How much harder is Further Maths Alevel than Maths?

[Indec1s1on]

Tia

@Hellohah

That is a slight misreading of Oxford's approach. Their website states "The Oxford Physics course is highly-mathematical. We expect that all students who are accepted to study Physics at Oxford would be capable of achieving a Grade A in Further Maths A-level"

They also state that if you don't have further maths A Level students must undertake extra work in the summer vacation and their first term to catch-up with their peers

@FarTooSkinny...

It is still not actually required, whichever way you read it, and therefore not very important.

@Hellohah I agree that it is not required. However I would argue that it is important. We can agree to disagree

I did further maths. I could keep up, but to the detriment of my other three A levels, so after about a term and a half I gave it up. Shame, it was fun but so time consuming.

FM is also highly desirable for many Computer Science courses

Pupils who are more interested in logic and the whole language of maths and how it works, are more likely to do well (as opposed to those who are good at doing the calculations)

The top University (Oxford) say it would be helpful. Not essential, not even recommended... Just helpful.

That's often the published position, because they do not want to put off the talented which do not offer FM. In practice, you may well find that nearly everyone the course has it, and it can leave those without it playing catch up in the first term. Always worth seeing if you can find a 'what qualifications joiners really have' for courses DC are interested in

FM A level is pretty tough. DH dropped it. I had to follow the syllabus in my first year at uni while students without a C or better in A level maths caught up and some of the calculus was pretty mind blowing - I got an A at A level Maths with little difficulty but I felt like that was my natural ceiling. Happens I also got a first in the further maths module at uni but I haven't a clue how.

I did further maths many years ago. It was mind bendingly hard at the time but meant that plain A level maths was a walk in the park. It stood me in good stead for an Oxbridge science degree.

Whilst it's hard, there's less to learn overall than doing e.g. maths and French, because of the overlap, and there will be even more overlap for anyone doing physics or chemistry as well.

None of the Computer Science courses my other son looked at specified Further Maths. Maths and Computer Science seemed desirable.

As I said before, FM is next to never listed as an absolute requirement because not all schools offer it, and no university wants to deter a talented candidate from applying because of the school they went to.

Some CompSci courses are very maths heavy, and much harder work in the first year if you are having to catch up on maths. That's why it's worth checking what subjects/grades successful candidates actually have (this applies beyond CompSci to any course which says 'desirable' for a subject)