Fur Maths Self-Study Further Mathematics

[David Z]

I'm interested in taking Further Maths HL first examinations 2014. I'm fairly confident in my mathematical abilities, and plan to pursue a post-secondary education based around mathematics.

I've been talking to my IB coordinator and he knows absolutely nothing about Maths or Further Maths, as he is a humanities teacher.

There's not enough interest to create an entire class for it, and he won't let me take Further as a self-study as there's liability issues if I get a 3 or something on exams. In his eyes this isn't this problem for languages.

I've seen some people talk about self-study mathematics on this forum, and I wonder how its possible.

I know its half way through this school year, but I'd rather not suffer anymore through (non-further) Math HL where I'm familiar with the content.

[flinquinnster]

To be honest I don't know much about self-study, so I can't give you that much advice. However, from what I do know...

1. It will be very hard to convince your IB coordinator to allow you to self-study if he knows nothing about it. Ultimately, you need his permission to do it, so unless you can lobby him to inquire as to how this might be possible for you, it's probably not an option. I think you need to be able to prove that you are very, very good and very hard-working in maths, otherwise this is impossible. If your current maths teacher is busy, try and find someone else maths-related to give you some advice, if you are still keen on this path.

2. Maths HL is already pretty hard. Even if you wish to pursue university maths, Maths HL is probably adequate in that respect. Further Maths HL is a huge burden - are you planning to take it in addition to Maths HL, as a 7th subject, or as your only Group 5? Once again, I'm probably not helping because these are things you are unsure about, but I would be very wary to place the extra burden of doing Further Maths HL as a 7th subject.

3. Continuing on from Maths HL is not a bad start for Further Maths HL. Unless I'm mistaken, I think all of Further Maths HL is based on the implicit assumption that you have done and mastered Maths HL topics, so staying in Maths HL is a good preparation for Further Maths HL. At least one of your Maths HL options will be an option in Further Maths HL as well.

Sorry I can't be of much more help in terms of providing actual advice on how to press ahead with Further Maths HL, but hopefully you'll be able to come to some kind of resolution. Whether or not that involves Further Maths HL is another question.

[brankar5]

As far as I know, Further Maths covers all the possible Options of Maths HL. In other words, it is more than challenging considering that you have at least five other subjects to study. I am taking Mats HL, and for me it is a very hard subject (that is also why I am doing my finals in Maths Sl) On the other hand, there are people who do just fine and do not even need to study. I think what you need to do is ask yourself how good in Maths you really are. Well, if you have won all the competitions that you have participated in, if you regularly work on extra stuff out of class, and so really master the subject, go for it. However, one important aspect needs to be considered, too. If Further Maths is difficult, its self-study will be twice as difficlt. There will be no teacher to help you with the complex concepts and problems.