Mathematics

Course summary

A Level Mathematics is a course for anyone wishing to build on their GCSE knowledge. The course begins with familiar topics such as indices, surds, factorising quadratics, graph transformations trigonometry and inequalities. Then students will look at new topics such as differentiation and integration, logarithms and the discriminant of a quadratic. As well as the pure elements students will also look at Statistics and Mechanics. The statistics includes the binomial and normal distribution, mean, median, mode, range and standard deviation. Many of these skills are used in Geography, Sociology and other social sciences. On the Mechanics side, students begin with looking at SI units, then introduce ‘SUVAT’ equations which link displacement, velocity and acceleration. This is followed by using velocity – time graphs and finally using the calculus learnt on the pure side to calculate variable acceleration. In lessons students will use a range of resources such as textbooks, graphical calculators, graph plotting software, use of the ‘large data set’ which is some of the data from the last 2 censuses and will undertake some practical mechanics experiments using pulleys, timers and weights. The course is particularly helpful for students studying Physics, Computer Science, but many of the topics covered will help with social sciences, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, Business and Engineering. Some of our students who have studied A level Mathematics have gone on to study, Mathematics, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Medicine, Dentistry, Engineering, Biology or Architecture or find apprenticeships in a range of fields from Mechanics to Energy Production.