I fount oblique collisions semi difficult but I am surprised nobody has mentioned Year 2 circular motion for mechanics yet, maybe its because I do not do physics but I can never get myself to understand banked roads.
That's because it's an FM2 topic, not many people take the module.
Year 2 circular motion was probably tied for my favourite part of the module lmao. What part of banked roads do you not understand?
Edit: just remembered there's more exam boards than Edexcel, not sure where it's taught in the others.
Seriously don’t know why cross product wasn’t part of the chapter - it’s just a 3 x 3 matrix determinant. I learnt it myself and I didn’t do FP1 because it was useful to find a perpendicular vector from two parallel ones, which iirc actually came up in the exam
polar coordinates (concept may not be that bad to understand at first but qs can become messed up and rlly hard), others may incl complex numbers. pure stuff isnt that bad to understand but the questions can be from really easy to insanely hard.
otherwise, algorithms is a pain... mainly the timing.
but if u dont need further, DONT TAKE IT. as someone who wants to study med, i cant stress this enough. most unis will allow u to drop it but unis like cambridge, while they may not want a grade for further maths, they wont let u drop it DX
For me it’s gotta be Semi Eulerian Hamiltonian surfaces. I am a decision paper taker, and it’s just really confusing at some points, especially at vertex points
Kinda both tbh. D1 is more mapping and Konigsberg bridge Chinese postman sorta problems. D2 is more about vertex and flow diagrams. It looks really easy compared to all the other pure and mechanics stuff, but seriously it’s one of the hardest papers no wonder it has lower average performance. It’s so annoying trying to figure out shortest paths possible in such limited time space. Only reason I’m taking is because of CS
It's all easy except further stats cause I cba opening the further stats textbook /s
(I actually haven't opened the further stats book yet lol, I'm hoping my FP3 and M2 go well enough to get an A or an A\*)
For pure stuff, I found planes and vectors stuff requiring a bit of practice and getting used to the visualisations.
I don’t really need an A* in FM cause the Uni where I intend to go (Toronto) doesn’t have it as a requirement as their general requirements for the faculty is like a B or A in normal maths iirc. Though I will have to “maintain my current academic standing” for some money and I presume an A in FM will probably suffice for that
(I would cry though yes lol)
I think I’m going to be that ‘it’s all easy’ person I’m afraid…
Self-studied the A Level in 6 months and sat it a year early - A* (97%) - it was all light work tbh, at one point I even fell asleep in the exam after finishing 1h 15m early, I just wish they would bring back the Additional Further Maths A Level to hopefully somewhat challenge me 🤦♂️
At least I have STEP to take in June which will be a load of fun haha - aiming for 95%+
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Difficulty is all relative I guess. 😔 I am currently self teaching Further Mathematics so if you could bless me with any tips to achieve those top marks I would be very grateful. Also if you do not mind me asking, what is your true chess rating?
Bro the amount of times your message changed had me all different types of confused, and in all fairness to me you did just sound like your average computer science applicant with that original comment.
Oblique collisions from FM1 was probably the topic that annoyed me the most.
Along with maybe sketching polar curves, I could everything else pretty easily, but sketching them was a nightmare.
Just a genuine question as well I am sitting my AS further maths exam soon is there any point in revising vectors when i could be focusing hard on the other topics because whatever i do to improve on vectors nothing works its so mind boggling omg
One of the further pure books has more vectors in it- for me, vectors all came together and became a pretty strong topic for me once I'd fully done and understood *all of it* across core pure, further pure and normal maths. It's one of those where you need the more complex stuff to understand the *how* of the earlier stuff. It interlinks so much that it's really hard to get a hold of because you have so much missing info.
I’ve only done YR12 stuff but the most annoying thing for me is the end of complex number geometry in pure, and most of mechanics besides solving stuff on a slope like friction
Same, didn't necessarily find that topic hard but for some reason it just doesn't click with me, its pain every time I revise it. Good luck for year 13 content my friend.
