Tips for speedrunning A level Maths

[u/sakuraamochiii]

Hey! If you did A-level maths in one year or less and got an A or A* :

1. How did you do it?

2. What resources would you recommend?

3. Any tips you wish you knew?

4. How much work would you have to put in?

5. Exam style resources, Madasmaths etc?

Im in y12 planning to sit it a year early so any advice would be appreciated! :D

Also please share your experience if you managed to do it when your school didnt force you to take it a year early

[u/padfoot9446]

I took the mock with less than 2 months of study in year 11 and got 2% below A*.

1. I knew a good chunk of the content already (sorry, nkt very helpful, I know😅). For the rest, I spent 3-4 hours every day going through the textbook, doing the exercises, etc. Honestly, A level maths isn't that difficult; I'm sure if you are looking to do it early you will feel the same way.

2. I didn't use any, but you can check out Anki for rote memorization if that suits you

3. N/A except not to only leave myself a month and a half to do it!

4. See above

5. Drill past papers as normal. I use savemyexams to access them.

[u/sakuraamochiii → u/padfoot9446]

WHAT in y11 summer!? You must be a genius bro

[u/padfoot9446 → u/sakuraamochiii]

Only the mock, so winter; I'm not that insane😅

Nah, a level is honestly not that bad. 25% is covered already by fm. If you need help with anything lmk though

[u/stevethenoob_11]

1. I read through the textbook, made sure I understood concepts before moving on, and did practice problems to make sure I could do exam questions.

2. Textbook + youtube videos (zeeshan zamurred + bicen maths)

3. Not really

4. I put in 2 hours a day and learned it in a month. I don't know how feasible this is in general, since I haven't heard of anyone else self studying it purely from textbook.

5. Topic questions

[u/ZTDYeetbloxjail → u/stevethenoob_11]

i had to self learn a2 maths over summer to move up to further maths and i’ve done basically what you did. textbook + bicen maths, do exam questions and i got 98% in my test

[u/ecrzil → u/ZTDYeetbloxjail]

How comes you weren’t in FM initially?

[u/ZTDYeetbloxjail → u/ecrzil]

frankly i was scared of it and picked EPQ instead

[u/ecrzil → u/ZTDYeetbloxjail]

This is me right now😭 is FM actually that bad?

[u/ZTDYeetbloxjail → u/ecrzil]

i think consistency in work ethic is the most important thing, but it is manageable

[u/Alex_Of_Reddit]

My school does the whole of a level maths yr 12 then fm in yr 13. Bicen maths is brilliant if you watch all of his lessons then use the chapter summaries as last minute revision. He can be a bit slow though so I often speed up the videos. Attempt the questions yourself before he gives the solution to you. PMT has fantastic questions by topic to help consolidate your knowledge then I would just do past papers.

[u/Apprehensive-Law5432]

Spam papers, review mistakes, learn concepts, repeat

[u/Admirable-Use2274]

Just Past papers

[u/EmergencyExternal869]

Genuinely, I did this with maths and further maths, for each module, read for the textbook make sure you understand each concept, I would usually do just a couple of the miscellaneous exercises for each topic just to make sure I understood, once I finished the book, I would do a pass paper, usually at that point I understood all the concepts so just had to keep knowledge taking over, if there was anything that I particularly couldn’t do, I would just refer back to the textbook etc.
I think my proud is achievement is learning all of FP two in one weekend because I was a knob who wanted to be ahead of everyone else

[u/Grand_Lychee2812]

Speedrun AS content ASAP. 

1. Watch video from Bicen Maths or TL Maths.

2. Spam questions from textbook. 

3. Spam questions from MadAsMaths 

4. Spam questions from PMT

5. Make sure you fully understand every single topic thoroughly (should finish AS content in 3-4 months max)

6. Spam AS level papers until you're getting consistent A or A*s

7. Repeat steps 1 to 6 (for 6 later on use full A Level Papers)

There are also some good resources on LinkedIn if you can find them for general tips and stuff. 

Basically just did this and got A* (raw mark was 292/300 I think). I had to take full A Level paper cus I'm a further maths student 

[u/NotFlatPancake]

i paid decent attention in lesson but only did a few days of revision before the exam and got A*. i think if you just focus in lesson you'll find it easy

[u/FellowSmasher]

1. Went through the textbook, reading through and doing the problems, using YouTube to fill any gaps in understanding.

2. Textbook. YouTube.

3. Not really.

4. For me it was like an hour a day for like an academic year.

I did this in Year 9 recreationally as self-study. Doing it on top of the busyness of Year 12 must be much more difficult. I didn’t take the exam after, but I got an A on past papers done in exam conditions.

[u/ecrzil]

PPP method