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 01/02/2012 10:14

Interesting.

I'm worried about the workload. Probably like lots of teenage boys, his internal chaos doesn't currently lend itself to much in the way of hard work. But I have a feeling he is really going to do well at A level. He's one of those boys who carries all his GCSE subject books to and from school every day because he can't be bothered to spend the 5 mins sorting out which books he does and doesn't need that day.

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civilfawlty · 01/02/2012 10:18

I did further maths. I found it easy-I think if maths comes easily to you, it is part of a continuum of understanding. But people for whom it was always a struggle found the sheer volume of concepts really difficult n

bachsingingmum · 01/02/2012 13:51

I think that in most schools students doing maths and further maths do all of the maths modules in the first year before moving onto the further maths modules - a feature of the sequential nature of the subject. That means that if it is all too much you can drop back to the single maths without having wasted effort with no qualification to show for it.

I did a physics degree with only single maths (pure and applied - no stats), but that was 30 years ago so perhaps things have moved on.

Original poster
MrsJAlfredPrufrock · 01/02/2012 14:02

bachsingingmum - ahh that is interesting. I will ask tonight how they organise maths and further maths. I'm a little confused.

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BellaBearisWideAwake · 01/02/2012 14:26

Would totally recommend further maths alevel if a* at gcse and wants to do mathsy course at university. I'm a maths teacher btw. Makes the normal alevel much easier and a big help at university. Oxford says you don't absolutely need it, 10% dont hve it on maths course, as they cover in first year but in my experience they actually cover it in first week!

3boys1cat · 01/02/2012 17:12

My DS is in Year 12 doing Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry. Physics is the one he's found the hardest; there seems to be a massive step up from GCSE. Hard work not his strong point, but Maths is his thing so he seems to be able to keep up with the Further Maths fine. For the Maths, he does Core Maths and Decision Maths, whereas for the Further Maths he does Mechanics, Statistics and Further Pure (iirc).

cottonmouth · 01/02/2012 17:33

Maths, Further Maths and Physics is a lot of maths. He has to really enjoy maths to do these subjects.

My DS did this combo and he enjoyed it. He is doing engineering at uni, which is more maths again, and he likes it. The people on his course who didn't do Further Maths had some extra lessons in the first few weeks of uni.