Maths A level without further maths?

[Miladymilord]

Dd loves maths. She's extremely good at sorting and remembering information. She'd like to do maths a level, along with history and maybe English lit.or RE.

She's thinking of computing or law at uni and wants to be a spy work in the civil service!

She's 'only' predicted a 7 in maths gcse. Ive always thought you need to be exceptional at maths to make it worth while doing the a level? Also it seems random to do it with essay subjects but she's admanat shr doesn't want to do sciences!

Nothing odd about doing maths on its own - or, with subjects that don't necessarily 'link' to it.
Maths is notorious for being a massive jump from GCSE though. Although that said, the 'new' GCSE has covered more than the 'old' GCSE did.
Can she go and talk to some of the current 6th former about their experiences, and / or her maths teacher to ask for honest blunt opinions ?

GCHQ love a maths degree She had better be doing a language also.

Grade 7 is fine to do A level. Do expect some tears with homework though.

Damn she doesn't want to do a language at a level, that will rain on her parade

DD has just started A levels in maths, English Language and history. There are around 800 taking maths in her SFC. An A level in maths never does anyone any harm and opens up a huge number of career options. Go of or it.

If she wants to do computing then unis care more about maths A-level than they do computer science.

A 7 is good enough to do maths A-level BUT achievement at maths A-level is more strongly linked to prior attainment at the same subject at GCSE than any other A-level so she needs to be aware that she will probably find it tough and will need to work hard. Any time that she can spend this year getting her algebra skills up to a higher level will benefit her next year.

Thanks this is really helpful. I will tlsk to her about algebra, she has had to come home and work hard on some aspects of maths eg simultaneous equations, but once she masters it she seems to be very confident and she absolutely loves the problem solving type questions.

OP, your DC will find that most students (internal and external students) entering a school sixth form to study maths will be given extra work to do over the summer holiday between year 11 and year 12. Make sure she does the work at a steady pace, not all at the end of the holiday and she will be fine.

She'd actually enjoy that! This has all been very heartening.

Are their any good online gcse maths programmes, she could do with some more questions?

I’m at A-Level maths teacher, I have a few students each year who take it after getting a grade 7. If they are willing to work hard then it’s doable.

The link below has some video tutorials on the A-Level topics. She needs to be confident on all the prior knowledge section before she starts the A-Level.

www.examsolutions.net/a-level-maths/edexcel/pure-maths-a-level-tutorials/

If she wants GCSE revision then google Corbett maths. It has video tutorials for each topic along with practice questions.

’m at A-Level maths teacher, I have a few students each year who take it after getting a grade 7. If they are willing to work hard then it’s doable

Do they get As though? This is what dd wants!

Honestly... no. Even the grade 8/9 students struggle to hit the A. It’s a very difficult subject that not only requires learning the theory but a natural ability to problem solve.

I would try and find it why she is only predicted a grade 7 at GCSE. Does she struggle with the content? Is it applying what she knows to the paper? Any issues she is having now will be much worse at A-level so she needs to spend the next 9 Months addressing these issues.

A student who was predicted an 8/9 but had a nightmare in the exam and got a 7 I would say is doable. A student who is actually a grade 7 by ability I would question. If she can’t get the top grade at GCSE where the content is easier she is u likely to get it at A-level.

Thanks sleepy that's good to know. I'm wondering if Economics might scratch the maths itch at a level and an A might be achievable.

@SleepyMcEdie

Really interesting to see your comments, and I wonder if I can ask you another one:

DS (Year 11, so GCSE this year) wants to do Maths at A level, and he can't at his school unless he gets an 8 at GCSE which his year 9, 10, and 11 teachers both think he's capable of, so that's not really an issue. However, your comments about the difficulty of getting an A at A level made me think.

He's not getting 8 (as graded against their internal marking for Year 10 tests and EOY exams) yet, which makes me question his natural ability - able, certainly, but able enough for an A at A level?

FWIW, I think the failure to get an 8 so far is more down to lack of really rigorous self-testing and revision for his tests so he falls short - my question is really, if he's A Level A Grade material, would he now be knocking out GCSE questions with ease whether he'd revised or not? (Asking as a humanities type who really doesn't remember any maths other than straightforward arithmetic!)

