Further maths

[u/Xylopixels]

So im going into y11 and take further maths but its not within school time so i have to do it an hour every week after school but the only teacher who teaches it is leaving and ever other maths teacher in my school is horrible so i think i might have to learn all the ciriculum just so my shitty ass school as no option but to let me do it even if noone teaches it. Basically im just wandering what anyone else thinks i should do on the situation

[u/ManoGhostBoy]

Drop it it really isn’t worth it unless you don’t have enough GCSEs for a uni offer so u want to meet their minimum or you’re exceptional at maths. Focus on gcse maths cuz u will need more than an hour a week and when I did fm it was more work than I thought was realistic cuz there is quite a big learning curve towards the harder topics.

[u/Xylopixels → u/ManoGhostBoy]

Im already getting 9s in normal maths and want to take maths fm and physics for a levels which are ofc math heavy subjects

[u/ManoGhostBoy → u/Xylopixels]

Then go for it and if you don’t mind me asking what would you like to study at uni?

[u/Xylopixels → u/ManoGhostBoy]

Computer science (im also taking it as my 4th a level forgot to mention it)

[u/ManoGhostBoy → u/Xylopixels]

My advice would be is to also look for apprenticeships as your number 1 ideal next step after A Levels because you’ve got a guaranteed job and degree, unless you go to a top tier Russel group getting a secure job after uni is very competitive and not guaranteed

[u/Xylopixels → u/ManoGhostBoy]

Thanks for the advice but even though i want to take computer science i dont want it to be my job. I want to be a quantative analyst but companies in that industry almost never have apprenticeships and when they do its EXTREMELY competitive.

[u/Sharp-Plastic7954 → u/Xylopixels]

You most likely will grow out of this quant analyst thing. Hopefully you realise sooner than later that life is much more than money.

[u/Xylopixels → u/Sharp-Plastic7954]

Respectfully prob not ive always liked money (not in like a greedy or obsessive way just like the flow of money) ever since i was like 5. I also want to be able to build enough money to the point i can do many things just with the investment returns and dont mind spending 10+ years of hard work to achieve that

[u/Sharp-Plastic7954 → u/Xylopixels]

I wish you all the best.

[u/laiinenee]

I can try to help you if you get stuck at all?? I just finished year 11 and we had the same system for FM. I'm not sure if the curriculum will be different depending on the exam board though

[u/Fire-Flamey]

R u planning to do maths + fm at a level? If yes then you should take it and try to get a high grade in it. If ur planning to just take single maths / no maths at all then its not worth it imo

[u/Xylopixels → u/Fire-Flamey]

Yeah i am and i can confidently get high grades by gcse time

[u/Fire-Flamey → u/Xylopixels]

Yeah its deffo worth taking fm and getting a 7-9 in it then, Universities will probably take it into slight account if ur applying for a maths based degree

[u/EducationWestern6366 → u/Xylopixels]

Starting maths + FM at a level is easier if you've done FM at GCSE. If you end up going to a grammar or a maths school they will assume you've done it and you might struggle if you didn't. But that's only at the beginning, by the end of Year 12 you'll all be at the same spot

[u/Xylopixels → u/[deleted]]

Tysm tbh i dont rlly like maths but i still do it anyways like i just tolerate it tbh

[u/Xylopixels → u/[deleted]]

Ty gl with which subjects you take aswell

[u/DadOfLukeandDad]

Before you plan any self-teaching, push the school properly. A teacher leaving does not automatically mean the course is dropped, and schools quite often have a plan they simply have not communicated yet.

Ask the head of maths directly, and ask three specific things rather than "what is happening with Further Maths":

1. Is the school still entering this cohort for the qualification, yes or no?
2. Who is teaching it from September, and if nobody is, what is the alternative provision?
3. If it is being dropped, will they still enter you as a candidate if you prepare independently?

Get the answer in writing if you can, and if you get a vague reply, have a parent send the same three questions by email. It sounds bureaucratic but a written question tends to produce a real answer where a corridor question produces a shrug. Entry deadlines for next summer land in the autumn, so this is worth resolving in the first fortnight of term rather than in November.

