Any advice on 6th former taking A level maths outside of school?

[Somerville]

DD is about to start two sciences and a language at A level. She would also like to take maths, having got a high 8 at GCSE. Although her school allow four in theory, in reality unless two of those are maths and FM they struggle to make the blocks work. They’re still trying (lots of movement in subject choices after GCSE results this year apparently). But if they can’t, she really wants to study it in the evenings/weekends.
Any ideas on the best method to do so - ultimately I’d be happy to hire a tutor but she thinks that she can find lots of resources and videos online that at least get herself going. I’ve also promised to look into attending an evening class or online class to learn alongside others.

I ideally don’t want to spend too money on it up front so that it’s easy for her to admit if the workload becomes too heavy and drop it again.

Hmm, studying a 4th A-level at home is quite a big task, tbh. She may well find balancing the study with the demands of her 3 A-levels quite difficult. It’s not just the studying, it’s having to organise it all herself.

Which sciences is she taking? She might find them difficult without maths and without maths A-level it might hinder access to some science university courses so is she sure the sciences and language are the best combo?

www.physicsandmathstutor.com/maths-revision/ has got lots of A-level maths resources and videos, but they are organised in terms of the old A-level. Has the school got a mymaths login? She could also see which textbook the school uses and buy her own copy. Between videos, mymaths and textbook she should have enough resources.

Thanks Noble. I’ve bookmarked those sites.

We’re having a meeting with school once she starts back and timetabling options are clear. It might be there is a better combination available.

Hi Somerville! I am a parent and I did a Maths degree all those years ago.

There's a big jump between Maths at GCSE and at A Level for most people, even for a Level 8 or 9 pupil. My daughter got an A* 'easily' not that long ago and swears blind she couldn't do any of her friends' A Level problem sheets early in their Year 12. It's great that your child is keen, but I really would try to get her into one of the groups at school. She needs to at least sample the lessons and homework problem sheets for a while before deciding whether to go ahead and, if so, how.

Generally, if the learning and progress come naturally, then online guidance is fine and grade A/A* should be achievable. If they don't, then online stuff probably won't be enough and it could all be quite a struggle.

What does she want to do after Year 13: something scientific or linguistic or something completely different? At which Unis? Maths supports all scientific study directly . It is also great for the CV and the Uni application in general for all subjects, but only if the grade is high enough.

It is rare for anyone, apart from the exceptionally able pupil, to do that well doing an A Level by themselves. Nevertheless, one online resource to try is The Khan Academy.

Hope this helps.

It may be easier to do the language A level out of school and do Maths at school. A friend's DD did hers in one year (endnof year 12) and then did 3 school taught A levels in year 13.

I'd also recommend doing the language outside school and maths inside.

That’s an interesting suggesting - language outside school. I’ll suggest it. She did two gcse’s in MFL but doesn’t have space for both of them at A level (as yet undecided on whether to take forward biology or languages, and potentially looking at joint honours courses in both.) So her stronger language - which we speak at home - she’s dropping as she can keep up/improve her skills in that without the A level. But the other isn’t one we can help with at home.
I wish there was a school offering Ib near us. This country expects kids to specialise ridiculously early.

I was just about to say how about doing the maths & sciences at school and the language out of school too, but others beat me to it!

What does she want to do at university?

She may be able to do an elective in MFL, and many universities offer non-credit courses.

Probably too late but moving to somewhere that offered IB would have been the ideal solution. But agree Maths is the one not to do outside school. A language evening class would be great though - she doesn't really need to get an A level, particularly as a bilingual student anyway.