Vocational - Core Maths

Please note: To study this course, you must meet the general Sixth Form entry requirements as well as the subject-specific entry requirements listed below.

View General Sixth Form Entry Requirements

What is Core Maths?

Core Maths is a Level 3 course equivalent to an AS, which provides students with a ‘maths for life’ education and supports them with the maths requirements in their other subjects. It is usually studied alongside three A Levels or a BTEC / T level. By studying Core Maths, students solve problems involving finance, statistics, and estimation and develop their critical thinking skills.

“Our economy increasingly requires everyone to handle numbers and data, and Core Maths could be revolutionary in filling this data skills deficit that we face.”

Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of the British Academy

What do Students Think?

Aside from learning valuable life skills, students value how Core Maths supports them with the maths content in their other subjects, and they may get lower University offers.

What is the Content?

The course focuses on real-life problem solving, featuring varying proportions of statistics, probability, graphical techniques and financial maths.

What are Lessons Like?

A Core Maths lesson will feel different to a GCSE or A Level Maths lesson because of the emphasis on real-world problem solving. Context is always at the forefront, and students must communicate how they solved the problem.

How is the Course Assessed?

Core Maths is a one-year course. Students sit two exams in the summer exam period at the end of the course. In the exam papers, students will be asked to solve problems in real life contexts. Previously, exams have featured questions on topics such as student loans, lotteries and raffles, and football.

Entry Requirements

Grade 5 in GCSE Maths.