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Text of letter sent to parents
Curriculum for Year 10 Top Set
Benefits of Additional Mathematics
Practicalities
Other Schools Offering This
Additional Maths FSMQ Syllabus
Curriculum for Year 10 Top Set
- Students will study for the Edexcel Higher Tier IGCSE examinations together with the OCR Free Standing Mathematics Qualification (FSMQ) Additional Mathematics.
- These two qualifications will be taught as an overall programme of study rather than sequentially.
- All girls in the top set will be prepared for both qualifications at the end of Year 11.
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Benefits of Additional Mathematics
- provides curriculum exposure beyond the IGCSE syllabus whilst at the same time reinforcing and developing further many of the concepts covered at IGCSE.
- provides an additional qualification for those not continuing to AS and beyond.
- provides good preparation for some of the topics at AS without covering all those topics in the full depth that would be met at AS.
- develops some of the work in IGCSE further in a more rounded way e.g. as well as introducing differentiation (as in IGCSE) it also introduces integration.
- reinforces some of the work that is in the IGCSE but not in the GCSE e.g. simple kinematics.
- develops some work from IGCSE e.g. extending probability to its natural first extension of the Binomial Distribution.
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Practicalities
- OCR says that the FSMQ candidates are expected to have covered successfully the work of the Higher Tier of the National Curriculum and to have achieved, or be expected to achieve, grade A*, A or B at GCSE. It has been designed for those students who will comfortably achieve a Grade A or A* at GCSE, which includes all girls in our top set!
- The FSMQ is a Level 3 qualification carrying UCAS points:
A = 20, B = 17, C = 13, D = 10, E = 7.
- The FSMQ is graded A, B, C, D, E, U. In summer 2006 there were 4381 candidates with 35.2% gaining an A grade and 83.3% obtaining an A or B grade.
- Grade boundaries in 2006 for A/B/C/D/E were 79/67/56/45/34% respectively.
- Grade boundaries in 2007 for A/B/C/D/E were 70/60/50/40/30% respectively.
- The subject is examined through a single 2 hour paper in June. In 2008 it is 6th June, currently about two and a half weeks after the IGCSE Mathematics examinations which are on 15th/20th May.
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Other Schools Offering This
A brief search of the Internet revealed the following schools offering this provision of the OCR FSMQ Additional Mathematics:
- King Henry VIII, Coventry
- Queen’s School, Chester
- Eltham College, Mottingham
- Roedean
- Wellington College
- King’s College School, Wimbledon
- King Edward VI High School for Girls
- Reading School
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Clive Morris, November 2007
Last updated 9.00pm, 28/11/2007
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