James Groves, AC for Blackpool, Lancashire and Cumbria
The AMSP has organised A level revision days for several years now, but 2019 offered a new challenge – the new linear A levels in Mathematics. With so much riding on their June exams in Year 13, how could the AMSP help?
In Lancaster, the AMSP organised a single revision day on 30 April 2019, led by AMSP Associate Bob Summers, focusing on selected topics from the second year of the Pure Mathematics core for A level Mathematics. Rather than try to cover a large number of topics in a short space of time, it was felt that it would be more helpful to examine a small number of topics in greater depth. We could use these selected themes to illustrate some general revision techniques, such as mind-mapping. Hopefully the students would follow up their day in Lancaster by trying out these revision methods on some of the subjects we didn’t have time to cover. We ended the day with an hour of “stand-up maths”, where students solved problems in small groups, standing around a flipchart.
The day was a success, with 32 students in attendance, some coming with their teachers and others travelling independently. Feedback included “I learned a lot about exam technique,” and “it was fun working with a group.”
If any school or college is interested in revision help from the AMSP, they’re encouraged to contact their local Area Coordinator.