Of course, the person to really ask is the maths teacher he's got now, and I will do so, but this thread got me thinking so I thought I'd put it out there! Hope that makes sense.

OP I'm going to try to get DS to look at Economics as well. From what I understand, the curriculum can move between rather maths-y and more theoretical, so those hoping to get a good grade can be advantaged or less so depending on their bent. But I may be wrong, I need to get more information.

Dolores- no without revision it is unlikely he would be pulling out good GCSE scores, even with a natural ability. The new specification is challenging and requires a lot of practice for the top grades.

If he gets the 8 I would say A-level should be ok. He will need to be prepared to spend an extra hour outside the classroom doing practice and consolidation for each lesson taught.

SleepyMcEdie Thanks so very much. I think he has a lot more to give, and, more importantly, so does he, so it's really encouraging to hear that if he does manage to pull an 8 out of the bag at GCSE, he should find A level manageable provided he's prepared to reinvent himself as a studious pupil

Crikey let’s not put people off one of the best A-levels going.

Over 40% of maths A-level entries last year got A*/A. Not all of those kids will have got 8/9 and indeed there are students who get top grades at GCSE who won’t get a top grade at A-level.
Hard work from the off is important, and lots don’t realise this until much later.

Hard work from the off is important, and lots don’t realise this until much later.

This is very much the common theme I take from everything I read on this topic, NobleGiraffe! 35% got A and a further 30% got A at DS's school this time round, so I have a lot of trust in the maths department - I am going to take the view that the two teachers who have taught/are teaching him throughout Years 9, 10 and 11 are probably really well positioned to advise whether they think DS could aim for an A, but I've found SleepyMcEdie*'s comments and yours really helpful and encouraging.

OP maths is an awesome A-level to have and do.

You do NOT have to be exceptional at maths to do A-level, that's crazy talk. It is a subject like all others - if you work at it you will improve and succeed....and the key ingredient is actually enjoying it, which apparently your DD does.

While GCSE grades are a good indicator of how well someone can answer GCSE questions, they are not indicators of how well you will do at A-level. If they were there would be no need to study A-levels...just hand out the certs after the GCSE results are in.....

dolores I don't think a lot of maths performance has to do with how recently you practised. I think when people have properly mastered a maths skill it will stay with them.

So if your son is struggling with a topic, it isn't because he hasn't thought about it for a while, but because he hasn't properly 'got' it yet.

However, I do think that revision and practise are great ways to improve and achieve mastery. So he will likely add elements to his 'sorted' list during revision and hence get the grades he wants.

M3lon Great to know. I think it's really interesting - I spent the whole of one Christmas working my way through the algebra section of a GCSE text book because DS had to do likewise as a means of brushing up, and I thought I'd have a go too.
Now, DH just took one look at all of them and knocked them out like 2+2, and he hasn't done any form of education since he failed to get any O Levels in 1977 (crap boarding school, his DF committed suicide that year, and DH went off to work in punk fashion on the Kings Road instead.). I painstakingly learned how to do the algebraic questions, was getting them all right by the end, but within a month I couldn't have told you for love nor money how to do them. Totally back to square one.

M3lon...your replies are helpful and gives me hope. My son has just started his A Level in Maths and he got a grade 7. He's not a natural at Maths but wants to study it. His predicted grade was a 5 in GCSE for his mocks!

Dds independent school had 21 doing maths a level last year and 16 of them got As or A*s.

The others got Bs. However the head of maths has retired due to health issues, gutting for dd as she was a brilliant teacher who dd really liked. She's not keen on her new teacher

I'm a great believer in taking subjects you enjoy, because then you are motivated to work hard. You can still get a decent grade at A level with a grade 7. Shock, horror, you can even get a good job or degree without having straight A, A* s across the board! Life does not revolve around RG universities and Oxbridge degrees! I'm currently working with students taking their professional exams at post grad level requiring numeracy. Some of them don't even have maths A level.