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Original poster

Question about further maths A level

16 replies

nbee84 · 28/01/2010 22:12

My son is just deciding his A level choices. At the moment he is thinking of Physics, Chemistry, English Lit and further Maths - so 4 AS/A2 levels.

But after a couple of things I've read - to do further Maths, do you do Maths and further Maths? So that means he has made 5 choices rather than 4? If so, I'm wondering if he's taking on a bit too much. He's predicted an A or A at the sciences, an A or B at English and already has an A in Maths (he is doing statistics this year)

OP posts:
MmeBlueberry · 28/01/2010 22:16

Yes, you do Mathematics and Further Mathematics.

It is fine to do 5 AS levels, and then drop down to 3 or 4 A2s.

StealthPolarBear · 28/01/2010 22:16

yes, that's certainly how it worked at our school and I would imagine it's normal, further maths is additional maths! In ours it was modules and FM just meant you did more of them (which naturally meant you had to take some of the harder ones iyswim).
I ended up doing 5 A levels for that reason, although one was the compulsary General Studies which was a joke - your son's choices sound difficult, although Maths, FM and physics would have a lot of overlap as I'm sure you know.

EdgarAllenSnow · 28/01/2010 22:22

yep - maths & further maths -

they used to do it by doing the maths as a 1-year A level and further maths in year 2,

very useful as it covers much ground in 1st year university maths courses.

Original poster
nbee84 · 28/01/2010 22:26

Thanks for your advice.

The Maths & physics overlap has been described to us as a good thing. With it being 5 subjects I worry about him taking on too much. He's a good kid and works hard - likes to spend time on his Xbox and playing golf too. He's a natural at the Science and Maths. I'm not quite sure why he wants to do the English - he thinks it would be a good one to have especially as he wants to go to uni but doesn't have any idea what to do yet. A few people have been pointing him towards Engineering as he is good at Maths and Science but he really has no idea.

OP posts:
MmeBlueberry · 28/01/2010 23:21

EAS,

My son did the full maths a-level in L6 and is now doing the full further maths a-level in U6. It is really helpful for his UCAS applications as he already has an A in the bag.

The risk is that if he hated further maths and wanted to drop it, he would not be able to easily pick up a new subject in U6 to fill the gap. No such problems for him, though, as he loves FM.

snorkie · 29/01/2010 00:11

Some schools timetable maths and further maths in one option choice, so maybe that's why it just says further maths. You can start with 5 and drop to 4 if it's too much and if it's the maths that's a struggle you can drop just the 'further' part.

I think it sounds like an excellent set of choices, and for a natural at maths the two A levels isn't supposed to be as much work as two separate subjects. That coupled with the overlap with Physics should mean that it's not quite as demanding as it sounds.

StealthPolarBear · 29/01/2010 06:01

yes, sorry that was what I meant. The maths will reinforce the physics and vice versa. FWIW I did a maths degree, my oyfriend at the time was doing physics at a different university and yet we were doing mostly the same things!

JGBMum · 29/01/2010 09:29

Hi, my ds is in Y12 and is doing maths, fm, physics, chemistry and geography at AS. I know it's still early days, (and we won't get the results of his module exams till March), but fwiw,he's coping just fine - in fact he still seems to have enough time to do most of his homework in school time so still has plenty of freetime to see friends and play on the PS3. And he wants to study engineering at Uni, so he knows he needs 3 As to get on the courses he likes.
Hope this is reassuring.

MmeBlueberry · 29/01/2010 17:40

JGB, my DS is going on to do Engineering at a top London university and his offer is ABB.

JGBMum · 29/01/2010 18:16

Mme Blueberry - what a great offer. My DS is hoping to go to Bristol, and the standard offer is 3 As. But as I explained, he is only in Y12 so we have a bit of a way to go, and he doesnt have any results yet.

Congratulations on your DS offer.

MmeBlueberry · 29/01/2010 18:57

I know, I can't believe how good it is. And the great thing is that he already has the A as he did the full maths a-level last year. He just needs to get a B in Physics (was sitting on an A from AS), and B in FM.

He had a FM maths module today which he said was 'easier than all the past papers'.

JGBMum · 29/01/2010 19:00

{smile] I hope we have something similar to celebrate this time next year.

JGBMum · 29/01/2010 19:01

oops, that should be

MmeBlueberry · 29/01/2010 19:03

Absolutely!

wolfbrother · 31/01/2010 15:10

JGBMum
My DN has an engineering offer from Bristol and it's AAB, so your DS may not need AAA to go there.

JGBMum · 31/01/2010 17:39

Fingers crossed for next year's offers then - let's just hope they don't start bringing in A* offers

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