This blog post was originally published on 18 January 2018.

Following the recent reforms in both GCSE and A Level maths, we are pleased to now bring you our revised Level 3 FSMQ: Additional Maths qualification. Developed in conversation with teachers and education stakeholders, you’ll discover the revised qualification continues to enrich students’ learning and understanding of GCSE (9-1) Mathematics content.

The revised Level 3 FSMQ: Additional Maths will have its first assessment in summer 2019.

Rationale for the re-launch

The legacy Additional Maths was launched back in 2002. Since then it has grown to be an incredibly valued qualification, but recent educational reforms have brought in a need for revisions.

• Most students now follow a parallel programme, rather than studying Additional Maths after sitting their GCSE in year 10.
• Reforms have increased the level of demand of GCSE Mathematics and expanded its content to now include content previously introduced to students through Additional Maths.
• Scientific calculators have greater functionality, with numerical calculus, statistical distributions, and equation solving functions now common. More candidates are also using graphical calculators in examinations.

Care has been taken to ensure that Additional Maths is not an acceleration course covering the first part of the AS Maths course. Instead Additional Maths provides a Level 3 enrichment of GCSE (9–1) Mathematics, whilst at the same time providing a taster of A Level Maths and Further Maths.

Summary of the key content changes

• ‘Enumeration’ content, which expands the binomial distribution with permutations and combinations. The systematic listing content of the GCSE is built upon.
• ‘Numerical methods’ content, which expands upon the informal graphical approximations in GCSE and encourages more formal links graphs (with the algebra and calculus of Additional Maths).
• 'Exponentials and logarithms’ content, which develops the growth and decay content and the graphs section of GCSE (this content was identified as one of the main gaps in knowledge that students not doing A Level Maths have when following other post-16 courses with a numerical aspect).
• Sequences using subscript notation have been included to support the iterative work on numerical methods and building upon new content in the reformed GCSE.

Summary of other key qualification changes

• An integrated question and answer paper, to reflect the majority of GCSE examinations.
• Removal of the separate sections A and B, to a more traditional building of demand through the paper (as at GCSE).
• The assessment objectives have been changed to meet the reformed GCSE and A Level Maths qualifications.
• A list of assessment command words has been included in the specification. This was a popular feature of OCR’s reformed A Levels and makes clear the level of written response needed.

New materials and free webinars now available

Download the revised specification and sample assessment material.

Download the practice paper from Interchange.

You can submit your comment below or email maths@ocr.org.uk if you have a specific question about the changes. Follow us on Twitter or sign up to our monthly newsletter for the latest updates on all of our maths qualifications.

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About the author

Steven Walker - Subject Advisor - Mathematics

Steven joined OCR in July 2014 as a subject advisor, working on the GCSE, AS and A Level reform and leading the redevelopment of R449 Entry Level Certificate Mathematics and 6993 Level 3 FSMQ: Additional Mathematics.

Steven graduated in Material Engineering, and after an extensive period working and travelling around the world, including four years as a volunteer maths and science teacher with VSO, he gained a PGCE in secondary mathematics from Homerton College, Cambridge and has taught maths in a number of schools in UK and overseas.