A Level Maths

[logan89]

I got an A at GCSE, C at A Level and felt that i should give up halfway through. But now i'm at Uni, the stuff i learnt at A level has popped up and i am sure glad i stuck with it.

I would say, it depends on what you realistically see yourself going onto before deciding to give up.

 

[clarkey]

AS alright, A2 hard. You need to do well at AS in order to be able to make up for the difficulty of the second year.

 

[Al Bion]

Tried explaining that to my parents, my Dad just says he can show me and my Mum says just pull your socks up, easier said than done

Well done for at least trying to talk to them. However it sounds to me like they might have mistaken what you've said as being due to your first impression of the subject and the realisation that it might be hard work. I'm certain they don't realise how worried you are. I hope you might feel able to talk to them again but, if not, please try and talk to your maths tutor at college. You most certainly won't be the first person they've taught who's found the first weeks tough but they should have some idea if you do have the ability to do the subject justice or not.

 

[Conkers]

As an employer that has sorted through a big pile of CV's this afternoon I can tell you that I most certainly do look at the subjects, as well as the grades, and I would positively prefer someone with a lower grade in a 'proper' subject over someone who has got an A in what I consider to be an easy subject.

That may well be true but nearly every single graduate job for accounting/finance students requires you to achieve, say 300 UCAS points for them to even look at your CV. This means that for someone like me that didn't choose the artsy fartsy route and opt for easier subjects, it's harder for me to even get my foot in the door due to the fact the UCAS tariff doesn't actually take in to account relevant A-levels.
For example the last 2 jobs I applied for required 280 UCAS points and a B at GCSE Maths.

 

[Djmiles]

Got a B at GCSE, found AS a breeze (S1, M1, P1), but found A2 impossible.

If you're struggling at AS, I would consider dropping it at the end of the year, as it gets about 10 times as hard (Not an exaggeration).

Ended up with a D in the end, but glad I stuck with it as an A level in Maths always looks pretty good

 

[Djmiles]

AS alright, A2 hard. You need to do well at AS in order to be able to make up for the difficulty of the second year.

Could agree more.

Got a B in AS but failed a module and got 2 E's in A2 to average out at a D.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I've just started after getting a B in GCSE, and tbh I don't have a clue what I'm doing. At the moment we are doing Co-ordinate geometry and I'm lost.

Did anyone else do it and can they tell me, is it only going to get harder, and can anyone comfort me by saying that they sat through lessons copying notes like it's another language - and ending up getting a decent grade or EVEN understanding it.

I did a-level maths. It was bloody hard. I think everyone in my class grades slid from gcse to a-level. My brother went from an a at gcse to a fail at a-level. I passed by one mark...

I reckon the only chance you've got to pass, unless you're a maths natural, is to just work like a mentalist at it. Revise and practice all the time. Or, if it's not something you're going to need at uni or later in life, drop it and do a subject where you can get an a/b/c fairly comfortably.

 

[One True BHA]

I did a-level maths. It was bloody hard. I think everyone in my class grades slid from gcse to a-level. My brother went from an a at gcse to a fail at a-level. I passed by one mark...

I reckon the only chance you've got to pass, unless you're a maths natural, is to just work like a mentalist at it. Revise and practice all the time. Or, if it's not something you're going to need at uni or later in life, drop it and do a subject where you can get an a/b/c fairly comfortably.

yeah i agree. the thing with maths is, you don't need to understand it. you just need to be able to do it. reading the same formula 1000 times won't make you understand why or how it gives you what you want, but it will make you be able to use it effectively.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Did anyone on here do economics? has it helped? was it hard? Tomorrow's my last chance to change it and I'm really tempted.

I did it. As others have said it's not hard but it is very theory based. I fell asleep a number of times. Got a C in the end.

I think you need to decide what type of subjects you're good at - theory based like economics, english, psycology etc or more exact subjects like IT, Maths, chemistry.

I did IT as well and unsurprisingly it's what I ended up doing. Failed Maths badly though - if you find it difficult at the beginning it won't get any easier !!!

 

[Badger]

I would highly recommend at least doing Maths AS, it is good to have on your CV and helpful for a lot of uni courses especially anything scientific or computing based. P1 is quite straightforward once you get the hang of it, you soon realise that they basically recycle the same questions over a number of years so as long as you do enough past exam papers then you are unlikely to get any big surprises.

