Why Further Mathematics?
Further Mathematics requires a strong mathematical commitment on the part of the student and may only be studied in conjunction with A Level Mathematics. Further Mathematics may be taken as a fifth AS subject along with Mathematics and three other subjects.
Further Mathematics is a strongly recommended prerequisite to a university Mathematics course and students who have gone on to study Engineering, Materials, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Economics have all commented on its usefulness. The course will provide an excellent grounding in the subject and will offer students an opportunity to study in greater depth and with a higher level of abstraction.
Course Overview
12 lessons a week in the Lower Sixth enable students to study the six single mathematics units during their first year. In the Upper Sixth either three or six extra units are taken to complete an AS or A Level in Further Mathematics. These extra units are taken from the following areas of study:
Further Pure Mathematics (FP) which extends Core 1–4 and introduces topics such as complex numbers, second order differential equations, numerical methods, matrices and more complicated calculus.
Statistics (S) which extends the statistics covered in single mathematics to include more statistical tests and techniques.
Mechanics (M) which extends the mechanics covered in single mathematics to include further work on kinematics, dynamics and rigid bodies.
Decision Mathematics (D) which explores topics such as algorithms, graph theory, critical path analysis and linear programming.
Assessment
There are various possible combinations of units which can be used to form the AS and A2 Further Mathematics qualifications and all are assessed by means of written examinations.
Beyond A Level
The mathematician’s ability to handle data, reason logically, solve problems and comprehend mathematical arguments and articles concerning applications of mathematics is highly valued. The skills acquired through a Sixth Form mathematics course at The Abbey School are relevant to many fields of study, to the world of work and to society in general.