AS Mathematics 7356 is AQA's own separate qualification for Year 12 — not simply the first half of an A-level.
Book a Free ConsultationAS Mathematics 7356 is AQA's standalone qualification for the content a Year 12 student studies towards A-Level Maths, examined separately from A-level Mathematics 7357. AQA taught both specifications together for the first time from September 2017. A student entered for AS 7356 sits two papers, each 1 hour 30 minutes and worth 80 marks; a student on the straight A-level route sits nothing externally until Year 13.
Deciding whether your child's sixth form should enter them for AS Mathematics 7356?
Our expert A-Level Maths tutors help Year 12 students build the pure, mechanics and statistics content on the AQA specification, whichever route their sixth form has chosen, and prepare thoroughly for whichever papers they actually sit.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppNo. AS Mathematics 7356 is a separate AQA specification from A-level Mathematics 7357, with its own qualification code, its own subject-content list and its own exam papers. AQA taught both together for the first time from September 2017 — the specification document for each is titled “for first teaching in 2017” on AQA's own site — so a school's Year 12 cohort has always started from the same specification base on both routes; what differs is whether that cohort is entered for AS at the end of Year 12 at all.
Both qualifications are linear: AQA's own definition is that “students will sit all their exams at the end of the course.” For AS 7356 that course is one year, so a student entered for it sits two papers in Year 12 and receives a standalone AS grade. For a school that enters students only for the A-level, that same year carries no external exam at all — nothing is banked from Year 12 towards the eventual A-level result. All three A-level papers, each worth 33⅓% of the final grade, examine two years of content together at the end of Year 13.
AQA's subject-content list for AS 7356 runs three overarching themes — mathematical argument, problem solving and modelling — then Sections A to H, jumps straight to J, then runs K to R: proof, algebra and functions, coordinate geometry, sequences and series, trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms, differentiation, integration, vectors, statistical sampling, data presentation, probability, statistical distributions, statistical hypothesis testing, mechanics quantities, kinematics, and forces and Newton's laws. Two sections never appear on that list: Section I, Numerical methods, and Section S, Moments. Both are named, in that exact lettering, on AQA's A-level 7357 content list, and on neither AS 7356 one — they are added only in the second year.
| Detail | AS Mathematics 7356 (Year 12) | A-level Mathematics 7357 (Year 13) |
|---|---|---|
| Papers | 2, each 1h 30m | 3, each 2h |
| Marks per paper | 80 | 100 |
| Weighting per paper | 50% | 33⅓% |
| Content not examinable | Section I (Numerical methods), Section S (Moments) | None — all sections A to S examinable |
| First taught | September 2017 | September 2017 |
The paper structure follows the same boundary. AS 7356 is examined across two 1-hour-30-minute papers, 80 marks each, sat at the end of whichever year AS is taken. A-level 7357 is examined across three 2-hour papers, 100 marks each and 33⅓% of the grade each, sat together at the end of Year 13, and each paper draws on any Paper 1 content plus its own additional sections — Paper 2 adds Section S (Moments) to the mechanics already on Paper 1, and Paper 3 adds the statistics sections. A Year 12 family whose sixth form is deciding whether to enter for AS is really deciding whether to sit two 80-mark papers on a subset of this list now, or wait and sit all of it, plus Numerical methods and Moments, across three 100-mark papers at the end of Year 13.
AQA's own paper-by-paper breakdown adds a further distinction worth planning around. On AS 7356, Paper 1 examines the pure sections A to H together with vectors and the three mechanics sections — quantities and units in mechanics, kinematics, and forces and Newton's laws. Paper 2 examines the same pure sections A to H again, this time alongside the five statistics sections. AQA lists Sections A to H against each AS paper independently, rather than telling students that Paper 2 draws on “any Paper 1 content” the way its A-level papers do. On A-level 7357 the wording changes: Paper 1 covers Sections A to I on its own, and AQA's own phrasing for Papers 2 and 3 is “any content from Paper 1 and content from” each paper's own additional sections. The practical difference for a Year 12 family: an AS student's pure-maths revision has to cover the same ground twice, once for each AS paper, while an A-level student revising Papers 2 or 3 is explicitly told they may be asked about anything already set for Paper 1, not a second independent list. This distinction only appears in AQA's own specification wording, paper by paper — a course outline that only names the sections, without saying which paper draws on which, would not show it.
Working through AS 7356's two-paper content split?
Our expert A-Level Maths tutors build a Year 12 revision plan around exactly which sections sit on which AS paper, so nothing gets skipped and nothing gets revised twice by accident. That planning work is specific to the AQA specification your sixth form actually follows, not a generic revision checklist.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppMy son was low in confidence after COVID and the gaps in learning were building up. Using this service helped plug those gaps, rebuild confidence, and improve his ability to learn properly again.
We arranged maths and English tuition ahead of GCSEs and both tutors were brilliant. My daughter's grades improved, and by results day she achieved two grades higher than in her mock exams.
I attended an English bootcamp with Leading Tuition and the experience was excellent. The teacher gave focused attention to the small group while keeping the lessons interactive and engaging.
It is the same one. AQA's large-data-set page lists AS Mathematics 7356 and A-level Mathematics 7357 side by side as sharing the identical resource — and the same page names AS Further Mathematics 7366 and A-level Further Mathematics 7367 against it too. A student who becomes familiar with the data set for AS in Year 12 is working with the same data set the A-level route studies in Year 13; nothing is reissued. The one technique AQA adds for Year 13 only is using and interpreting correlation coefficients on that data — AS 7356 does not require it. For what the large data set actually is and how AQA and the other boards examine it, see our A-Level Maths guide. Students on the further-maths route should also check our A-Level Further Maths guide, since AQA lists the same data set against both Further Maths specifications too.