Having said that I'm someone that I got an A* at GCSE and found maths quite easy.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

A Level Maths - I still have nightmares about turning up at college and finding out that it's A Level Maths exam day and I haven't done any revision. I got a C grade for Pure & Applied Maths and have just retrieved a couple of questions from the examination body archives;

(a) If a + b + c=a2+b2+c2=a3+b3+c3=2, find by considering values of (a+b+c)2 and (a+b+c)3, or otherwise, the values of (i) ab+bc+ca, (ii) abc.
Hence find the equation whose roots are a, b and c.

(b) If y={F(x)}f(x), find the value of dy/dx in terms of F(x), f(x), dF(x)/dx and df(x)/dx.

Without reading a maths book I would really struggle with these now - my excuse is that it was a long time ago and that in my working career nothing I learned from A Level Maths has ever been needed.

 

[Mtoto]

yeah i agree. the thing with maths is, you don't need to understand it. you just need to be able to do it. reading the same formula 1000 times won't make you understand why or how it gives you what you want, but it will make you be able to use it effectively.

Disagree, in fact would say that understanding the process is just as important, if not more so, than coming up with the right answer at the end every time. Otherwise it's just a version of rote learning, which is ultimately pointless unless you're going to spend your whole life searching for the very specific situations in which you can apply the little bit of it that you've learned to do by heart.

It definitely say it helps to have an affinity for the subject, but this is a very early stage of the course to be sure that you haven't. Hard work, and good teaching, can make all the difference.

FWIW, my A-level nearly a quarter of a century ago was split 50-50 between pure and applied. I found pure a breeze, thanks in part to good teaching, but applied was a complete mystery even after two years and no end of bloody effort. Ended up with a D, but must have got 100pc, or near enough, on the pure paper as I only managed to do one question from eight on the applied one.

Still very glad I did it, having ended up in horse racing, where I'll use it a dozen times a day without even knowing it.

 

[One True BHA]

Disagree, in fact would say that understanding the process is just as important, if not more so, than coming up with the right answer at the end every time. Otherwise it's just a version of rote learning, which is ultimately pointless unless you're going to spend your whole life searching for the very specific situations in which you can apply the little bit of it that you've learned to do by heart.

you don't have to understand the model to be able to apply it in different situations. you don't need to know why something means what it does. you just need to accept it, and use it. there is no point in understanding it. my statistics tutors have always said don't waste your time considering why the formula looks the way it does, just take it as a given and apply it where necessary.

 

[Nibble]

you don't have to understand the model to be able to apply it in different situations. you don't need to know why something means what it does. you just need to accept it, and use it. there is no point in understanding it. my statistics tutors have always said don't waste your time considering why the formula looks the way it does, just take it as a given and apply it where necessary.

Are you a bit of spod?

 

[One True BHA]

Are you a bit of spod?

i have no idea what that means.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

i have no idea what that means.

From Spodworldblogspot.com

A spod is a bit like a geek, or a nerd. Perhaps a bit less geeky than a nerd, and a bit less nerdy than a geek. A spod isn't instantly recognisable, at least not as a spod, or a nerd or a geek. A spod will reveal themself only to other spods or very trusted loved ones. A spod has spoddy mannerisms


You learn something new every day

 

[One True BHA]

then no, no i am not.

 

[folkestonesgull]

I'm surprised they let you do A level maths with a B - Did you do the highest GCSE paper?

The leap from GCSE to A Level is harshest in maths and Chemistry - might be worth sticking with for the AS, if you can't do it drop it and do economics or something like that

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

you don't have to understand the model to be able to apply it in different situations. you don't need to know why something means what it does. you just need to accept it, and use it. there is no point in understanding it. my statistics tutors have always said don't waste your time considering why the formula looks the way it does, just take it as a given and apply it where necessary.

Which is all well and good until you get to Uni where, if you are studying any of the sciences (engineering for me), you will need to know from first principles how an equation theory etc is derived. I still have nightmares over Maxwell's equations .... the bastard.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I've just started after getting a B in GCSE, and tbh I don't have a clue what I'm doing. At the moment we are doing Co-ordinate geometry and I'm lost.

Did anyone else do it and can they tell me, is it only going to get harder, and can anyone comfort me by saying that they sat through lessons copying notes like it's another language - and ending up getting a decent grade or EVEN understanding it.

I gained an A level (and later a degree) in Maths. The jump from O to A is great and I really struggled at the beginning. Infact your post states pretty much how I felt. I did a two year course in pure and applied and struggled for 3-4 months and occasionally after that. Friends did as well. I did a lot of extra reading, and pestered the teacher a lot bit it eventually all fell into place and I got a C.

Remember that there are a lot of topics to cover, some easier than others. After a while things will seem easier as your knowledge increases.......and every time you start a new topic you will get a bit of respite.



Good luck.