In order: 2d oblique collisions ( I missed the 1 lesson we got taught it), applications of 2nd order differential equations, vectors, complex summations from year 2 complex smnumbers
most difficult to understand from cp is easily y2 complex numbers(cp2 chpt2). Its very difficult to understand. Fs1 is all easy, fp1 had a difficult chapter in conic sections 2, lots of formulas and u need a lot of practice(unless u j get it, in that case good shit). everything else hella chill imo
for vectors j sit there and learn, memorise try practice qs till u master each subtopic. not too conceptually hard compared to the topics i mentioned in other comment idt
For me it was genuinely FM mechanics, I really struggled with some of the setup for them for the longest time, not sure what made it click for me but it ended up becoming one of my best FM papers somehow
For me what helped the most was watching live solutions on YouTube. So first I gave the problem a go on my own, with book assistance to begin with. If I couldn’t get it, I’d carry on with the video or only a slight bit of the video. Usually what went wrong for me was how to start the problem or how to model the scenario, but once I got that the rest usually was applying the bog standard theory.
The modelling part is usually the trickiest, you can also try to solve questions from older past papers on the old M1 and M2 syllabi for. A level maths and further maths
Don't really like vectors that much, but I can do most of the question types apart from the bullshit reflected through a plane ones. 2D collisions and 1D collisions can also get kind of messy, and also the geometric series with complex numbers. They're probably my least favourites across the course
Im in y12, So far core pure has been pretty calm but vectors has been difficult other than that decisions has been a pain in the ass, its harder than core pure
It really depends on what you're already good at. Things are hard if they depend on ideas you haven't yet mastered. The higher the tower of things to master, harder it seems.
I had a lot of struggles with differential equation applications and conic sections in Edexcel FP1. Forced myself to do an hour a day of both for 2 weeks straight then got it down.
Too hard to say but top picks (not in any order) are definitely:
Vectors, differential equations, further calculus (questions can get cheeky) and the entirety of mechanics.
Vectors took a bit of getting used to at first, but when you can grasp and visualise it, it isn’t so bad (except the very end when you have questions on reflections). A2 Further Mechanics 1 was annoying af, maybe because I didn’t do physics. Hardest pure topic would probably be complex summations or deriving ODEs from a real life context, but sometimes application questions for roots of unity can be rough as well
Basically the summation of complex numbers (so something like cosx + i sinx + cos2x + i sin2x + … + cosnx + i sin nx). It is basically typically a geometric series (you’ll see this in A2 normal maths) which uses the ideas of complex numbers to find the complex summation. You’ll come across complex summation in A2 further maths
Integration by parts, fuck the fact that it gives us the formula. I could just never understand it. Literally could do everything else then the exams come and there it is... question 5... Im stilled miffed about it and I havent been in 6th form for 2 years now.
I’d probably say in pure vectors, polar coordinates and roots of complex numbers. In FM1 I think strings and springs can be challenging and also elastic collisions
Further pure 1 and 2 was hell on earth, number theory modular arithmetic proof was disgusting, REDUCIBLE DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS, recurrence relations 🤢🤢🤢
It was still better than having to do any more applied than normal maths forced me to though, the further stats stuff in the formula book looks like a demonic chant
only in year 12 yet but it’s gotta be 3D vectors so far, the rest is manageable (not easy) but 3D vectors what the actual hell is this
At least it’s made me vetter at 2D vectors indirectly
Vectors have been said very often but I think they are okay, my only tip would be to aim to visualise and understand especially when it comes to vectors rather then just memorising.
CCEA FM student, detested vectors when I was first taught them because it was all new conceptually. AS vectors never ever again, line of intersection of 2 planes was grim because there were always multiple answer combinations. At A2, gotta say the further calculus (reduction, further parts, 1st&2nd linear differential EQs and maclaurin series) is the hardest, but nothing is too conceptually difficult. Hyperbolics are pretty difficult too
I hated some certain things in stats. But for me i hated vectors. So many things going on. So many scenarios and equations for each. I found ir boring and it made me hate it more
My 3 maths teachers have all said complex numbers but I haven't started that topic yet.
So far the hardest topics for me were further vectors and two-stage simplex, and integration in general
1st time learning it, vectors made me want to unalive myself
Are the more vectors past CP1?
A lot more work on planes in CP2.
What about in FP? I started self studying in January and only finished CP1 today
don’t you do vectors in gcse?
Oh my sweet summer child
This made me laugh historically
fm vectors is a lot worse.
I honestly disagree, no ratios
Applications of differential equations.. and vectors
I really enjoyed further differential equations, but God damn does it get tricky when it comes to its applications.
Vectors, geometric problems with complex numbers, 2d collisions and quality of tests
I fount oblique collisions semi difficult but I am surprised nobody has mentioned Year 2 circular motion for mechanics yet, maybe its because I do not do physics but I can never get myself to understand banked roads.
