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Through fortuitous events I have obtained a masters degree in an engineering field with relatively little prior mathematical knowledge (a C grade GCSE over ten years ago). Encountering numerical and statistical problems now often requires me to regress back and learn topics I would have covered in my earlier academic career, had I taken A-Levels or undergraduate mathematics.

Clearly, starting with the current GCSE/A-Level syllabus would be useful, but can anyone offer advice regarding whether it would be worth actually taking the exams and obtaining the (in this case) A-Level qualification?

Edit: Recognizing this might be too UK-centric (my apologies) - for clarity GCSE/A Level would refer to pre-university education elsewhere.

cookie1986
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  • I would say it is a great thing that you want to go back the roots and retake your undergraduate courses. I have many friends who were in engineering branches that weren't mathematically intensive are doing the same thing. I don't know how useful getting the certificate of A level as you already have an engineering degree. I am also out of college and I am doing maths courses that weren't the part of my college curriculum on my own, things like Real Analysis, Stochastic Calculus etc. Although getting certificates would be nice from a job perspective. – Sonal_sqrt Feb 20 '18 at 10:01
  • Thanks for the response. I do find the subject really interesting (certainly more than I did at school!), but the topic is so vast and everything seems to rely on knowledge of what came before it - so finding a starting point is tough. Your comments re: taking exams is really useful and good to know. I will perhaps hold off formally registering for an official course until it becomes clear that is what is required. Thanks again for your input. – cookie1986 Feb 20 '18 at 10:07
  • Nearly everything has some common starting points. For starters you can take a first course in calculus, linear algebra, analysis, probability and statistics, and differential equations. Also maybe numerical methods. This would serve as a good foundation for any applications in engineering fields. I have had first courses in all these and I feel little need to learn more advanced concepts to get by. You will want to ramp this up as you go along taking multivariable calculus, linear algebra(but abstract), more advanced differential equations and so on. These few things are at core of – Sonal_sqrt Feb 20 '18 at 10:14
  • a lot of other things . Start with this and see how far you need to go. – Sonal_sqrt Feb 20 '18 at 10:14

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