06/09/2020
Some guidance for AS Level students who want to pursue CompSci/Software Engineering in future. Please take this guide seriously as this will help you the most in your future.
If you are really only interested in the field of Computer Science, i would highly recommended you to take these 4 subjects in your AS Level.
1- Mathematics
2- Physics
3- *Further Mathematics* (Instead of Chemistry)
4- Computer Science
A lot of CS students don't know the importance of Further Maths and its a widespread rumor that Further Maths will not be useful in any field other than Physics, Mathematics and Engineering
Please try to understand that at least half of the CS is all about Mathematics, topics like Matrices, Proofs, Calculus in Pure Mathematics and the whole Further Statistics are extremely useful in the field of Computer Science as they are used in topics like Linear Algebra, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Graphics, Analysis of Algorithms etc of CS.
What if you are not excellent at Mathematics or didn't took O-Level Additional Mathematics? then Self Study the following papers of A-Level Further Mathematics by either asking your institute's FM teacher or studying on your own from coursebook and YouTube but don't appear for the exams.
1- Further Pure Mathematics Paper 1
2- Further Pure Mathematics Paper 2
3 - Further Probability and Statistics
But why at all?
Universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, MIT, Caltech, University of Waterloo and a lot other top-notch universities of the world highly recommends that you must have take A-Level Further Maths if you want to pursue Bachelors in CompSci and in simple language this means a student with Further Mathematics will be more prioritized in admission than you. In universities like Cambridge it will held against you that why you didn't took AL Further Maths
But Further Math is impossible to do right?
well NO! its not even very hard if you love to do mathematics. Believe me you'll love doing FM way more than doing A-Level Chemistry which will give you zero benefits in the field of Software Engineering. All you have to do is study for a bit longer periods than other AL subjects.
When should i really take FM as my 4th Subject?
Only take it if you had OL Additional Mathematics and scored at least B in it. Additionally, if you were able to manage at least 9 or more subjects in your O-Levels with straight As or else just stick with 3 subjects. If you couldn't fulfill these requirements and just self study it!
Hope this would have helped you ❤ Please share to help others. Thank you.
