Maths A Level - is it true how hard it is?

[bendmeoverbackwards]

Dd is in Year 11 and about to finalise her A level choices. She wants to do Sociology and Psychology and is thinking about Maths for her third choice.

She had some problems with mental health and subsequent school attendance in Year 10. This year has been much better but her attendance is still a bit low. She is very bright and seems to be working at home and catching up with what she's missed.

Her current predicted grade for Maths is a 6 (was a 7 previously) but has been getting 7s in tests. They need a 7 for Maths A Level at their school and she thinks she can achieve this.

I've heard how hard Maths A Level is, its a huge jump from GCSE, it's one of the hardest A levels. Is this true?

I would say she has a very good Maths brain which was evident from when she was young. She just seems to work out things herself and was always top at primary school and given extension work etc.

Does it sound like she would cope?

I would ask her current maths teacher

It is a massive jump and requires much more focus. I felt that up to GCSE, if you were naturally good at maths you could somewhat 'wing-it' and still get high marks. At A level it is a massive commitment.

@shreddies I did ask her Maths teacher and she was a bit non committal.

DS 1 got a 7 in GCSE maths (2019). He was mid way between a 7 and 8.
He struggled with A level maths and we ended up getting a tutor for the last six months and he had to work hard, it took up a lot of his study time.
This was during COVID though so most of his college teaching over the two years was done online. Not ideal.
He came out with a B which he was pleased with. Friends who'd got an 8 at GCSE also got B's.

Iirc, the projected path for someone with a 7 at GCSE is around a D. If she would get something better in another A-level, do that instead.

If she’s looking at Cs / Ds across the board, then Maths would be no worse than other options, but it’s worth thinking about attainable post -18 routes in that case.

It is a big leap. Ds is not a 'natural' mathematician but achieved a 9 at GCSE but is finding A level quite hard. There was a poster (I think @noblegiraffe) who posted a table of the correlation between GCSE grade and what is usually achieved at A level. I'll see if I can find it.

If she enjoys maths however, I would say go for it. Does she want to take it in to higher education ie. maths or engineering degree?

Oh that's annoying.

Years ago a friend of mine did maths A level, along with geography and English, or similar, can't remember exactly. Anyway she got As in those subjects and an E in maths. It's a different kettle of fish. But it sounds as if your dd may have more natural aptitude.

I have an Oxbridge degree, a masters and several professional qualifications. Maths A Level is still the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

Thank you, she currently doesn’t have a clue what she wants to do. She’s definitely not interested in medicine or engineering so that gives her a wider choice of A level subjects.

My degree is in maths. I found the jump from gcse to a-level disproportionally high for maths. English, history and sciences (my other subjects) felt like a natural progression but maths was like learning in another language.

How maths GCSE result predicts A-level maths result (important for grade 6/7!) www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/4007205-How-maths-GCSE-result-predicts-A-level-maths-result-important-for-grade-6-7

The table is on this discussion thread which you might find useful also.

If she gets a 7 for gcse, she would be on track for a C grade at A level maths.

It is quite standard for schools colleges to ask for a 7 at GCSE for maths, even if they only ask for 6s for other sciences and 5s for humanities.

If she would likely have walked a 7 without being ill (as opposed to just scraping it now) then I'd go for it provided she is willing to keep 'catching up' after y11 before y12 and she likes / can do algebra.

DD got a 9 at GCSE Maths, and will be sitting her A Levels this summer. She's definitely found it the most challenging of her A Levels (English Lit and Classics). She's predicted an A (A stars in the other two), and has had to work very hard to get that.

DS2 got a 9 in Maths GCSE and is predicted an A this summer at A level.
Has A star predictions for Biology and Chemistry.

Thank you, this is really helpful. Im not sure what she’d choose as an alternative. Maybe Classics? She’s doing Class Civ GCSE.

@EmmaStone how does your dd find Classics A level?

I would ask wherever she is considering for a-levels what modules they do for maths A-level. There are different combinations, and while stats and pure maths may be helpful, if she is not naturally a scientist the mechanics will be a challenge for her. There are other options do continue maths at KS5 without doing maths A-level - it depends what options she has available to her eg level 3 maths studies which would help with the maths in psychology / sociology perhaps.

My son got an 8 in GCSE Maths and found A level vvvv hard , he had genuinely good A Level Maths teachers and a paid tutor to get him to a Grade B . He only did it as he wanted to do an Economics Degree ( and is now grateful he went through that pain ) BUT if she doesn’t need it for a future Degree/ Career I would seriously steer her away . Would suggest she meets with school Careers Advisor to help her work through options

DS2 got straight 9s at GCSE. he didn't do Ad maths tho. He takes Bio, Chem, Music and Maths and Maths is the one he finds the hardest.
He is naturally bright and found Maths easy at GCSE. not so A level.

I wouldn't advise it without an 8/9, especially as her teacher has been a Little lukewarm. Unless she has a real passion and desire to do maths, it doesn't seem wise. It's also worth bearing in mind that A-Levels are a real jump. They can be a time that challenges mental health for my students. I wouldn't run the risk of really stressing about such a difficult student which could go very wrong if she has a wobble or her attendance falls. What about geography, economics or business studies?

DS got a 9 in maths gcse and an 8 in additional maths, in the end he got A* in maths and A in further maths at A level but it took an awful lot of work. As a ‘natural’ mathematician he found it very difficult.

i would be concerned about trying maths A level with a 6 at GCSE unless they are very passionate and determined.

My eldest son is doing a Maths A-Level. He got an 8 at GCSE and have been predicted an A* for his A-Level results. Luckily he is naturally mathematically inclined (his GCSE grade was a teacher assessment as he was in year 10 when covid hit so it's possible if he'd done actual exams he would have achieved a 9) so he grasps A-Level maths relatively easily. He says his Physics A-Level is harder than Maths.

I think if you have to work hard at maths, the A-Level will be a struggle. If you're naturally a mathematician, it won't be as difficult to do well. What does she want to do after A-Levels? I loved Maths as a kid, got a B in my GCSE, did Maths at A-Level and failed big time. Although I had something happen to me at the start of my second year that basically caused me to stop turning up, start drinking, and generally mess me up - but even before that I was struggling with the step up.

Unless she needs maths for whatever she wants to do after A-Levels, I would encourage her to consider something else (maybe even suggest trying 4 A-Levels so that if she finds it too hard she could drop it and have something to fall back on - or if she finds it a walk in the park she could drop the other choice).

It's not that much harder, it's just a lot

Not quite. The table in the linked thread shows that they are pretty much equally likely to get a C and a D, with chances of B and E both being about 10% less. Someone on the 6 / 7 borderline for GCSE, as the OP suggests, is likely to fall in the lower group. Strong algebra is really key.

Just to put a different perspective on things my DH and myself and 2 out of 3 of our children found it the easiest of our A levels, however we did all get top grades at o’level / GCSE.