Mathematics

Exam Board and Specification

Pearson Edexcel 9MA0  

Entry Requirements

GCSE Mathematics High Grade 6 (Grade 7 or above strongly advised)

Career paths

Maths is one of the most popular and desirable A Levels and is essential for most STEM subjects at university as well as developing and demonstrating wider skills valuable for a diverse range of university courses and careers. Further Mathematics is most desirable if you intend to study Mathematics, Engineering or Physics at university. At SMSJ we have experienced teachers who will support learners with all aspects of the course as well as offering support for STEP and MAT and general preparation for Mathematics at university.

Expectations of students

Students are expected to spend at least four hours per week in private study for each qualification they are taking. 

Home learning tasks normally will be set each week. Students will be expected to take a great deal of responsibility for their own learning and to ask questions and actively participate in class discussions. 

Equipment

A calculator of the same standard as the Casio fx-991 which is capable of working with complex numbers and matrices, a protractor, a pair of compasses, ruler, pen and pencil. Students will also need a ring-binder to organise their notes, classwork, home learning and assessments. 

Maths A Level includes 3 areas

• Pure
• Statistics
• Mechanics

A second A level of Further Maths is available to qualifying students. 

Both Maths and Further Maths A Levels follow the Edexcel syllabus and are examined at the end of Year 13. An AS in Further Maths is available at the end of Year 12. 

Pure Maths includes:

• proof
• algebra and functions
• coordinate geometry in the (x, y) plane
• sequences and series
• trigonometry
• exponentials and logarithms
• differentiation
• integration
• numerical methods
• vectors

​Statistics includes:

• statistical sampling
• data presentation and interpretation
• probability
• statistical distributions
• statistical hypothesis testing

Mechanics includes:

• quantities and units in mechanics
• kinematics
• forces and Newton's laws
• moments

How is the course assessed? 

This course is examined at the end of Year 13 over three equally weighted papers with a total of 300 marks available. 

• Paper 1: Pure Mathematics 1
• Paper 2: Pure Mathematics 2 

Each paper is a 2-hour written examination worth 100 marks. Papers 1 and 2 may contain questions on any topics from the Pure Mathematics content. Calculators can be used in the assessment. 

• Paper 3: Statistics and Mechanics 

This paper is a 2-hour written examination also worth 100 marks. Paper 3 will contain questions on topics from the Statistics content in Section A and Mechanics content in Section B. Calculators can be used in the assessment. 

Extra-curricular

Extra curricular activities 

Maths club is available to all sixth form students to work through classwork, new ideas, homework or preparation work. There is always at least one experienced A Level Maths teacher on hand to help students. 

Students are given the opportunity to enter the UKMT senior individual challenge as well as the team challenge. 

What texts are recommended? 

We have the Edexcel recommended textbook in school. All students have a password for https://www.pearsonactivelearn.com that can be used to access an online version of the book. 

Wider reading list: 

• The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets – Simon Singh 
• From 0 to infinity in 26 Centuries – Chris Waring 
• The Music of Primes – Marcus Du Sautoy 
• Fermat’s Last Theorem – Simon Singh 
• How to Bake Pi – Eugenia Cheng 
• Seventeen Equations that Changed the Word – Ian Stewart 
• Humble Pi - Matt Parker 
• Hello World - Hannah Fry 
• The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus - Hannah Fry 
• Acheson, David 1089 and All That (2002), The Calculus Story (2017) 
• Bellos, Alex Alex’s Adventures in Numberland (2010)    
• Clegg, Brian A Brief History of Infinity (2003)    
• Courant, Robbins and Stewart What is Mathematics? (1996)    
• Devlin, Keith Mathematics: The New Golden Age (1998), The Millennium Problems (2004), The Unfinished Game (2008)    
• Dudley, Underwood Is Mathematics Inevitable? A Miscellany (2008)     
• Elwes, Richard MATHS 1001 (2010), Maths in 100 Key Breakthroughs (2013) 
• Gardiner, Martin The Colossal Book of Mathematics (2001)     
• Gowers, Tim Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction (2002)    
• Hofstadter, Douglas Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)    
• Körner, T. W. The Pleasures of Counting (1996) 
• Neale, Vicky Closing the Gap: the quest to understand prime numbers (2017) 
• Odifreddi, Piergiorgio The Mathematical Century: The 30 Greatest Problems of the Last 100 Years (2004) 
• Piper, Fred & Murphy, Sean Cryptography: A Very Short Introduction (2002) 
• Polya, George How to Solve It (1945)    
• Sewell, Michael (ed.) Mathematics Masterclasses: Stretching the Imagination (1997) 
• Singh, Simon The Code Book (2000), Fermat’s Last Theorem (1998)    
• Stewart, Ian Letters to a Young Mathematician (2006), 17 Equations That Changed The World (2012) 

Bridging Material: 

• Alcock, Lara How to Study for a Mathematics Degree (2012) 
• Allenby, Reg Numbers and Proofs (1997) 
• Earl, Richard Towards Higher Mathematics: A Companion (2017) 
• Houston, Kevin How to Think Like a Mathematician (2009) 
• Liebeck, Martin A Concise Introduction to Pure Mathematics (2000)   

Recommended websites:

There are a variety of websites used by the Maths department. The most recommended include:

• Desmos and GeoGebra are graphing websites that allow students to explore the shapes of graphs
• MathsWatch has a range of videos to explain new topics as well as revised previous ones
• Dr Frost Maths has access to our A Level courses for all logged in students and they can practice key skills and exam questions for each unit
• PhysicsandMathsTutor has a wide library of exam questions sorted by difficulty, topic and old exam papers
• ​Numberphile and Stand-up Maths are excellent and interesting YouTube channels on Mathematics 

Concept Maps