A Level

Exam Board AQA

Course Code 7572

Lead Techer – Mr Lamb

You will enjoy completing the A level maths course if you

  • Like problem solving
  • Have good communication skills
  • Want to build your analytical skills
  • Are focused and determined

Skills that studying A-level maths teaches. In other words, A-level maths students

  • build on the knowledge gained from studying GCSE maths in a higher tier group.
  • understand coherence and progression in mathematics and how different areas of mathematics are connected
  • apply mathematics in other fields of study and are aware of the relevance of mathematics to the world of work and to situations in society in general
  • use their mathematical knowledge to make logical and reasoned decisions in solving problems both within pure mathematics and in a variety of contexts, and communicate the mathematical rationale for these decisions clearly.
  • reason logically and recognise incorrect reasoning
  • generalise mathematically; constructing mathematical proofs
  • use their mathematical skills and techniques to solve challenging problems that require them to decide on the solution strategy
  • represent situations mathematically and understand the relationship between problems in context and mathematical models that may be applied to solve them.

Specific requirements

You must have at least a grade 6 in GCSE maths and have shown an interest and commitment to learning during your GCSE maths course. We will provide bridging work (at GCSE level) over the summer to prepare you for the start of the A-level course. We offer a dedicated afterschool support session for A level maths each week.

What will I study?

All exam boards have the same compulsory topic content within both the pure and applied sections of A-level maths. In each year we study from a single, prescribed, pure textbook and an applied textbook which covers both the statistics and mechanics content. The A-level exam must be completed in a single exam session (at the end of year 13) and consists of three papers. Students must answer all questions with use of a calculator which, again, is prescribed for the A-level course (it is different from that used at GCSE, although you should consider getting it during year 11 and using it for your GCSE maths exams).

Two pure papers, each lasting 2 hours, consisting of 100 marks per paper. This accounts for 2/3 of the course assessment. Any of the topics below can be found on either of the pure papers.

Topic 1 – Proof
Topic 2 – Algebra and functions
Topic 3 – Coordinate geometry in the (x, y) plane
Topic 4 – Sequences and series
Topic 5 – Trigonometry
Topic 6 – Exponentials and logarithms
Topic 7 – Differentiation
Topic 8 – Integration
Topic 9 – Numerical methods
Topic 10 – Vectors

A single applied paper lasting 2hours and worth 100 marks makes up the remaining 1/3 of the course assessment. This will consist of questions from sections A and B as shown below.

Section A: Statistics

  • Topic 1 – Statistical sampling
  • Topic 2 – Data presentation and interpretation
  • Topic 3 – Probability
  • Topic 4 – Statistical distributions
  • Topic 5 – Statistical hypothesis testing

Section B: Mechanics

  • Topic 6 – Quantities and units in mechanics
  • Topic 7 – Kinematics
  • Topic 8 – Forces and Newton’s laws
  • Topic 9 – Moments

There is no coursework content for A-level maths.

Where does it lead?

You can combine maths with many other A-levels and obviously it is particularly useful for those subjects having a significant mathematical content themselves like physics, chemistry, phycology and others that have a statistical content.

Many university courses also include a high percentage of mathematical content (such as engineering degrees) a significant amount of which is covered or introduced in the A level maths course.

Mathematics is a prestigious A level to gain.

A selection of jobs that an A level in mathematics could lead to include:
Accounting technician
Acoustics consultant
Actuary
Aerospace engineer
Air traffic controller
Bank manager
Civil engineer
Credit controller
Criminologist
Cyber intelligence officer
Data analyst-statistician
Data scientist
Economist
Electrical engineer
Finance officer
Financial adviser
Insurance underwriter
Investment analyst
Meteorologist
Metrologist
Paraplanner
Research scientist
Software developer
Stockbroker
Tax adviser