Further maths confusion

[Sausagerollfiend]

Hey everyone, thank god the stress of gcse results is over!

My son had his meeting with his new sixth form and has signed up for maths, psychology and computer science A Levels. They said to him that as he got a 9 in maths he could do Further Maths when other students do 'enrichment' or resits. He agreed to do this.

However when I looked at the form, it just says 'Further maths -general'. It doesn't say A level or BTEC like all the other option choices do.

Does anyone know what this means?? It's definitely separate to the three A Levels he chose initially. Would it just be extra maths sessions or would it be a qualification? The 'general' is very confusing!! I thought I'd ask on here before I email the sixth form.

Thanks 😊

Sounds like it’s further maths a level in the “general” timetabling slot

@PinkFrogss Aaaah that makes sense! I hope so. Thank you.

It's a fourth A level.

Do you know if the school mentioned him doing it just in first year or in second year as well?

As it counts as a fourth a level, if the school require him to drop down to 3 next year and he wants to continue with further maths and drop either psychology or CS look into if the unis and courses he is interested in will accept it. All will accept it as a fourth a level but I believe some are less keen on it as one three a levels due to how similar it is obviously to maths.

Yes that makes a lot of sense @PinkFrogss I presumed it was an A level but it wasn't explicitly said. No mention of how long the course is, just that the maths dept have been desperate for a few years to add it to sixth form options and they're chuffed they can do it from this year. They are only offering it to students who got an 8 or 9 in gcse maths.

Thank you @mushroom3

What might be worth checking is how much lesson time is allocated to it. Enrichment or resits would not normally take up the time of a full A-level, which Further Maths is. If he is expected to do a lot of self-study, then this is worth taking into account before agreeing, as FM is difficult!

Yes agree with @noblegiraffe my ds 6th for has lessons divided into 4 blocks, 3 for A levels and Btecs for most and the 4th block is for the fourth A level for a few of them (all the further maths people seem to be doing 4) or study time/ EPQ/ resit work.