Tim Lansdale

Have taught Edexcel D1 a few years previously, and again this year. You can pretty much teach it in any order because all the topics are very discrete (with the exception of the graph theory terminology). I usually do linear programming/simplex and critical path analysis last.

In the past we have taught FM1, FM2, D1, FS1, FP1. This year we will be offering FM1, FM2, D1 - everybody has to do FM1 and they can pick between D1 and FM2 (a shame because I think FP1 is much more useful than D1).

FP1 is an awesome course but the grade boundaries tend to be very high (unfairly so). As a result we are not offering it next year for the first time in three years.

For FM1 we have been working through some questions from old papers (1990s). These can be found on the emporium (pre-c2000). M3 has oblique collisions and M2 has energy and linear collisions.

There needs to be a study into 2024 FM grade boundaries. Components give FP1 A* as 72 and D1 A* as 51! It’s enough to discourage letting students study FP1.