A-level Maths Advicedump __- Part 1

Whether you get a personal tutor or not, these articles are a few recommendations to help ensure your success:

First and foremost: Lots of Practice. The initial hurdle on any topic is getting your head round the basic ideas, but many students will stop after that, and unfortunately it isn`t enough. To be ready for the way the ideas will be required in exams, it`s necessary to be so familiar the properties, pitfalls and peculiarities of the material that no-matter how weird or badly written an exam question is, you will be able to see through the strange and unfamiliar setting, to where the maths you know will be of use.

Your practice doesn`t need to be the endless lines of near-identical boring questions that you may be used to from old high-school textbooks (though that can still be useful for etching the basics into your memory) - for best results, use a diverse range of challenges filled with all the tricks and traps that can cause mistakes and confusion. These types of problems can be hard to identify or find for most students, so this is the kind of support from teachers that can be key. However, with workloads and copyright restrictions (and the odd occurrence of a not-so-great teacher) this isn`t always possible, so there are a few things you can do for yourself:

1. If a course has an official core textbook with problems and solutions, you can`t afford not to get it. Even if your teacher claims it isn`t essential because they will provide materials, don`t take their word for it. Also of course, you have to do the problems in the book for it to be of any use! Though the quality of the texts can vary, if you are studying the main Pearson/Edexcel modules you will find their books to be some of the best resources you could possibly own (hardcopy or digital) - they aren`t perfect (see final part of point 3), but I challenge anyone to find better.

2. Always check your answers for absolutely all questions. If you haven`t spotted the traps that are there to trip you up, you won`t know that they were even there if you don`t check! It is true that the books occasionally have mistakes in them, but it is much rarer than it seems (at least at A-level), and without a teacher or a step-by-step solution to check it, never assume textbook errors lt;/p>

3. Do all the problems. Just because a question is in with the easy ones, doesn`t mean it doesn`t have a cheeky trap in it (you need to experience those so you`ll never fall for them again!). If a problem is marked as `challenge` or `extra hard` in a textbook or worksheet, it frequently only represents a C-grade level challenge on an exam - because of this, don`t assume textbooks or class worksheets take you all the way up to exam-readyness.

4. Past papers past papers past papers past papers. No, seriously - find and do every single past paper in existence for your course. If you haven`t been advised to do this by anyone, then you are not being taught the basics on how to study. Note that some past papers that are from other sources do exist, but can vary in usefulness. For students on the current Edexcel/Pearson syllabus - be aware that the old syllabus papers (while still essential) aren`t a terrific match to the new exam style (and with covid years, we still don`t have anywhere near enough of the new style ones to replace them).

Best of luck - now go and show all those maths problems who`s boss!