I Love Maths, Do You? (Mathematics)

Member Name: cindy1

Product:	Mathematics
Date:	19/11/01 (2299 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hard, but rewarding, An impressive A level to have, Exciting?

Disadvantages: None for me

If you have a few of my previous opinions, you may be aware that I am a distance learning student. I decided to study from home because I am a carer and attending a college course would be impractical.

Last year I studied GCSE Mathematics and GCSE English, and I am pleased to say that I obtained an A* in both subjects. This was quite an achievement considering that I left school at 13 to care for my dad and had no previous experience of both subjects.

I worked extremely hard throughout the seven months of the course and that paid off. One thing I did discover was that I had a real talent for mathematics, it was not just a matter of being good at it, I really do enjoy doing it, which may sound strange to some people. I enjoy the challenge and get a huge kick out of understanding something very complicated.

My ambition now is to do a degree in mathematics, and then go into research as I really enjoy the researching side to mathematics.

At the moment though I don't have enough qualifications to do a degree, I could do an Open University course now, however, I want to be taken seriously and feel that having the standard five GCSE's and Three A levels will make a difference to future employers.

At the moment, I am doing AS Mathematics and GCSE Biology. This opinion is about A Levels though so I will give some information on the current AS Mathematics.

As you may be aware a new system has been put into place, instead of studying a subject over two years then sitting a final exam, this has been replaced by a new system. Now you study three modules in the first year and then sit three exams in January or June, which gives you an AS qualification, in the second year you study a further three units and take another three exams which gives you a full A level qualification.

There has been a lot of scepticism about this system, personally I can't see a problem with this system, the only criticism I h
ave is that if you do well in the first three exams and then not so well in the second year it could ruin your overall grade and vice versa, however, as long as you have covered all the necessary work and done plenty of revising you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Who Should Take A Level Mathematics?
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First you should have obtained at least a B in GCSE Mathematics, otherwise you may struggle, however exceptions can be made, and if you are willing to put in the extra work candidates with a grade C will be considered on their merits.

A level Mathematics is a fantastic A level to have, employers think very highly of a Maths A level, it shows them that you can solve difficult problems, and analyse information effectively. Maths is also useful for many careers, such as teaching, accounting, actuary work, banking, and finance.

What Options Are Available?
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A level Mathematics is divided into four sections: pure, mechanics, statistics and decision making. It is normally compulsory to do three pure modules, and the other three modules can be a mixture from mechanics, statistics and decision making.

I am doing Pure 1, Pure 2 and Mechanics 1 this year, and plan to take Pure 3, Mechanics 2, and Statistics 1 in the second year. Basically, it is up to you, which other three modules you decide to take you could do all three mechanics modules and not bother with statistics or decision making.

The Modules.
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Pure Mathematics.
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Pure Mathematics starts where you left off at GCSE. The concepts are simple at first and you gradually build on these simple foundations. In Pure 1 you will learn about exciting things such as proof, you will need to be able to prove trigonometrical identities, and prove the quadratic formula, amongst other things.

You will learn more on indices
and surds such as rationalising the denominator.

Algebra plays a big part and you will learn how to solve simultaneous equations where one is linear and one is quadratic, you will learn algebraic division, completing the square, and drawing quadratic functions and their graphs and be able to interpret what they mean.

Trigonometry also plays a large part, you will learn about radians, be able to draw and transform the graphs of sin, cos, and tan with ease. You will also learn how to solve simple trigonmetrical equations.

Co-ordinate Geometry plays a small part and you shouldn't find this too demanding.

You will learn about sequences and series and learn about geometric and arthrimetic sequences and learn how to use stigma notation. You will also cover differentiation and integration, but once again, as this is Pure 1 there is nothing too demanding to learn. For the Pure 1 module, there is quite a lot of formula to remember.

Pure 2 builds on the foundations of Pure 1, you will learn how to simplify linear and quadratic expressions, functions are introduced, in sequences and series you will learn about binonminal expansion.

Trigonometry gets a little more complicated you will get to solve harder equations, learn about half angles and double angles. Exponential and logarithms are introduced. Differentiation and integration are further build on, and numerical methods are introduced this involves iteration and the trapezium rule, you probably did this at GCSE so you shouldn't find it too hard. Once again, there is a lot of formula to remember. The best way to learn formula is to do lots of questions that way it becomes second nature, and it will pay off in the exam room.

Mechanics.
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Mechanics is the application of maths to physical situations, which occur in the real world. Some parts are closely related to physics so it does help if you have studied physics having said that
it is still possible to do mechanics without a physics background, I haven't got a physics background and I am doing alright.

In the first module you will learn about vectors, kinematics which involves distance time, velocity time and acceleration time graphs, and you will also learn how and when to use constant acceleration formulas.

Dynamics of a particle will be covered which involve Newton's Law's of motion, connected particles, momentum, impulse and friction.

Statics of a particle will be covered, you will learn about equilibrium of a particle under coplanar forces, and moments of a force.

Luckily there is not too much formula to remember in this module, which is a bonus. A word of advice though, mechanics can be difficult, you should be able to cope alright with the first module, but unless you want to do a job that involves mechanics think very carefully before taking mechanics 2 or 3.

Statistics.
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Statistics is concerned with assessing the probability of a particular event happening such as getting five numbers on the lottery. It also involves learning techniques for analysing data and reaching conclusions.

In the first statistics module, you will learn about mathematical models in statistics, frequency distributions, measures of locations, and measures of dispersion. You will also learn more about probability, correlation and regression, discrete random variables and the normal distribution.

I'm not doing statistics this year, however, I have learn some of the things mentioned above, such as calculating regression equations and finding the product moment correlation coefficient is especially useful if you are taking any of the sciences, these two equations allows you to draw a perfect line of best fit and to calculate if there is any relationship between two variables, learning these two things will be a great asset to you, especially when it come to
the sciences coursework.

Decision Making.
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In Decision, making mathematics you will learn about algorithms, networks, critical path analysis, linear programming, and matching. I think you'd enjoy doing this module if you enjoy really using your brain in a logical way. I'm not sure, how seriously this module is taken, so I'm sticking to the traditional route just to be on the safe side.

The Exam.
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You take a separate exam for each module. The exam generally lasts for an hour and a half, during which time you will have to answer eight questions of variable difficulty.

You will be provided with a separate answer book, which allows you to do a bit of rough work unlike the GCSE where you only had a couple of lines for working out. Also, check with your board about what calculators are allowed, my board Edexcel only allows very simple scientific calculators.

Advice.
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Like I said Maths is a great A level to have, and can be teamed up with any other A level, depending on what your future goal is. I would like to eventually take a Physics and Biology A level. To succeed at maths you need to either enjoy it, or be very good at it, if this isn't the case, you won’t do well, because you'll find it boring.

More Information.
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Here are the Web Addresses of the exam boards; here you can download specimen papers and the latest syllabus.

www.Edexcel.org.uk.
www.ocr.org.uk
www.aqa.org.uk.

Books.
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Good A level books are hard to come across, my favourite is Core Maths for Advanced Level by L.Bostock and S.Chandler. Priced £17.00. ISBN 0748755098. This book takes you up to Pure 3, and has plenty of worked examples and hundreds of questions from recent exam papers.

A good revision book is Do Brilliantly At AS Maths by Ted Graham. Priced at £4.79. ISBN 0007107
021. This book covers Pure 1, Mechanics 1, and Statistics 1, and has lots of tips to do brilliantly in your exam.
I haven't come across a good mechanics book yet, so if you have let me know.

Last Word.
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Good luck, to everyone who is taking there A levels in January and June.

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