All students at Cambridge Maths School take part in a bespoke Problem Solving course that encourages students to develop their problem solving skills and think like a mathematician.  

The course begins by looking at problems that have relatively low mathematics, but complex structures and encourages students to develop the process of playing with a problem, spotting patterns and then justifying the patterns using increasingly more rigorous arguments. 

To supplement the course we study some standard maths ‘tricks’ that are useful across a range of problem solving questions, such as prime factorisation and substitution, and that often form part of a ‘hidden syllabus’ included in university entrance exams and general maths challenges. 

The course then progresses to look at what it is to ‘know’ in mathematics and examines axiomatic systems and formal methods of proof and logic, including examples from outside of the taught A level syllabus. 

In Year 13 there is a focus on readying students for University Entrance Examination papers via a mixture of taught content and practise questions, and an opportunity for more recreational problem solving in readiness for challenges and just for the sheer fun of mathematics!