Brutal Chav (Offline)

Hi, I am applying for NatSci Physical this year and I am still trying to decide which college I should apply to. King's college is one of my top choices along with Christ's College and St. Johns. What do you think about King's college and how does it compare to Christ's and St. Johns in terms of college life and admission competitiveness? I heard that King's college is really competitive, is it really? Also, I can't find anything on the test on the internet. Is it going to be a maths test or a mixture of physics, chemistry and maths? Is the test then going to be used in the interviews where the tutors talk about the questions in the test? How can I prepare for the test?

Thank you in advance!

Hey there, I'm a Cambridge Natural Sciences (Physical) reapplicant in the upcoming year, and I know I spoke to you at some point or other about it, in a thread. Anyway, I've settled on King's most likely being the college I'm going to apply to, and after some research/emails, I've found that there is a maths/physics test pre-interview, which I think will play to my strengths. Hoping to destroy my rather poor (well, relatively) AS UMS, and have been going strong this year.

Just wondering, in terms of the interview, were the questions quite abstract, getting you to think about a physical situation and give a reasonable argument as to what you think would happen, or more mathematical, requiring manipulation/proof? As well, would BPO/PAT papers be a sensible way to revise for the style of test pre-interview? Would be a big help. Cheers!

Hi,

There were 3 or 4 people in my year at my college who came intended to do physics and then changed their minds to do other things (minerals, chemistry, chemical engineering). I think the main reason for this is that people struggle with the maths (despite taking the Natsci maths course). If you're confident in your maths, there's no reason that the physics in first year should be any harder than the other subjects. I did maths with physics in the first year, so physics was the easy option for me (I definitely found it easier than any of the maths modules)!

In part II, around 90% of my year got a 2.1 or above (with 43% firsts), which rose to 50% for Part III. But we were told that we were an "exceptional year" and I think normally it's about 80-85% 2.1 or better.

To prepare for first year, I think you should concentrate on hitting the ground running in maths. Maths B is definitely the best options if you want to do Physics A, Physics B and Maths in 2nd year (which, in my opinion, is definitely the best preparation for 3rd year).

Career prospects are the same as for all natscis - pretty good. In my year, most of us are currently doing PhDs, but a couple of the others are working in banking and hardware coding. It ticks the boxes for all the jobs that require a "good numerate degree".

General advice? Time management. I'm sure this will be hammered home by your DoS and all the staff you speak to in freshers' week, but natsci is a very time-consuming course in first year. Maths isn't as much work, but I still found myself spending less than half the time I should have done on it for the first two terms, and had to work really hard in exam term to produce a reasonable mark (too many opportunities to go out that I couldn't pass up). Natscis have lectures well into exam term, and won't have this luxury of catching up time!

Ah you misunderstand me, I'm taking a gap year next year. King's gave me a 2013 offer because I'll only be 17 next year. It's actually pretty cool, I get to relax a bit - and if I make my offer, which I'm pretty sure I will (I'm not being arrogant, honest, the offer's reaaaallly generous), I'll get to bum around knowing I've got a place at Cambridge waiting.
That being said I was pretty set to go this year. :P I want to take Physics, Chemistry, and I'm not too sure about the third one, probably one of Materials, Evolution and Behavior, and Comp Sci. I figure I've still got time. And Maths B too, I really like Math. I actually think the only thing that saved me at interview was that I did pretty well on the math part of the test. :P I was actually originally planning on specializing in Physics too, but I actually have this weird love of organic chemistry, although other parts of chem don't interest me all too much. o.O

As much as I'd like to I'm not sure I should, I'm gap-yearing :P
Though considering how happy I am now, I almost wish I wasn't... What first year courses are you going to take?

King's NatSci, am I right?

Hey, I am so sorry for the late reply. I haven't been on here for ages. I remember vaguely that about mid 50ish was the boundary for gold last year. However, there were 98 Gold and only top 50 got to the next round. I hope that was helpful

Ah okay dokay

Hey...did you get asked to bring your module grades with you to the ICL interview?

Hey I am taking the PAT this Nov! Could you send me the info bout the sample answers abd interview questions in Oxford? I am taking biomedical engineering course! Thanks alot!=D

My email address> tongwei92@gmail.com