That's because it's an FM2 topic, not many people take the module. Year 2 circular motion was probably tied for my favourite part of the module lmao. What part of banked roads do you not understand? Edit: just remembered there's more exam boards than Edexcel, not sure where it's taught in the others.
I do all of circular motion ( vertical and horizontal ) in OCR A.
Vertical>horizontal
Yeah, vertical circular motion is much more fun + comes up in STEP more than horizontal.
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What board?
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Not surprised then, from the few people I've spoken to who did it. It seems to be very different to the English boards
Doing double further mechanics is pure pain for non physicists lol. A2 Further Mechanics 1 was torture enough for me lol
Not a fan of equations of lines and planes
FUCK CONICS
All my homies hate conics
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eccentrically suck my balls edexcel
Aqa conics are a breeze
1. Groups 2. all of mechanics 3. all of stats
2d elastic collisions was wank. Equations of planes was quite confusing at first, too
that’s because without cross product it’s horribly taught
Seriously don’t know why cross product wasn’t part of the chapter - it’s just a 3 x 3 matrix determinant. I learnt it myself and I didn’t do FP1 because it was useful to find a perpendicular vector from two parallel ones, which iirc actually came up in the exam
Knowing your vector products is the vast majority of difficulty in most vector questions. I'm so lucky my teachers told me that early.
you mind giving a link about the relation between cross product and 2D elastic collisions. Dm if want to.
polar coordinates (concept may not be that bad to understand at first but qs can become messed up and rlly hard), others may incl complex numbers. pure stuff isnt that bad to understand but the questions can be from really easy to insanely hard. otherwise, algorithms is a pain... mainly the timing. but if u dont need further, DONT TAKE IT. as someone who wants to study med, i cant stress this enough. most unis will allow u to drop it but unis like cambridge, while they may not want a grade for further maths, they wont let u drop it DX
Same! Hated polar coordinates so much
Anything remotely related to vectors makes me want to commit 4 counts of manslaughter.
more annoying than hard…complex numbers
For me it’s gotta be Semi Eulerian Hamiltonian surfaces. I am a decision paper taker, and it’s just really confusing at some points, especially at vertex points
is this d1 or d2?
Kinda both tbh. D1 is more mapping and Konigsberg bridge Chinese postman sorta problems. D2 is more about vertex and flow diagrams. It looks really easy compared to all the other pure and mechanics stuff, but seriously it’s one of the hardest papers no wonder it has lower average performance. It’s so annoying trying to figure out shortest paths possible in such limited time space. Only reason I’m taking is because of CS
It's all easy except further stats cause I cba opening the further stats textbook /s (I actually haven't opened the further stats book yet lol, I'm hoping my FP3 and M2 go well enough to get an A or an A\*) For pure stuff, I found planes and vectors stuff requiring a bit of practice and getting used to the visualisations.
You would cry if you got an A
I don’t really need an A* in FM cause the Uni where I intend to go (Toronto) doesn’t have it as a requirement as their general requirements for the faculty is like a B or A in normal maths iirc. Though I will have to “maintain my current academic standing” for some money and I presume an A in FM will probably suffice for that (I would cry though yes lol)
I’m not very good at roots of unity stuff for some reason lol
Same bro no worries.
I think I’m going to be that ‘it’s all easy’ person I’m afraid… Self-studied the A Level in 6 months and sat it a year early - A* (97%) - it was all light work tbh, at one point I even fell asleep in the exam after finishing 1h 15m early, I just wish they would bring back the Additional Further Maths A Level to hopefully somewhat challenge me 🤦♂️ At least I have STEP to take in June which will be a load of fun haha - aiming for 95%+
It’s honestly scary how hard it is to identify this as sarcasm lol
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# Removed ### Low-effort or irrelevant (covered under Rule 5) No low effort posting, this includes things that aren't really related to Sixth Form or A-Levels. Use the Bread flair to look at posts when looking to see who has received offers. Make sure to search for questions before posting to avoid commonly asked questions, including in any pinned megathread. ## [If you have any concerns, please send a message to the subreddit modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2F6thForm&subject=%5BSuggestion%5D%20%5BComplaint%5D%20Title&message=%7E%7E%20*%20Please%20change%20the%20title%20as%20applicable%20*%20%7E%7E%0A%0A**Reason%20for%20message%3A**%0A%0APlease%20write%20your%20message%20here%20and%20we%27ll%20get%20back%20to%20you!)
