perpetualsmartass Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 Kaaaay so the IBO website says Further Maths is becoming a higher level course in 2012, with first examinations in 2014, but so far I haven't been able to find a lot of information about the course. I'm a huuuuge math nerd, took math and additional math in my IGCSEs with 99 in both, and I start IB this fall Also, I don't want to take 7 subjects, and I'm taking 2 sciences, so I've been looking for a way to take further math without math HL- is that allowed? Don't bother telling me I'm going to drown or that IGCSE is nothing compared to IB; I already know. Thanks so much for helpingg Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammie Backman Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 It shouldn't be a problem, assuming that you already know Maths HL inside out. I would advice you to order a maths hl book and work through it, as it will be impossible to understand some of the F. Maths syllabus without knowing more advanced calculus and statistics. Having aced IGCSE additional maths you can probably do this Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian28 Posted March 28, 2012 Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 I also think it shouldn't be a problem to take Further Maths without taking Maths HL, at least not in theory. However, to make sure, I'd say you should ask your IB Coordinator. The only problem I can see is that your school may refuse to let you take F. Maths without Maths HL because they may think (mistakenly) that you won't be able to do it, or simply because they may not have a teacher who can teach Further Maths. In my case, I take both Maths HL, as part of my diploma, and Further Maths SL, as an additional seventh subject. At first, however, my IB Coordinator didn't want to let me take Further Maths because he said it was way too difficult. I managed to convince my Maths teacher that I could do it, though, and she, in turn, convinced my Coordinator, so it's all good now. I do have to self-teach Further Maths, but that's not really a problem when you love maths, I guess. If I were you, the first thing I would do is talk to my IB Coordinator about this and see if he agrees. If he says no at first, don't worry. Just show them that you are able to do it. Specifically, if you're not going to take Maths HL at all, I would recommend, as the poster above said, that you get a Maths HL book and work through it, making certain that you understand the topics very well because you will need them, especially Calculus, Statistics, and Vectors, in order to understand the Further Maths topics. I strongly recommend the Haese and Harris Maths HL book. As you, I have also been unable to find information on the new Further Maths syllabus. Given that the course should begin to be taught towards the end of this year for the first time, though, I think that the syllabus should already exist. Perhaps it can be found in something called OCC, which is only accessible to IB teachers. If you already know IB teachers, I think you should ask one of them to see if the syllabus is already there and, if so, to print a copy for you. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
perpetualsmartass Posted March 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 Alright, I'll talk to my co-ordinator. Taking Further Maths shouldn't be a problem, because I've already established myself as the weird math nerd by taking add math when it wasn't offered, and I'm pretty confident about being able to do it by myself. I'll ask about the OCC too; I also looked in the IBO store for the date that the Further Mathematics SL guide was released- I assumed the HL guide would release this year in the same month- and it was November 2004 for first examinations 2006. I didn't really want to take a seventh subject in case it got overwhelming, but I suppose it'll be the same course load if I choose only Further Maths too. Thank you so much, I reaaaaally appreciate it. P.S. After painstakingly crawling through pages and pages of utterly unrelated garbage, I found this: http://library.tedankara.k12.tr/IB2011/NeilHendryGrp5review.pdf It was extremely helpful Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian28 Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 That document was amazing! I can't believe they're taking Matrices away from the HL core. It's all good if they include Linear Algebra in F. Maths, though. I do, however, seriously dislike what it seems they've done to the HL internal assessment. It seems they want to place much more emphasis on applied maths than on pure maths, which is unfair to those of us who have a preference for pure. Oh well... At least you won't have to go through it if you only take Further Maths. On the other hand, I love the fact they're going to make changes to the 'Series' topic. If they're going to do what I think, it should become some sort of 'Introduction to Analysis', which would be fantastic. In that case, I recommend you read -and most importantly, go through the problems in- 'Calculus' by Michael Spivak when you're studying that topic. It's such a perfect book! Good luck with Further Maths. I'm sure if you work hard you'll ace it and, more importantly, enjoy it and the beauty of maths! On a slightly different note: Go us weird maths nerds! Everyone knows we're the best . Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldld Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 Holy crap, they're adding linear algebra to further math? Finally! I've always been saying that actual linear algebra should be available to high school students (too bad it's not at least a regular HL option). Although my school doesn't offer further math anyway (plus I'll graduate before the new program is in place ) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IB Smacher Glau Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 I am confused .. so Math Hl this year will be harder just because it's the same as further mathematics ? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian28 Posted March 29, 2012 Report Share Posted March 29, 2012 Maths and F. Maths will stay as separate subjects. However, for first examinations in 2014, the F. Maths SL course will disappear and will be replaced by a F. Maths HL course, which will contain an additional topic, namely Linear Algebra. There will also be some modifications to the Maths HL syllabus, such as Matrices being taken away from it. I should assume some of the other topics will be expanded to account for the removal of Matrices, but I'm guessing that, on average, Mathematics HL will have the same difficulty as before. Further Maths will now have more content to cover, so I guess it's safe to assume that this latter subject will become harder, if only because there will now be more things students will need to know. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezak Posted April 4, 2012 Report Share Posted April 4, 2012 Yes it will be harder, but I have also heard that they did this because of the pressure of needing to take 2 extra HL subjects besides math HL. By raising F. math to HL you will only have to have an extra HL subject besides from math HL and F. math HL (presuming you take both courses, but realistically, this is what most people who will study F.math will do. You are just an awesome exception).I may be wrong, but it sounds logical. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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