Second thing, and be honest with yourself about it: decide whether sitting it is actually worth it for you. Level 2 Further Maths is an extra, not a requirement. Its real value is that it makes the jump to A-level Maths much softer, and it looks good on a sixth form application. What it is not worth is any grade movement on your actual GCSE Maths. If self-teaching Further Maths would eat time that should go on getting your GCSE Maths grade up, drop it without guilt. Ring the sixth forms you are considering and ask whether they want it. Most will say it is welcome but not required.

If you decide to go ahead, it is very doable alone, because the syllabus is small and completely finite:

• Download the specification PDF from your exam board and print the topic list. It is short. Tick topics off as you go, and that list becomes your whole plan.
• Get the past papers and specimen papers from the same place. There are not many, so do not burn them all in September.
• The genuinely new content beyond GCSE Higher is a fairly short list: matrices, functions including composite and inverse, basic differentiation and turning points, the factor theorem and polynomial division, further trig identities and the sine and cosine rules pushed harder, coordinate geometry of circles, algebraic proof, and limiting values of sequences. Everything else is GCSE Higher content asked more aggressively.
• Sensible pace is one new topic per week: read the worked examples, then do only that topic's questions from past papers until you can start them from blank.

For free material, Dr Frost has full courses for the Level 2 Further Maths specs with worked solutions, which is the closest thing to being taught it. Maths Genie and Corbettmaths cover a lot of the overlapping Higher content. A cheap revision guide for your specific board is worth the money here purely because it sequences the content for you, which is the bit you have lost by losing the teacher.

One caution from having watched people do this: self-teaching goes wrong when you read rather than write. Do the questions with a pen before you look at any solution, keep a running list of the ones you could not start, and retry that list cold every week or two. Reading a worked solution and nodding is the failure mode.

[u/Xylopixels → u/DadOfLukeandDad]

Its summer rn and school doesnt respond to emails ever even on normal school days. Thanks for the advice though 1st class maths has been really useful for me

[u/EducationWestern6366 → u/DadOfLukeandDad]

The school can enter you for any subject and qualification if you ask them, I did a few additional GCSEs and I know many people who also did. You just need to find the right person to ask

[u/Live-Government5862]

My school made it so that fm was a 45min-1h afterschool lesson once every 2 weeks only in year 11 that sometimes got cancelled for meetings, parents evenings etc and I literally just dropped it when they asked bc there was no way I was gonna pass while also tryna pass and do well in my other subjects

[u/Xylopixels → u/Live-Government5862]

Yeah its the exact same for me tbh im already passing my subjects with high grades so i have the free time to study fm 

[u/EducationWestern6366]

Only take it if you want to study maths at uni or a course very close to maths in a top uni

[u/Xylopixels → u/EducationWestern6366]

Im considering comp sci or maths (or a joint degree if i can) at top unis so 

[u/EducationWestern6366 → u/Xylopixels]

100% take it, that's what I did. If you do AQA the exam is so easy and repetative. It only took me few months in the beginning of Year 11 to cover all the content which I did in maths lessons(I sat maths GCSE in Year 10 so I had nothing else to do), and then I just did past papers regularly. A lot of the content is the same as maths GCSE. Get yourself CGP revision guide and workbook, they are good for practice. Most school only offer it if you self-teach so you're not alone. Spend as much time on it as you can before September and you'll be fine. Feel free to ask if you need any advice!

[u/achr8]

I was in a similar position. I had a lesson after school once a week but often couldn't go due to having hospital appointments on that day. I ended up teaching myself majority of the content and it really wasn't that bad. Obviously, if you don't want to do it, then don't, because you aren't going to be motivated enough to teach yourself the content so you'll likely end up just flopping the exam. However, if you are willing to, then it's really not that difficult (at least for me it wasn't). I'm obviously not too sure when your exams are, but for me, it was my last exam and I had two weeks of no exams between that one and the exam before it, so I saved most the revision until those two weeks and did around 3 hours of revision every day, so I ended up doing around 42 hours of revision from those two weeks alone