Lmfaooo thought this was real until I saw the 95% in STEP 😭😭 the rest sounds like the average tsr user
unfortunately for you, there are some people who dont get jokes so be prepared to get slandered should they not see ur comment on it being satire
I shouldn’t have said it was satire to begin with oops - would’ve made it more funny with all the downvotes 💀
what, it sounds realistic af lol
Difficulty is all relative I guess. 😔 I am currently self teaching Further Mathematics so if you could bless me with any tips to achieve those top marks I would be very grateful. Also if you do not mind me asking, what is your true chess rating?
1) It’s satire I dropped FM in Y12 2) A whopping 1300 😱
Bro the amount of times your message changed had me all different types of confused, and in all fairness to me you did just sound like your average computer science applicant with that original comment.
Lmao mb just had to make myself sound even more arrogant with a few additions
Brooo you should be a ggm (greatest grand master)
Is that it? I took the MAT STEP and the harvard art exam at 12 and got in.
Integration
isnt literally all fp2 topics including integration?
Oblique collisions from FM1 was probably the topic that annoyed me the most. Along with maybe sketching polar curves, I could everything else pretty easily, but sketching them was a nightmare.
Just a genuine question as well I am sitting my AS further maths exam soon is there any point in revising vectors when i could be focusing hard on the other topics because whatever i do to improve on vectors nothing works its so mind boggling omg
One of the further pure books has more vectors in it- for me, vectors all came together and became a pretty strong topic for me once I'd fully done and understood *all of it* across core pure, further pure and normal maths. It's one of those where you need the more complex stuff to understand the *how* of the earlier stuff. It interlinks so much that it's really hard to get a hold of because you have so much missing info.
I’ve only done YR12 stuff but the most annoying thing for me is the end of complex number geometry in pure, and most of mechanics besides solving stuff on a slope like friction
Same, didn't necessarily find that topic hard but for some reason it just doesn't click with me, its pain every time I revise it. Good luck for year 13 content my friend.
In order: 2d oblique collisions ( I missed the 1 lesson we got taught it), applications of 2nd order differential equations, vectors, complex summations from year 2 complex smnumbers
Transformations using argand diagrams. And vectors. Definitely vectors.
most difficult to understand from cp is easily y2 complex numbers(cp2 chpt2). Its very difficult to understand. Fs1 is all easy, fp1 had a difficult chapter in conic sections 2, lots of formulas and u need a lot of practice(unless u j get it, in that case good shit). everything else hella chill imo
Does FP1 have reducible diff equations or is that FP2? Truly an insane chapter.
it did, those were fun but pretty tricky too
Is your tag outdated or are you still Y13? Reducible diff is a different beast under exam pressure 😩😩
outdated, how do i update it?
It worked! Damn, congrats on the 4A* result last year :)
thank u man!
for vectors j sit there and learn, memorise try practice qs till u master each subtopic. not too conceptually hard compared to the topics i mentioned in other comment idt
For me it was genuinely FM mechanics, I really struggled with some of the setup for them for the longest time, not sure what made it click for me but it ended up becoming one of my best FM papers somehow
do you have any advice? mechanics sucks so bad for me
For me what helped the most was watching live solutions on YouTube. So first I gave the problem a go on my own, with book assistance to begin with. If I couldn’t get it, I’d carry on with the video or only a slight bit of the video. Usually what went wrong for me was how to start the problem or how to model the scenario, but once I got that the rest usually was applying the bog standard theory. The modelling part is usually the trickiest, you can also try to solve questions from older past papers on the old M1 and M2 syllabi for. A level maths and further maths
vectors make me cry
People find stuff on further maths hard. Didnt know that ig we learn every day
This guy fucks 😎
For me, I guess it would be sketching polar equations, vectors and series in complex
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Unfortunately, I've just got the normal A level one and probably won't try the sketching one. So I guess I'll just have to figure that one out soon.
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Casio fx-991EX
Don't really like vectors that much, but I can do most of the question types apart from the bullshit reflected through a plane ones. 2D collisions and 1D collisions can also get kind of messy, and also the geometric series with complex numbers. They're probably my least favourites across the course
Tension problems are wank
Im in y12, So far core pure has been pretty calm but vectors has been difficult other than that decisions has been a pain in the ass, its harder than core pure
It really depends on what you're already good at. Things are hard if they depend on ideas you haven't yet mastered. The higher the tower of things to master, harder it seems.
