Mathematics
This course very much carries on from where GCSE leaves off in terms of the algebra, trigonometry and graphs work.
Fact file
GCSEs to include a minimum Grade 6 in Mathematics
Minimum Average GCSE Score required for this course: 5.5
Aimed at students who have enjoyed GCSE Mathematics and who feel comfortable working with algebra and graphs
Course content is prescribed so that regardless of exam board, all A Level Mathematics students study the same content
This is a course that provides plenty of challenge and rewards. You will need to have an organised approach and use the available support to clarify your understanding.
Course Summary
Some of the topics in the first year will be familiar to you. We will seek to deepen your understanding of these ideas as well as move on to new problems. This will include a methodical study of certain families of curves and developing strategies to solve harder equations. Rather than remembering a long list of different techniques for different problems the challenge is to get a sense of the big ideas that can be applied to numerous scenarios.
The course encourages you to develop your thinking and problem solving skills, look for connections between ideas and get to grips with some quite abstract concepts. In many ways Mathematics can be thought of as a life skill. By the end of the first year you will have met and used Calculus, the mathematics that Newton and Leibniz used to describe the motion of the planets and the world around us.
A Level Maths is an academic course that demands a lot of hard work. It is well respected and will give you the great satisfaction of dealing with some advanced concepts; it should not be undertaken unless you enjoy the subject.