In secondary school, people always said I was “good at maths”.
I scored well without trying too hard.
I finished tests early.
Friends asked me for help.
So when I chose A Level Maths, it felt natural — almost obvious.
I didn’t expect it to be easy.
But I also didn’t expect it to break my confidence.
When Being “Good” Suddenly Isn’t Enough
The first few weeks of A Level Maths felt strange.
I recognised the symbols.
I understood the questions — at least, I thought I did.
But my answers didn’t match the mark schemes.
Not completely wrong.
Just… not right enough.
That was the most unsettling part.
In the past, mistakes were rare and obvious.
Now, I was losing marks in ways I couldn’t explain.
Method marks.
Accuracy marks.
Logic marks.
It felt like the rules had changed without warning.
The Shock of the First Test
I still remember getting my first test paper back.
The score wasn’t terrible.
But it wasn’t me.
I stared at the red pen marks, thinking:
“How did I lose marks here? I knew how to do this.”
That sentence kept repeating in my head.
“I knew how to do this.”
Or at least, I thought I did.
A Level Maths Doesn’t Reward Confidence — It Tests Precision
That was my first real lesson.
A Level Maths doesn’t care how confident you feel.
It only cares how clearly you think.
You can’t “almost understand” a concept anymore.
You either see the structure — or you don’t.
In lower levels, intuition could save you.
In A Level, intuition without structure collapses.
And I didn’t have structure yet.
The Quiet Fear No One Talks About
I didn’t panic immediately.
Instead, something quieter happened.
I started doubting myself.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just small thoughts like:
- “Why is everyone else getting this?”
- “Am I actually falling behind?”
- “What if this keeps getting worse?”
Maths has a unique way of attacking your identity.
Because when you struggle with maths, it doesn’t feel like you misunderstood a topic.
It feels like you misunderstood yourself.
I Tried Studying Harder — And It Backfired
So I did what most students do.
I practised more questions.
I redid past papers.
I memorised methods.
And my marks… barely moved.
Sometimes they even dropped.
That was the most frustrating phase.
Effort without progress feels personal.
Like the subject is rejecting you.
The Turning Point: One Sentence From a Mark Scheme
The turning point didn’t come from a teacher or a tutor.
It came from a single line in a mark scheme.
“Hence, using the result above…”
I realised something uncomfortable.
I had skipped that “result above”.
Not intentionally.
Not carelessly.
I just didn’t realise how important it was.
A Level Maths Is Not About Answers — It’s About Chains
That’s when it clicked.
A Level Maths is built on chains of reasoning.
Every line depends on the previous one.
Every assumption must be justified.
Every shortcut has a cost.
In earlier maths, you could jump.
In A Level Maths, jumping breaks the chain.
Once I saw that, my mistakes suddenly made sense.
I wasn’t bad at maths.
I was thinking in fragments.
I Changed How I Studied — Not How Long
I stopped asking:
- “How do I get the answer?”
And started asking:
- “Why does this step exist?”
- “What would break if I removed it?”
- “What is this line doing?”
I rewrote solutions in my own words.
I explained steps out loud — even when I was alone.
I slowed down.
Ironically, studying felt harder.
But results finally changed.
The Moment Maths Stopped Feeling Like a Threat
The next test came.
I wasn’t confident.
But I wasn’t scared either.
When I got stuck, I didn’t freeze.
I traced the chain backwards.
And when the paper came back, I smiled.
Not because it was perfect —
but because I understood every mistake.
That’s when I knew:
I was finally learning A Level Maths the right way.
What A Level Maths Taught Me About Learning
A Level Maths didn’t teach me to calculate faster.
It taught me to:
- Think clearly
- Respect logic
- Slow down under pressure
It punished guessing.
It rewarded clarity.
And that changed how I approached every other subject.
(Especially Physics — which I struggled with even more at first.
👉 You can read that story here: [I Thought I Failed A Level Physics — Until I Changed How I Studied])
If You’re Struggling With A Level Maths Right Now
If you’re reading this and thinking:
“This sounds uncomfortably familiar.”
I want you to hear this:
Struggling with A Level Maths doesn’t mean you’re bad at maths.
It usually means:
- You’re still thinking like a lower-level student
- You haven’t built reasoning chains yet
- You were rewarded for speed before — not clarity
Those skills can be learned.
I know — because I learned them the hard way.
Maths Didn’t Humble Me — It Rebuilt Me
I stopped calling myself “good” or “bad” at maths.
I started calling myself a learner again.
And that mindset carried me through A Levels —
and far beyond them.