Mépris said:
Somebody who's in the know, feel free to correct me here, but I suspect doing more "pure" and "mechanics" modules would be helpful to you.
In my experience, A-Level Physics covers a lot of chapters but not in enough detail and what happens is the student does not get a thorough enough grounding in the subject. In the mathematics options, on the other hand, the physics is done "the proper" way. It's about as close to uni physics you're going to get while in high school.
Yes, from what I have seen, it is more helpful to do the Pure and Mechanics modules, but it really depends on what course you're applying for. If you're doing Maths with Physics at Cambridge, it would be helpful to do at least up to M3 and the Mechanics sections of AS and A-level Physics. Although, if you were doing Mathematics and Statistics at Oxford, it would logically be better to do more Statistics modules.
Given that, for AS FM, the OP has to do D1, FP1 and S2, I'm assuming that he must have to do C1-4, S1 and M1 for A-level Maths.
C1-C4 will give you a fairly good introduction to calculus. C1 tells you how to integrate and differentiate polynomials using the power rule and some co-ordinate geometry. They also show you basic series and introduce summation notation. Some GCSE stuff is also covered in terms of inequalities (linear and quadratic) including solving quadratics via completing the square, factorising and the quadratic formula. C2 starts to give you some applications with finding minima and maxima. Logs are also introduced, as well as the Binomial Theorem and solving trig equations. Finding areas using integration. C3 introduces more differentiation rules (product/quotient/chain rule) and lots of function work, e.g. composite functions, moduli, graph transformations (e.g. |f(x)|, f(|x|)), -|f(x)|), domain, range, more logarithm work. C4 is arguably the longest unit; vectors in 3D, converting from vector to cartesian equations of a line, solids of revolution (about x-axis and y-axis), lots of integration methods. Solving and forming basic differential equations. More trig. Dot product. Parametric equations and differentiating them, including their applications. Trigonometric parametric equations.
M1 is tough if you've never done any Mechanics before. Off the top of my head, I remember doing moments, dynamics (particle collisions), statics (finding co-efficient of friction, acceleration up/down inclined plane, etc.), kinematics in 1 dimension, tensions of strings, pulleys, Newton's Laws, vectors, resolving forces.
S1 is easy if you have done GCSE Statistics. Lots of wordy questions. Venn diagrams, AND, OR and NOT, P(B|A), product moment correlation co-efficient, normal distribution and other things that I can't remember.
S2 is much better than S1 and a lot shorter. Binomial and Poisson distributions, continuous uniform distribution, normal distribution, probability density function, continuity corrections, sampling, hypothesis testing, critical regions, cumulative density function. Basic knowledge of calculus required from C2 at least, but calculus knowledge from C3-C4 is very helpful. Piecewise functions.
FP1, if I remember correctly, introduces matrices (adding, subtracting, commutativity principle, inverses, multiplying, matrix transformations (reflecting/rotating/enlargement/translating)), numerical methods (linear interpolation, interval bisection, Newton-Raphson method), complex numbers (modulus, conjugates, solving equations with complex solutions, using Argand diagrams, plotting points, etc.), further series, proof by induction (using matrices, sequences and series). Can't remember what else... oh yes, more parametric equations and parabola. Foci, directrices, loci. Bit boring. Implicit differentiation knowledge from C4 is helpful here but not required.
D1... ugh, hate it. The content is decent but not given enough depth. The exams? Awful. You get 10-12 mark questions on something as simple as bubble-sort (sorting numbers in ascending/descending order), and, even if you use the method correctly the whole way, but make one slip but continue correctly, there are NO follow-through marks. In other words, if you make a mistake on the first sort, but on the next 9 you do them perfectly, you get 1/10. In my opinion, it's completely ridiculous and ought to be changed. In other words, getting anything wrong, even a slight arithmetic error, could potentially drop you from an A to a C. Just like that. That's how tight the grade boundaries can be.
Have you heard of the Further Maths Support Programme? You may be able to take A2 FM even if your school does not offer it. If you love maths, you will not regret it. You would just need to take either one of FP2 or FP3 (take FP2 if you like complex numbers) and two more applied modules. One thing I'm really annoyed about though is that, on Edexcel, the boundaries just for 90% can be really high. 72/75 is sometimes needed for an A*, any less and you risk not getting an A* for FM. 72/75 for that grade is becoming increasingly common; it happened quite a few times in 2011. You need an average of 90% across three modules and 80% across the whole thing. Getting 80% isn't hard, but there is little room for error.
If you like M1, you will love M2/M3 and even M4/M5 if you want to go that far. I would urge you to talk to them and see if you can do M2 instead of that D1 module. If you want to do physics/maths at university, it will be so helpful.
Chat to me if you want to know anything about A-level Maths/Further Maths. I'm currently in Year 12 and did a few modules for A-level Maths last year (C1-C3, M1). This year I am doing the other 14 modules to gain 3 full A-levels; C4, S1-4, M2-5, D1-2, and FP1-3. You will find that as you become experienced with A-level Maths you'll realize you can learn the content quickly. I learned M2 in about three days -- there are 5 chapters, but they're really short. Similar story for S2, and to an extent, D1 (yawn). At the moment, I have learned all the material for C1-4, S1-2, M1-2 and FP1 and currently churning my way through FP2, D1, S3, M3 and M4.
I enjoy Chemistry a bit more because it's very 'physicsy'.
What is your A-level Chemistry course? I do OCR Salters B. I can assure you, it is not very 'physicsy'... in the A2 modules there is a fair amount of biology (which I hate). They talk a lot about enzymes when they bring up the topic of catalysts and then protein synthesis, even. Although, that being said, the AS is very theoretical and you'll like it if you like doing a fair amount of maths work. But be aware that it is the second hardest A-level for a reason. The coursework is tough (52/60 for an A). The grade boundaries are almost always high. And there is an awful lot of content. But if you enjoy a challenge, you'll like it.
In my experience, A-Level Physics covers a lot of chapters but not in enough detail and what happens is the student does not get a thorough enough grounding in the subject. In the mathematics options, on the other hand, the physics is done "the proper" way. It's about as close to uni physics you're going to get while in high school.
I agree. I do Edexcel Physics. It's terrible. I mean, I love Physics, but the textbook sucks. It doesn't even teach all the content. There are barely any questions to test your knowledge so you have to go looking elsewhere to check your learning. And to top it off, the solutions aren't available anywhere unless you have the teacher support pack.
Now that I think about it, given that you'd be doing D1, S2 and FP1 for AS FM, you will get through that really quickly. S2 and FP1 are quite short modules. FP1 is not hard at all (it's considered the "C1" of Further Maths), and can be done without even covering any modules apart from C1. It won't be a tough workload.
Remember that, for Maths at university, I haven't seen anything about A2 FM as a requirement. They seem to like Physics. For Physics, it's very similar, except I've never seen AS/A2 FM as a requirement anywhere. Maybe there is a course. You should check on UCAS' website.
And make sure you speak to your teachers a lot! Persuade them to enter you for other things, like olympiads, and doing extra subjects, or more extra-curricular stuff. If I had not spoken to my teachers at all, I would be sat in an A-level Maths class with Year 12s learning C1, bored out of my mind. You are at the stage where you can really start pushing your limits and seeing what you can do. Sixth Form is like that; it's usually very flexible. Make the most of it.
