A LEVEL

Statistics

What is Statistics?

Statistics is an application of Mathematics, but is a fast growing field of study in its own right. More and more areas of our lives are influenced by Statistics and knowing just how they fit in to other studies is an advantage.
Statistics is used in everything from deciding how much orange juice Booths or Aldi will buy next year, to whether or not a new drug will indeed cure a serious illness. It can be seen as a subject relating to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation and presentation of data. This is the branch of Mathematics which is used in situations involving variability or uncertainty, such as weather forecasting, finance or assessing the effects of medicine.

What Will You Study?

At first much of the work is learning the ‘tools of the trade’, but we soon start to apply them in analysing data and understanding what it is telling us. We will consider types of data and how to handle it, and move from the work covered in GCSE Maths to look at the patterns in Statistics and how these are used in the analysis of situations in order to make reasonable judgements. For the Statistics course we highly recommend the Casio fx-9860GII calculator.

What Next?

Students with an A Level in Statistics have found their skills to be valuable when taking degrees in Anthropology, Biology, Business Studies, Geography and Psychology. You may be surprised at just how many interesting jobs there are for statisticians, such as an Actuary, Accountant, Environmental Statistician, Government Statistician, Sports Statistician, Pharmaceutical Statistician, Biometrician, Forensic Statistician, Health Service Statistician, Medical Statistician, School Teacher and University Lecturer. Statistics is now used so widely that many employers would see a qualification in Statistics as a distinct advantage. Many students have enjoyed Statistics so much that they go on to study it further at university.

Exam Board

AQA

Entry Requirements

At least two 5s and three 4s at GCSE, including at least a 4 in GCSE Maths and English Language.

Course Type

A Level

What other subjects go well with this subject?

Maths, Biology, Geography, Psychology, PE, Chemistry, Sociology, Business Studies and Economics.