2010 Higher Maths

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FurtherMathematics is the title given to a number of advanced secondary mathematics courses. The term "Higher and Further Mathematics", and the term "Advanced Level Mathematics", may also refer to any of several advanced mathematics courses at many institutions.

In the United Kingdom, Further Mathematics describes a course studied in addition to the standard mathematics AS-Level and A-Level courses.[1] In the state of Victoria in Australia, it describes a course delivered as part of the Victorian Certificate of Education (see Australia (Victoria) for a more detailed explanation). Globally, it describes a course studied in addition to GCE AS-Level and A-Level Mathematics, or one which is delivered as part of the International Baccalaureate Diploma.In other words, more mathematics can also be referred to as part of advanced mathematics, or advanced level math.

With regard to Mathematics degrees, most universities do not require Further Mathematics, and may incorporate foundation math modules or offer "catch-up" classes covering any additional content. Exceptions are the University of Warwick,[2] the University of Cambridge which requires Further Mathematics to at least AS level; University College London requires or recommends an A2 in Further Maths for its maths courses; Imperial College requires an A in A level Further Maths, while other universities may recommend it or may promise lower offers in return. Some schools and colleges may not offer Further mathematics, but online resources are available.[3]Although the subject has about 60% of its cohort obtaining "A" grades,[4] students choosing the subject are assumed to be more proficient in mathematics, and there is much more overlap of topics compared to base mathematics courses at A level.

Some medicine courses do not count maths and further maths as separate subjects for the purposes of making offers.[5] This is due to the overlap in content, and the potentially narrow education a candidate with maths, further maths and just one other subject may have.

There are numerous sources of support for both teachers and students. The AMSP (formerly FMSP) is a government-funded organisation that offers professional development, enrichment activities and is a source of additional materials via its website. Registering with AMSP gives access to Integral, another source of both teaching and learning materials hosted by Mathematics Education Innovation (MEI). Underground Mathematics is another resource in active development which reflects the emphasis on problem solving and reasoning in the UK curriculum. A collection of tasks for post-16 mathematics can be also found on the NRICH site.

Further Mathematics is available as a second and higher mathematics course at A Level (now H2), in addition to the Mathematics course at A Level. Students can pursue this subject if they have A2 and better in 'O' Level Mathematics and Additional Mathematics, depending on the school.[7] Some topics covered in this course include mathematical induction, complex number, polar curve and conic sections, differential equations, recurrence relations, matrices and linear spaces, numerical methods, random variables and hypothesis testing and confidence intervals.[8]

Further Mathematics, as studied within the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, was a Higher Level (HL) course that could be taken in conjunction with Mathematics HL or on its own. It consisted of studying all four of the options in Mathematics HL, plus two additional topics.

When I was in fifth year at High School in 2016 I studied higher mathematics and the legacy left behind by the terrifying 2015 Higher Mathematics paper still lingered throughout the school and to a vast extent the entire country.

As someone who needs to know why we are doing a certain process in maths I recently looked over the paper again and thought to myself yet again. If I was faced with this in an exam situation I would be panicked. However as a result of the understanding I have now developed through studying the why and not just the how of mathematics, I think I would of scored reasonably well. Looking at the paper from a different perspective as a student teacher rather than as a pupil I now believe that the SQA had the right idea. The majority of people on the (MA) Education course concurred in a lecture that they wished the education system was designed to enhance the understanding of the subjects studied and not just about remembering processes in order to pass exams. So as I look at the paper now keeping these desired motifs of education in mind I would now deem the paper as an ideal paper for meeting this criteria. Whilst I agree it was a difficult paper to sit, especially as it was the first year of the new Higher paper, it actually requires pupils to have an indepth understanding of mathematical processes and I believe that is what we want our pupils to develop, the skillset to do.