Yes, as far as AQA's own published pages show. AQA's key-dates page for AS Mathematics 7356 schedules Paper 1 (7356/1) for 13 May 2027 and Paper 2 (7356/2) for 21 May 2027, both in the June 2027 series. AQA's dates-and-timetables hub lists that same May/June 2027 AS and A-level timetable under a section headed “Confirmed exam timetables,” and describes every timetable published there as “definitive.” Checked on 7 September 2026, AQA has scheduled and confirmed exams for AS Mathematics 7356 in the 2027 series; AQA's own site names no date after which the qualification stops being offered.
A family weighing up AS Mathematics for a Year 12 child is not choosing between a live qualification and a discontinued one — both AS 7356 and A-level 7357 are scheduled, confirmed and separately examined for 2027. The decision is about content and timing, covered above, not about whether AS still exists. For general help with A-level maths tuition beyond AQA specifically, see our Maths Tutor service page, and for the run-up from GCSE, our GCSE Maths guide.
Ready to talk through AS Mathematics 7356 for your Year 12 child?
Our expert A-Level Maths tutors help students prepare for whichever AQA papers their sixth form has entered them for, from the first week of Year 12 through to results day.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppAS Mathematics 7356 and A-level Mathematics 7357 are two separate AQA specifications, both first taught from September 2017. AS 7356 is examined across two papers, each 1 hour 30 minutes and worth 80 marks, and its subject-content list stops before Section I (Numerical methods) and Section S (Moments). A-level 7357 is examined across three 2-hour papers, each worth 100 marks and 33⅓% of the grade, sat together at the end of Year 13, and includes every section from A to S. A school can enter a student for AS 7356 at the end of Year 12, for A-level 7357 at the end of Year 13, or both.
Two. Paper 1 (7356/1) covers proof, algebra, coordinate geometry, sequences and series, trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms, differentiation, integration, vectors and the mechanics sections on quantities, kinematics and forces. Paper 2 (7356/2) covers the same pure sections plus statistical sampling, data presentation, probability, statistical distributions and statistical hypothesis testing. Each paper is 1 hour 30 minutes long, carries 80 marks and counts for 50% of the AS grade. Both papers are sat at the end of whichever year the school enters the student for AS — for most schools, the end of Year 12.
No. AQA describes both AS Mathematics 7356 and A-level Mathematics 7357 as linear qualifications — its own definition is that students “sit all their exams at the end of the course.” AS 7356 is its own, self-contained course, certificated on its own AS grade. A-level 7357 is a different, self-contained course examined entirely at the end of Year 13 across three papers. Nothing from an AS 7356 result is carried over or added into the A-level 7357 grade; the two are separate qualifications with separate codes, not two halves of one mark scheme.
Two named sections. AQA's A-level 7357 content list adds Section I, Numerical methods, to the pure content examined on Paper 1, and Section S, Moments, to the mechanics content examined on Paper 2. Neither section appears on AS 7356's own content list, which runs straight from Section H (Integration) to Section J (Vectors), and stops at Section R (Forces and Newton's laws). A student who sits only AS Mathematics in Year 12 will not have covered Numerical methods or Moments; both are taught and examined for the first time in Year 13, on the A-level route.
No. AQA's large-data-set page names AS Mathematics 7356 and A-level Mathematics 7357 as sharing the identical resource, alongside AS Further Mathematics 7366 and A-level Further Mathematics 7367. A student who becomes familiar with the data set for AS in Year 12 is working with the same data set the A-level route studies in Year 13 — it is not reissued or replaced. The one addition for A-level only is using and interpreting correlation coefficients on that data, which AS 7356 does not require.
Confirmed. AQA's key-dates page for AS Mathematics 7356 schedules Paper 1 (7356/1) for 13 May 2027 and Paper 2 (7356/2) for 21 May 2027, both in the June 2027 series. AQA's own dates-and-timetables hub lists that same May/June 2027 AS and A-level timetable under a section headed “Confirmed exam timetables,” and describes every timetable published there as “definitive.” That is AQA's own published status, checked on 7 September 2026 — not a provisional or draft schedule.
Both together, from September 2017. AQA's own specification documents are titled “AS Mathematics Specification for first teaching in 2017” and “A-level Mathematics Specification for first teaching in 2017” respectively — the same year for both routes. A school's Year 12 cohort has therefore always started from the same specification base on either route; the only choice is whether that cohort sits the separate AS 7356 exams at the end of Year 12, continues straight through to A-level 7357 with no exam until Year 13, or both.
They overlap on the pure content. AQA lists Sections A to H — proof, algebra and functions, coordinate geometry, sequences and series, trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms, differentiation and integration — against both AS 7356 papers independently. Paper 1 then adds vectors and the three mechanics sections; Paper 2 adds the five statistics sections instead. A student cannot skip revising the pure content for one paper on the assumption it was already examined on the other, because AQA can set pure-content questions on either paper. A-level 7357's Papers 2 and 3 work differently: AQA states they draw on “any content from Paper 1” rather than repeating the list.
Book a free consultation for honest advice on whether AS Mathematics 7356 makes sense for your child's sixth form, and a programme built around the papers they'll actually sit.
Leading Tuition is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews, and 91% of our students go on to achieve their desired grades.
Book a Free Consultation