Updates
Mathematics for post-16s – have your say
The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, has asked the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) to advise on the development of a course for post-16 students who do not take A-level Maths. More information can be found on the ACME website, together with an online questionnaire. The deadline for responses is 23 March 2012.
Live Interactive Lectures
The Further Mathematics Support Programme offers Live Interactive Lectures to support a variety of Further Maths modules. AQA MFP3, MFP4 and MM03 modules will be available in 2012/13.
A-level Mathematics Podcasts
Over 30 podcasts covering topics for A-level Mathematics, Statistics and Further Maths units have been produced by academics from Leeds University. The team are inviting comments and this Flyer from themathsfaculty will tell you more.
Accreditation Extended
A-level Mathematics, A-level Statistics, AS Use of Mathematics, A-level Use of Mathematics (pilot) and Advanced FSMQs are now accredited to 2014.
Minor changes to Specification
Some additional notes have been included in the A-level Mathematics and A-level Statistics Specifications 2013. These notes do not change the requirements of the specifications. Specifications for 2013 can be found under Key Materials. Additionally, the coursework option for Mechanics1 (unit MM1A) has been withdrawn from 2013. Unit MM1B continues to be available.
A-level Use of Mathematics pilot
This A-level, which uses pilot Advanced FSMQs as some of the components, still has room for new centres. For more information, contact the A-level Mathematics team.
A-level Mathematics Question Papers
All A-level Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Statistics and Use of Mathematics and Advanced FSMQ examinations now use combined question paper/answer books. Please read our advice about how to use this new style of answer book.
Secure Key Materials
Secure Key Materials is a new e-AQA service which replaces Recent Exam Materials from 1 September. It provides teachers and Exams Officers with exclusive access to a bank of exam-related material that is:
- secure
- easy to navigate
- quick to use
- intuitive, based on the design of our website.
Please read our new leaflet and look at the following demo to find out more about this new service.
To obtain an e-AQA account and access to Secure Key Materials, please register at e-AQA. For more information about the materials published on Secure Key Materials, please don't hesitate to contact the Subject team.
Specifications for A-level Mathematics
The A-level Mathematics specifications changed in 2004 and for this reason did not change in September 2008. These specifications remain six module qualifications and are now unlikely to change until first teaching in 2012. From 2007 to 2010, AQA is piloting a four-module specification for A-level Mathematics. For further information on the pilot qualifications, see an overview of the projects within AQA to develop 14-19 Curriculum Pathways in Mathematics (Functional Skills, GCSE, A-level and FSMQs).
Revised version of the specification for 2009 onwards
(Examinations Update Issue 1)
Changes to the aggregation and certification rules for A-level mathematics subjects from summer 2008
Aggregation of unit results in mathematics subjects up to 2007 had the following two special features.
1. Candidates' total uniform marks for an award were calculated using a procedure known as 'least-best', whereby the best possible grades were determined using the fewest possible uniform marks. The aim was to leave the highest possible uniform marks unused so that they could potentially contribute to a second mathematics qualification. With unit grades now being reported to UCAS, this method is no longer in candidates' best interests, because it means that unit grade profiles are not always the best possible.
From the June 2008 series, the procedure is therefore being modified. Subject grades will initially be calculated in the same way as before, but units will then be re-distributed across subject titles as necessary to give the best possible total uniform mark(s) without changing the subject grades. For a candidate entered for Mathematics and Further Mathematics, units will be re-distributed to optimise the total uniform mark for Mathematics. For candidates who have taken an extra unit or units (eg a candidate entered for Mathematics who has taken seven units), the new procedure will avoid the situation where the best unit result is left unused.
2. Candidates who wished to certificate Further Mathematics having (against JCQ advice) certificated Mathematics in a previous series were encouraged to decline their Mathematics grade in order to enable the best possible grades to be issued by certificating both titles in the same series. However, with the withdrawal of the facility to decline, some candidates certificating Mathematics before Further Mathematics could find that their grades are not optimal.
Therefore, a new procedure is being introduced starting in the June 2008 series, for mathematics subjects only, whereby re-entering for a qualification will release all units previously used in certificating that qualification. For example, for a candidate who has previously certificated AS and A level Mathematics and now wishes to certificate AS and A level Further Mathematics, re-entering AS and A level Mathematics (at the same time as AS and A level Further Mathematics) will allow all units to be available for aggregation and will give candidates their best possible grade combination (in the sense that the Further Mathematics grade is always subject to the awarding of the highest possible grade for Mathematics, eg A + C is awarded in preference to B + B – this rule has not changed). Therefore, there is no longer any need to avoid certificating mathematics qualifications part-way through a candidate's course, provided that all qualifications are certificated (or re-certificated) at the end. In these circumstances, a candidate's best grade combination will always appear on the final certificate, as there is no possibility of a candidate receiving a worse grade combination than that previously achieved.
Further information regarding the latest rules may be found on the JCQ website in a document entitled Awarding A-level Mathematics grades, June 2008 onwards.
Revised 2009 specification
(Examinations Update Issue 35)
Aggregating A-level Mathematics and A-level Further Mathematics
(Examinations Update Issue 34)
Support material for units MS/SS1A/W, MS/SS1B, MS03 and MS04 is available on the Key Materials page.
Revision to MFP2 textbook
The MFP2 textbook has been updated to contain material now covered in MFP2 as a result of revisions to the 2007 specification. This is available on the Key Materials page.
Textbooks for Further Pure Mathematics
New textbooks, written by some of our Senior Examiners, to support Further Pure 2, 3, and 4, are now available on the Key Materials page.
Coursework standardisation meetings
- Dates for coursework standardisation meetings are generally published on the AQA Website in September.
- Meetings are usually held between October and January and are free of charge.
- Centres are also usually notified in writing.
- If you are teaching this specification for the first time, please contact us to ensure that you are invited.