Mathematics is rich and stimulating, engaging and fascinating for people of all ages, interests and abilities. Learning maths develops logical reasoning, problem-solving skills, creativity and the ability to think in abstract ways. It uses a universal language of numbers and symbols, which allows us to communicate ideas concisely and rigorously. You can study this course at the Sighthill campus in the evening.

National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications, accredited by the SQA, act as pathways to further study including university entry. Edinburgh College offers a selection of subjects at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher levels part-time. You may choose to study up to two subjects.

The course is assessed by an examination that will require you to draw on and apply the skills you have learned during the course. The examination requires you to demonstrate the breadth of knowledge and skills you have acquired from across the units in the course, sometimes in integrated ways. As an aid to meeting these aims, skills in using a calculator will be developed and a calculator will be permitted in part of the examination.

For entry into social science subjects such as Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy, History and Politics previous study of the subject is not required. However, National 5 English is required plus another social subject at SCQF level 5.

There is one basic Maths GCSE.

For that GCSE you can take harder exams if you are good at maths. That is called the Higher tier.

Or if not so good at maths you take easier exams called Foundation tier. If you take the Foundation exams you can't get above a new grade 5 (a low B in previous grading).

If you take the higher paper but can't do it instead of getting a low grade you can end up ungraded U.

Either tier you end up with 1 final overall grade and it doesn't say on your certificate which tier of papers you took.

The school should decide/recommend what tier a pupil is entered for. For the top and bottom sets this will be obvious. For some pupils in the middle it may not be decided until the spring of y11.

I don't think there is an advanced GCSE.

Advanced is the full name for A Levels which are taken in y13.

There is a further maths GCSE that the very bright top set kids can do. But not all schools do this, and with the harder specs for the standard maths GCSE there may be less demand anyway.

I'll let @noblegiraffe comment on that she teaches maths, I'm only an interested parent.

I can't see that taking FM makes the standard maths any less worthy.

Doing FM can add interest to the able mathematicians, and act as a bridge to A levels. Will also look good for anyone wanting to do maths at university, or apply to the top universities in general.

What year is your DC?

Not sure but my DD has just taken maths gcse. Prior to this year her school did maths gcse and further maths (not sure if correct term) if you were really good at maths. This year they all just did the new edexcel gcse. The schools opinion was as the new gcse is more vigorous there was no need for the extra exam.

She went to a super selective grammar. Not sure what other schools do.

According to dd they crossover but the format is different Add Maths focusses on algebra, sketching graphs, completing the square, integration (1 paper with calculator), FM includes circle theorem, matrices(2 papers)

Additional maths also counts as a A/S level rather than GCSE-results come out with A-levels (although dd1 didn't get the results until she got the rest of them.)

The boundary for A also went up quite a bit this year, dd1 read that a lot fewer did it because of the new spec in GCSE, but the people who dropped out were (naturally) the bottom end. So the same percentage got A/B/C etc, but as the bottom end had dropped off it meant the actual difficulty went up.

Additional Maths (Advanced) Free Standing Maths Qualification counts for UCAS points - about as many as a single AS module as it's a level 3 qualification.

Further Maths (offered by AQA) is a level 2 certificate so equivalent to a GCSE but has it's own grading system: A^, A*, A, B, C, U.

I don't know much about the FSMQ, my school does Further Maths. In terms of difficulty, about half our top set got 9s, but less than a third of those who got a 9 got an A^, so it's something for the really elite mathematicians to go for.

I really like the Further Maths qualification, the exam paper is more fun than GCSE. However many schools will be ditching it to focus on the new GCSE which is much harder and also ditching it because it doesn't count as an Ebacc subject for Progress 8

Bah, further investigation says that Further Maths doesn't count any more either. But GCSE Statistics, which is a horrible qualification, does count. Makes no sense, especially when triple sciences all count separately.

(Interesting: integration, circle theorem, completing the square and all the above were on iGCSE which Ds sat this year, but which certain mnetters insist is an easier qualification than even the old spec gcse...)

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