Math Is Fun Forum

To get into university you need to do A levels. To do A levels you need GCSE's.   GCSE -> A levels > University undergrad  is the traditional route. You usually need 5 A to C's to be able to do A levels. If you want to study a subject at A level then you usually need it at A grade at GCSE level. Students pick 4 AS then continue 3 of them the second year. It appears chooipian is interested in maths and physics. So he would need to get an A-A* at GCSE maths and an A for double or triple science at GCSE in order to do physics and math at A level.

chooipian if you're in the UK then you need 5 A to C's at GCSE level 2 or you wont be able to compete in the job market. It happened to me so i'm just giving you a heads up. Actually for some good apprenticeships you need 7 A to C's. If you want to do A level math then you need an A or A* for GCSE. You'll definitely want an A* for GCSE math, A-A* for science double or triple and B or higher for your English. The rest of the GCSE's don't matter but try and get the new computer science GCSE. This will help you increase your employment prospects.

As for learning, don't pay attention to your teachers. There are great resources online. Try to gather a group of likeminded individuals you can learn with. Cover the whole syllabus and go in to depth so you have a chance to get A*'s for the science, maths, english, computer science. Those are the staple subjects for the future. nothing else matters. Another language might help you.

DONT DROP OUT unless you can take 5-7 GCSE exams in the year that you would finish secondary school.

link...? I checked .com but they don't seem to have the same cover and isbn so I don't know if it's the same.

I need to study English so I can pass the test. I need to do the school certificate as it's a requirement to get into higher education. Here we learn basic physics with just algebra. It covers concepts like kinematics which includes position, displacement, velocity, vectors. Plus other basic concepts like waves, optics, eletricity etc. To answer your two questions, yes I'll be going through it page by page, but no, I probably wont go through Algebra by Gelfand. I'll definitely go through Basic Mathematics & Geometry by Serge Lang. It also looks like I might not be able to afford that precalculus book even though it looks good.

No I'm not. How do I get used to it?

I have been mainly focusing on the theory. In the mainstream books they don't define terms like:
line segment
ray
axiom/postulate
plane
theorom
proof

You just get a geometric sense of what they mean when they say these things in regular books. Actualy they don't use many of the terms and you don't really need to know what they mean. I really just remember the procedures and do them. I don't even really know the rules in of themselves. I just pick them up from doing the problems and seeing what works.

I am making sure I understand what the definitions in this book by thinking which concepts they stand on, and of non examples. Lang's Geometry builds up everything from scratch so it's fun. You get the basic definitions, basic axioms, then construct shapes, then do some problems, then some proofs. I already knew the formula and theoroms in the book but I did not understand it much. I didn't know the definitions, axioms, notation, or how anything was derived. Or even that this was Euclidian geometry and that there are others. It is tedious to focus on these definitions and practice memorizing them but I know it's for the best.

It's not that I don't want to learn the pre-requisites, it's just the more advanced topics seem more exciting. I still really need to brush up on number theory more than anything.

I'm going to alternate between the fun and more tedious parts. Rewarding myself with some break and problems after studying the concepts should do the trick. Hopefully i'll end up doing it longer. The problem is I'm teaching myself some other things too which are all memory based since I don't really have the equipment to do them.

I recieved my Geometry book today. The book puts most I have read to shame. It explains in a way that gives you a clear framework to conceptualize every concept. If I didn't have a shallow understanding already it would probably be a bit more different. My only qualm with it is that it doesn't have answers to the exercises.

links? 
I see this
http://www.mathopolis.com/questions/champions.php

I decided not to do the difficult problems yet. They can be intimidating since you really need mastery of a lot of the basics to understand them. I'm just learning the rules and methods first. Then I'll loop back on myself and go through more difficult problems. Also those books wont be arriving for a little while.