Core Maths
Core Maths qualification is designed to meet the substantial unmet demand from UK employers for quantitatively skilled people – including in Arts, Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences.
Core Maths enables you to develop your Maths skills beyond GCSE without studying A Level Maths. Core Maths differs from GCSE Maths. It is more practical-based with a focus on problem-solving skills.
Universities and employers will increasingly start to look for this qualification from applicants if they have not studied A Level Maths.
The content areas covered in this qualification are:
- Applications of statistics
- Mathematical modelling using the normal distribution
- Critical analysis of articles and data
- Financial calculations including tax, NI, APR
- Fermi Estimation (estimating the answers to big problems such as how many hours does a dog sleep in its lifetime?)
Core Maths builds on GCSE Maths with a focus on problem-solving skills. Students will consider and tackle Maths in meaningful contexts through completing scenario-based tasks.
These include:
- Personal contexts: scenarios related to the individual, family or peer group such as use of social networking
- Occupational contexts: scenarios related to the world of work such as should I build or buy a new house, Gannt charts
- Societal contexts: scenarios related to local, national or global communities such as is Palm oil a bad thing? How does life expectancy and birth rates correlate?
- Scientific contexts: scenarios related to the natural world, science and technology such as what is the cost of going green?
The skills developed in the study of Maths are increasingly important in the workplace and in higher education. Students who study Maths after GCSE improve their career choices and increase their earning potential. Some universities will give lower offers if students have a good grade in Core Maths.
SPECIFIC COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Grade 4 or above in GCSE Maths.