Maths S5/S6
Mathematics Advanced Higher
This is a demanding course, requiring considerable commitment from students.
Entry Requirements
Students must have either A or B in Higher Maths.
Course Description
This course contains 3 Units of work.
Each unit will take 40 hours, with a further 40 hours for induction, assessment and preparation for external assessment, giving a total of 160 hours for the course.
Unit 1
- Differentiation
- Integration
- Curve Sketching
- Matrix Techniques
- Algebraic Skills
- Associated Problem Solving
Unit 2
- Further Differentiation
- Further Integration
- Complex Numbers
- Sequences and Series
- Associated Problem Solving
Unit 3
- Vectors
- Matrices
- Further Sequences & Series
- Further Differential Equations
- Further Number Theory
Assessment See below
Mathematics Higher
This is a demanding course, requiring considerable commitment from students.
Entry Requirements
Students must have at least an A award at Intermediate 2 (with Unit 3) or equivalent at Standard Grade. All students should, as a first step, discuss with current class teacher whether Higher Mathematics is the best choice for them.
Course Description for Higher Mathematics
The course contains 3 units of work.
Unit 1
- Straight line
- Functions, Graphs & Equations
- Differentiation
- Recurrence Relations
Unit 2
- Polynomials & Quadratics
- Integration
- Trigonometric Formulae
- Circle
Unit 3
- Vectors in three dimensions
- Further Differentiation & Integration
- Log & Exponential Functions
- Further Trigonometric Relationships
Assessment See below
Mathematics Intermediate 2
This is a difficult course and requires strong commitment to hard work from all students. It is especially difficult for students with a General pass in May who have had no previous experience of this level of Mathematics. For these students the course may need two years before success is achieved. Please take note of this when you are choosing your courses. It is more likely to prove successful for students who have in S3 or S4 already covered some of the Credit material.
Entry Requirements
The entrance requirements for S4 pupils are a 3 in Knowledge and a 3 in Reasoning or Intermediate 1 at A level. Please note that we do not recommend this course for students who have a Standard Grade 4 in either element – their chances of success are very poor (this is true nationally). It is a hard course!
The entrance requirements for S5 and S6 students is Intermediate 1 at level A.
Homework
You can expect to have some homework for consolidation 2/3 times a week as well as a longer homework exercise once a week. There are 3 Unit assessments in the course. Unit 3 is required if you want to progress to Higher.
Course Description
The course contains 3 units of work.
Unit 1
- Numerical Calculations
- Volume of Solids
- Linear Relationships
- Algebraic Operations
- Properties of the circle
Unit 2
- Trigonometry
- Algebraic Equations
- Statistics
Unit 3
- Algebraic Operations
- Quadratic Functions
- Further Trigonometry
Assessment See below
Maths Homework and Assessment
Homework and Assessments apply to all levels.
Homework
Doing homework regularly is an important part of the learning process in Mathematics and it is vital if good progress is to be made in any senior course.
Work is assigned regularly. There will be a small amount of work to be done for the next class as well as weekly exercises requiring much longer. Each topic in each course has an official homework task which is used to help assess progress.
In addition, revision of previous topics will have to be undertaken.
Assessment
You will have four different types of assessment:
- Unit Assessment
At the end of each unit you will sit a Unit Assessment. This assessment will take about one hour and will cover the basic work of all topics in the unit, and therefore again the threshold score for a pass is high.
If you pass the Unit Assessment you gain a Unit Award.
Please note that the external exam is much harder than any unit assessment as it has level A and B questions.
- Prelim Exam
This will cover all of the work in Units 1 and 2 and will be used to determine your estimate grade for the external exam.
- Supplementary Prelim
This will assess work covered in Unit 3 and is required in case an appeal is necessary.
- External Exam
Each exam is made up of 2 papers – one paper is made up of short questions where no calculator will be allowed and one with extended questions where a calculator will be allowed.
Overall Course Award
To gain an overall course award you must have gained all 3 unit awards and have passed the external exam.
