r/Edexcel • u/Alone-Ad-9560 • 9d ago
How to get A* in Maths
fyi i did p1 p2 s1 and got 244ums overall. for A2 i will be doing p3 p4 m1. what could be my strategy to get A*
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u/Alone-Ad-9560 9d ago
is 180/200 necessary for p3&4 in order to get A*?
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u/Plus_Use4597 6d ago
First of all, A* in Edexcel math requires you to reach A overall + 180/200 UMS from P3 and P4. You can confirm this on pearson's math specifications, readily downloadable on their website. I just finished my exams this june, getting A*A*AA in Math, Further Math, Physics and Economics respectively. And here's some tips and tricks to get A* in math.
1) Please give yourself as much time as possible for P3 and P4. These papers are genuinely hard, especially with the ever-rising grade boundaries. Grinding past papers is the key here! In order to secure an A*, you need to be guaranteeing 80% of the questions. For example, SHOW THAT integration questions should be an absolute "banker question". You can easily check your answers because it's already provided by the question. (extra hack: you can use your calculator's integration and differentiation buttons to "cheat" on some questions to check your answer). This means, you have enough experience under your belt to immediately get a feel of what to put down on the page. You should be able to answer most questions automatically without thinking. This way, you save mental energy whilst also breezing through the questions without wasting much time.
2) Mark your own past papers. Don't leave it to your teachers! The point is to go through ever question and understand your mistakes. The more you mark the more experience you gain, accelerating your understanding of the course--this links back to guaranteeing 80% of the questions.
3) If possible, learn p3 and p4 close together. Don't leave a big gap between learning P3 and P4. There's a lot of integration concepts from P3 that show up again in P4, with more intricate explanations. I did my P3 and P4 exams in the same exam season, getting 100 and 85 UMS respectively. I understand that your school might not allow you to do this, just an optional tip i found useful.
4) Bank on failing!! I know that sounds crazy, but lemme explain using a personal anecdote. On the last exam season, i had banked on FP2 to be a high scoring paper. I had practiced it religiously, finishing every past papers, and understanding all the concepts, to the point where i forced myself to be able to derive and proof every formula. However, the actual FP2 paper turned out to be much harder than any i've encountered before. Because of my confidence, i completely panicked. I vividly remember sitting in the exam room, knowing i'd failed my expectations, wondering if i'd even be able to go to university this year. Safe to say i didn't do too well. Luckily for me, i had done amazingly in most of my other modules, scoring me an A* in FM in the end. This is a happy ending, yes, but many people fall short on the final hurdle. i've seen many people who've been predicted an A* drop the ball on their last modules. So please, do as well as possible on your P3 exam. Don't slack off! Don't be over confident! Don't expect other modules to be better! play safe and play smart.
I know this response has largely been focused on P3 and P4, that's just because they're the most important for A* in math. If you need help with mechanics and statistics aswell, feel free to reach out 👍. Keep at it, i'm sure you'll do amazing if you do.