opinion on A level maths.

I'm in year 11 at the moment and have chosen to stay on at sixth form and do maths, science, geography and graphics. But alot of people have been telling me that maths is really really hard and people who came out of there GSCE's with a A* in maths and went on to do A level maths got a D.

Basically, not to come across as big headed but I am quite good at maths when I listen I class, but that rarely does happen. Left my secondary school with only a one level increase in maths and in both of my year 10 GCSE exams I got two B's, as if I had listened and concentrated I could of got a A quite easily.

Now I only need to get a high grade C to get me a B overall which would get me onto the A level maths course.

Would really appreciate some help on this as I leave school for exam leave in 2/3 weeks, so I do need to make my mind up quick weather I change to do another subject or not.

Thanks!

thanks alot mate.

Precisely this, anyone can get an A/A* in GCSE maths as the only hard questions on the paper is the last few questions. I decided to do it at A level due to me getting an A at GCSE and I can categorically say it is absolutely solid. 50% of people in my class failed and very few got B's/A's. The only consolation is that if you carry it on into A2 the previous modules seem much easier than when you first do them but yh I am in year 13 now and I would die for a C in it lol. Another thing is that you will end up doing Maths homework pretty much everyday as the workload is pretty intense especially when during the exam periods.

Maths has pretty much took over my school life haha, constantly doing homeworks and past papers. Guessing you're in year 12 which means you are doing C1, C2 and S1 this year? If you need any help I will try and give you some advice haha even though I retook C1 last year and got C2 next week lol

@Sharpie @Conzo thanks alot! will take what you both said into consideration

Yeah I am doing C2 on thurs, hate logs and radians with a passion even after doing C3 and C4. Did you do C1 last week?

I dont find it hard but then again its my favourite subject and I also do Further Maths but alot of people in my class struggle with it but i would say if you put the work in you will be fine.

A good subject to have aswell to be honest , If you got anymore questions @ Me

GCSE Maths is piss, you need to be getting at leat A* to do slightly well. Here's a link toa C1 paper (The easiest paper in the course which you will sit in jan next year probs) Which is all GCSE anyway tbh
http://www.ocr.org.uk/download/pp_11_jun/ocr_66462_pp_11_jun_gce_4721.pdf

I done a level maths after getting an a at gcse, it is a massive step up but oince you get to grips the foundations of it you'll be ok.. i ended up getting a c overall after a2 and tbh i didnt revise as much as i probably should have, i am no jimmy neutron or anything either! you can do well but you just need to put in the work and be patient, and also not get distracted in class by your friends which i found out during my 1st year! tbh when picking a levels you should just go with the subjects you are strongest at

I'm not super bright but I got A* at GCSE, granted it was a good one too.
Anyhow, people in my year that don't put the effort in still get A*'s at A-Level, it just depends.
At the beginning of AS I put no work in what so ever and in Jan we did a test and i got a U and they threatened to kick me off the course if my grade didn't improve in 1 month time, anyway I done every past paper I could find for each one and then moved onto S&Press papers (which are so much harder) and in the summer i came out with A's in both C1 and C2, i got 74/75 (100 UMS) on c1 and 71/75 on C2. (92 UMS)
If you're willing to put in the work you'll come out with an A, no problems.
There are people in my class who're not very talented when it comes to maths, however, they study all the time for maths and they came out with results like mine and have got A's in A2 aswell.
Revise and you'll be fine, an hour a day isn't much if you think about it, I do that and if i get a C in C4 i still come out with an A because of my high A's in all my previous exams which are down to hard work.

take it, uni's love it and you'll have a whale of a time.

EDIT: i've also met A LOT of interesting people because of the lectures i've been to for maths, people from NASA etc.
also, when you're failing it's so shit but when you understand maths it's so rewarding, we use to do C1 papers in the fastest time without dropping marks (this is edexcel) and i managed like 31 minutes i think? people done them in like 25 tho, just don't get all 'this is impossible/shite' when you can't do it

2nd EDIT: reading other people posts they're quite negative, when you decide your applied subject, take D1 and S1.
i've done M1,M2,M3, D1,D2 and S1 and they're by far the easiest. youtube.com/examsolutions is the best revision known to man so use that now if you want to see what you'll have to do in c1 etc.

As someone who is studying Mathematics at University, I can say with confidence that A Level Maths is a comparatively hard but rewarding subject; a common gripe with maths at school (ie up to and including GCSEs) is that isn't very applicable to the real world, but I found that changed a lot at A Level. While you may find yourself putting in a few extra hours to get similar grades to other subjects, employers and universities tend to prefer applicants who have a good grounding in Mathematics, and an A Level in it will support that idea.

When I was doing my options for Sixth Form, I only decided the night before I would take Maths, and now I've ended up studying it at university. That's how much I enjoyed it anyways.

gcse to as is a massive step, but it's the sort of subject where the more you put into it, the more you get out.. it's definately not a subject you're going to be able to breeze without putting any effort in like you probably will with gcse

I got an A* in GCSE maths and in GCSE stats so I took a relaxed attitude to maths at A level thinking I would be able to walk it because Im naturaly good at maths, however i got a big shock with how big a step up it was from GCSE and i realy payed for my lack of effort in homework and stuff with bad grades and constantly being behind in class. Overall I would only suggest taking it if your prepared o realy work hard at it and put the effort in as it is very time consuming. Also there is a shit tonne f homework and past papers your expected to do so it is a very time consuming subject.
good luck with your GCSE's and leaving school

I did it and went on to do it at uni. No subject will be hard if you put the effort in, A levels require no unique thinking so you just have to practice. It is the best subject you can take probably. No matter the course you eventually want to do at uni, I can only see it compliment your other subjects.

If you have any kind of tolerance for math I'd definitely recommend doing it for your A Levels. I study it in Uni as well and find that once I understand the basic methodology of a question, it takes very little revision to remember it.
If you purely study sample papers/answers, it will honestly cut your study time in half because even at the higher end of mathematics, there's only so many ways they can ask you a question. Also generally I find math exam papers be it secondary or third level education, easier to predict. Qualifications in math open up more doors than most too.

thanks everyone!

TBH , I got an A* in IGSCE and so far do pure maths and further maths in my year 12 at school. If you are good a maths try and do both pure maths and further maths as that is what uni's like as it shows u have a good understanding of all the topics of maths. what does ur teacher think u will get in maths GCSE? or you done it?

simlar situation to you lad, maths probz best subject but worried a-level will be to hard. Predicted A/A* for GCSE and to be honest I dont do a great deal of work. Mum really wants me to do it just I dont know how much time I will put into it if I do take it, how long a day roughly do people spend on a-level maths?

It's hard, my hardest subject and I do Physics and Chemistry too, but once you get a grip of it it's alright. Don't expect to walk it if you take it because I don't think anyone can. I think no matter what board you do it with its split into three sections, either a Decision/Statistics/Mechanics then pure core 1 and 2, core 2 is really hard.

If you're willing to put the effort in and enjoy it, definitely take it as it's worth it.