…For some Further Maths.

Looking for some revision examples for a revision session for my Further Mathematicians led me to some great questions in that treasure trove that is Edexcel’s Maths Emporium.

Edexcel Emporium

Inside the Very Past Papers Cabinet, the A Level Papers, do indeed contain some very past papers! Exploring the resources I found a set of old AEB Pure Mathematics papers, very usefully with answers.

These papers have several useful questions that could be used for Maths with some for Further Maths. Looking at the 1977 paper 1, I found a couple of useful questions or parts of questions, including the example above. Question 10  has a differential equation, Maclaurin series and a volume of revolution calculation – perfect for one of my revision session questions. Calculators were not allowed on this paper for the 1977 students.

For 2019 students we can show them what the solid of revolution looks like on WolframAlpha!
Returning to the top level of the Emporium, a trip down memory lane for me can be found inside the A Level cabinet. I began my teaching career with The University of London School Examinations Board for Maths and Further Maths. Past papers and Mark Schemes are available. There are some useful questions here for the current specifications.

Looking at Further Maths paper 2, I see some useful questions. Helpfully, inside the cabinets, the specifications are available. On Further Mathematics (372) I see Complex Numbers, Hyperbolic Functions and Differential Equations.

University of London June 1986 Mathematics 1

At the start of my teaching career, I really liked the first paper of the Mathematics A level from the University of London School Examinations Board – thirty multiple choice questions to complete in one hour, 15 minutes.

For questions 1 to 20, candidates had to select one answer from 5 and for questions 21-30 the instructions were as follows.

University of London June 1986 Mathematics 1

The pdf file here has the paper, followed by the exam board answers followed by notes from the 1986 version of me! These days I would illustrate with Desmos and/or WolframAlpha for example as well where appropriate.

The first Further Maths paper was also a multiple choice paper in this style.
Note the comment from Graham Cummings below, there are further papers available in  Edexcel’s Emporium:

The Emporium has some 17 multiple-choice question papers from the period 1988-1992 – by no means a complete set, but they range across the Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics syllabuses. You can find them in the “Pre-C2000” cabinet within GCE AS/A Level.

Edexcel’s Emporium is a free website intended for the use of teachers of mathematics in secondary schools, wherever they might be and regardless of what awarding body they use; a valid centre email address and the school centre number are required.to register.