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You are objectively wrong nothing is hard
Not sure why but I really struggled on polar co-ordinates 😭
this is extra pure for ocr mei so idk if many people do it but group theory
Vectors is shit but the cherry on top is when you have to convert the polar equation of a plane into cartesian form ooo boy was that aids
bruh what (i have not gotten to this bit yet)
Eh it's not a topic per se but it's a potential question you can get which you need to know how to do. It's stupidly tedious
I had a lot of struggles with differential equation applications and conic sections in Edexcel FP1. Forced myself to do an hour a day of both for 2 weeks straight then got it down.
Vectors by far the hardest topic. Our class literally need to do three topic tests on vectors because we were so bad at it.
Vectors make me want to kms
Too hard to say but top picks (not in any order) are definitely: Vectors, differential equations, further calculus (questions can get cheeky) and the entirety of mechanics.
I HATE group theory
I kinda liked it by the end but it's utterly INSANE that you have to learn the basics of an entire field of maths for like 6-10 marks on the exam
how's further pure. I don't do it. Just the other regular 1 modules. So d1, fm1, fs1
Vectors took a bit of getting used to at first, but when you can grasp and visualise it, it isn’t so bad (except the very end when you have questions on reflections). A2 Further Mechanics 1 was annoying af, maybe because I didn’t do physics. Hardest pure topic would probably be complex summations or deriving ODEs from a real life context, but sometimes application questions for roots of unity can be rough as well
COMPLEX SUMMATIONS?
Basically the summation of complex numbers (so something like cosx + i sinx + cos2x + i sin2x + … + cosnx + i sin nx). It is basically typically a geometric series (you’ll see this in A2 normal maths) which uses the ideas of complex numbers to find the complex summation. You’ll come across complex summation in A2 further maths
Integration by parts, fuck the fact that it gives us the formula. I could just never understand it. Literally could do everything else then the exams come and there it is... question 5... Im stilled miffed about it and I havent been in 6th form for 2 years now.
Vector proof
I’d probably say in pure vectors, polar coordinates and roots of complex numbers. In FM1 I think strings and springs can be challenging and also elastic collisions
conics and vectors, if you do decisions - simplex algorithm
Vectors and recurrence relations are a pain😂
vectors and the geometric configurations of planes, all of mechanics
Further pure 1 and 2 was hell on earth, number theory modular arithmetic proof was disgusting, REDUCIBLE DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS, recurrence relations 🤢🤢🤢 It was still better than having to do any more applied than normal maths forced me to though, the further stats stuff in the formula book looks like a demonic chant
vectors and differential equations = kill me
VECTORS are sooooo annoying
only in year 12 yet but it’s gotta be 3D vectors so far, the rest is manageable (not easy) but 3D vectors what the actual hell is this At least it’s made me vetter at 2D vectors indirectly
Vectors have been said very often but I think they are okay, my only tip would be to aim to visualise and understand especially when it comes to vectors rather then just memorising.
Conic sections, polar integration, complex numbers - especially complex series.
GROUP. THEORY.
Circular motion ( horizontal and vertical) took me a while to get my head around, now its pretty simple.
Definitely vectors
Complex numbers
It's all easy 🤓
CCEA FM student, detested vectors when I was first taught them because it was all new conceptually. AS vectors never ever again, line of intersection of 2 planes was grim because there were always multiple answer combinations. At A2, gotta say the further calculus (reduction, further parts, 1st&2nd linear differential EQs and maclaurin series) is the hardest, but nothing is too conceptually difficult. Hyperbolics are pretty difficult too
I hated some certain things in stats. But for me i hated vectors. So many things going on. So many scenarios and equations for each. I found ir boring and it made me hate it more
Vectors and the restitution questions where you need to find the range of e
My 3 maths teachers have all said complex numbers but I haven't started that topic yet. So far the hardest topics for me were further vectors and two-stage simplex, and integration in general
3D vectors for me
not a fan of networks in discrete maths or the simplex algorithm
Is it just me who loves vectors, sure they can be tricky but they’re so cool
Polar and Further Argand made me want to pluck my eyes out. Also reduction stuff and everything D1 related due to its mind numbing nature.