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?

Rather than suggest alternatives have you simply been blunt with her?

Shown her the data?

It's a really important decision and frankly I am worried about the implications of her choosing maths and spending the next 2 years struggling - and all the evidence suggests this is exactly what would happen, potentially to the detriment of her other subjects and even Uni ambitions in the round.

Going back to my DS's cohort only the students who were flying at 9's got top grades at A Level and even then most of them worked at it.

The mental load for some of his friends to get a decent grade at Maths to get on an unrelated Uni course was awful to witness (they would come to ours so DS would help them).

I'm not trying to stealth boast about DS btw. It's almost like maths is a hobby to him rather than a chore (and he didn't get that from me!).

Rather I've witnessed his peers having the benefits of a great school/teachers, do well at GCSE (7/8), parents pay for tutors and still come out with D/C grades at A Level.

Thankfully for most it didn't impact their Uni choices (though for 2 of them it did), but it did make for all of them their A Level years far more stressful than they needed to be.

47% got A or A* at maths A level last summer. So many dc can do very well at it. If was 40.5% in 2019. So it’s got grade inflation but a big minority are very successful. Another 16% got a B. However with a 6/7 at GCSE, I would not do it.

OP just say no maths a level.

Also it is worth remembering that 75% is a grade 9 at gcse. So you can get the top grade without being able to do any of the hard questions.

My friend’s DS was at St Paul’s Boys school. His entire year group got 9s for gcse but the school discouraged lots of them from doing A level Maths, including my friend’s DS.

Thank you all so much for the helpful advice. Glad I posted. I will discuss all of this with dd today. Goodness knows now what she’ll put down for her third choice. Prob Class Civ.

Best wishes to you and your daughter OP. It's probably also worth mentioning that the whole thing can become very flexible in August when results come in. Sixth forms and colleges are very used to this and will be very adaptable. Your thought processes now are really helpful and perhaps without discussing with your daughter you can give some thought to some what if scenarios if the results are better or worse than predicted or she has a change of heart.

Echoing all that has been said re GCSE 7 likely outcome. This was DS this year and we dearly wish he hadn’t taken it - got a C which landed him in Clearing, which although miraculously worked out extremely well, isn’t an experience I’d recommend or want to repeat.

Might Geography be an option? Some useful overlap with the other 2.

Good luck and best wishes OP

@bendmeoverbackwards
Has she studied Classical Civilisation, Psychology and Sociology at gcse? Are all
three new to her? Sociology and CCiv go better with History or English. These traditional subjects keep university options much wider.

Form submitted at 11.58pm last night (deadline was 31st December)! Poor dd, she was so stressed about it even though I explained a million times she can change her mind. Autistic traits become much more pronounced when she’s stressed.

She put down Sociology, Psychology and Class Civ.

Ah bless her! At least you can park it for a bit now.

At our school there's no way everyone would get it in at the first time of asking!

Sorry to hear she was stressed about it.

Hopefully now it's done there is a period of calm.

I don't know much about Classics Civ. A Level, but it seems a much better fit and far less risky than maths.

Best of luck to you both

Dc got a 9 in maths GCSE, and an A in Further Maths (highest grade available)

They got an A at A levels but said it was HARD.

Does your Dd love maths? Would she be OK for her future plans and interests to possibly get a pass at a low ish grade?

If so, crack on!

Sorry OP, missed your update.

Good luck to her!

2 of my DS's started A'level maths. They have both always been excellent at maths up to this point but both gave it up after 1 year as they just couldn't hack it and it really set them both back. So I would say be absolutely sure it's for her before embarking.

I did maths A level after getting an A (this was before A*s) at GCSE. It was so, so difficult. I got a C (both GCSE and A level were 100% exam assessed over two papers). It was well beyond me, really.

I liked having a subject that wasn’t essay/reading based, but I’d have done better at Economics or something like that.

I found, at the time, that lots of people who did Maths A level also did Physics. I was useless at Physics. I should have realised really.

Glad it's sorted!

Class Civ is (very roughly) like English A-level but instead of studying English texts you look at Greek/Roman plays/epics (in English translation). Plus their historical contexts, etc.