A Level Maths: impact and insights from the reform
29 April 2025
Steven Walker, Maths Subject Advisor
It was a great pleasure to be invited to speak about the A Level Maths reform at the Joint Conference of Mathematics Subject Associations in Loughborough on 15 April 2025. Here I’ll summarise the presentation and share some key discussion points.
What changed in the reform
The first section of the presentation looked at what changed when moving from modular to linear:
- Decoupled AS and A Levels. Students now face a single series of exams covering the entire syllabus, increasing exam pressure without the backup of earlier AS units.
- Model shift. Reform meant moving from a model with four AS Levels in year 12 dropping to three full A Levels in year 13 to a straight 2-year three A Level model. This raised concerns about a potential decline in A Level Maths entries.
- Optionality. Previously, students could choose between mechanics, statistics, or decision maths. Now, having mandatory mechanics and statistics content poses different challenges for both teachers and students.
- Increased calculator use. The removal of statistical tables and the increase in calculator functionality has placed a greater emphasis on calculator proficiency. This has reduced the mark tariff on some questions and, with no non-calculator paper, assessors need to be careful that questions are worded to ensure mathematics rather than data entry is being assessed.
Impact of reform on entry numbers
AS entries have sharply declined across subjects, as the reform aimed to free up teaching time in Year 12. AS Maths is still the most popular AS subject, with AS Further Maths now regularly in the top ten (third most popular in 2024).
One of the underlying aims during the previous reform was to ensure the changes did not cause A Level Maths numbers to decline. This has generally been successful as A Level Maths and Further Maths entries remain stable, with a consistent 10-12% of the cohort taking A Level Maths and 2% taking Further Maths annually since 2015. The male:female gender split has also remained consistent over this period, at 60:40 for Maths and 70:30 for Further Maths.
In the next reform there needs to be a full discussion around the purpose of AS qualifications in general and perhaps an aim for more ambitious growth in entry numbers and to improve the gender balance.
The use of technology
In my presentation I highlighted where the use of technology might be better covered in the teaching and assessment of A Level Maths. Students struggle to make the link between algebraic functions and the graphs of those functions. They also struggle to write out their algebraic mathematical arguments when solving equations with the support of their calculator.
Statistics and the Large Data Set
We looked at the statistical questions set in the last couple of years. Performance data shows that, on average, students that obtained C, D or E grades could sometimes pick up extra marks on those questions set on data from the Large Data Set (LDS), but those students obtaining A* and A did not do as well on the LDS question compared to their performance on statistics questions overall.
Teachers expressed dissatisfaction with the current LDS format, noting that the extensive time required for detailed data exploration is not matched by the marks available in exams.
There was some discussion about the place of statistics within an A Level Maths course, but the consensus appeared to be that unless a reformed A Level Statistics included the calculus needed by HE in subjects such as economics then some element of statistics was needed in A Level Maths.
Fixed content and assessment objectives
One feature of the reform process was that both the content and the assessment objectives used to ensure a balanced exam paper were fixed for A Level Maths. For Further Maths only 50% content was fixed, and the assessment objectives were the same as for Maths.
There was consensus in the session that these should be fixed to support teachers moving between schools and exam boards. Teachers do like optionality and the alternative routes currently available from the single option depth of study available in one specification through to the OCR Further Maths B (MEI) – H645 with the 3 minor option route, but there was some discussion that fixing the other 50% content within the individual options would be good.
Overlap across GCSE and A Level
A lively discussion emerged around the overlap between GCSE and A Level content. There is general agreement that both GCSE Maths and A Level Maths are content heavy; there is not enough time to go into sufficient depth and some topics are only covered superficially.
Opinions in the session were divided: some advocated for GCSE Maths to focus on life skills, while others emphasised the importance of introducing students to the beauty and challenge of mathematics in topics such as algebra and geometry.
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About the author
Steven originally studied engineering before completing a PGCE in secondary mathematics. He has taught secondary maths in England and overseas. Steven joined OCR in 2014 and worked on the redevelopment of OCR’s FSMQ and the A Level Mathematics suite of qualifications. Away from the office he enjoys cooking and to travel.
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