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Freaking out over my decision to study maths

I've always got my best grades in maths; I got an A* at GCSE, an A* for maths at A level and a B for further mathematics (being a perfectionist I was hoping to get an A, but I went to a college which is in the bottom 15% of the country!).

I've got a confirmed place at Exeter to study maths which is all good but I'm very nervous. I had personal issues that affected me throughout my higher education, and that's subsequently left me a bit behind socially.

Obviously I worked very hard to get those grades though since I knew uni would be a fresh start, but now that I'm looking over some maths stuff before uni I'm just not feeling that passionate about it! It could be that I finished my a levels last year and decided to defer, again due to personal issues, so I'm a bit rusty with my maths.

I've been trying to have a go at a few step papers, or other maths entrance exams just for practice and although I can do the odd question, a lot of it is insanely difficult for me. Plus, I don't even seem to have the wherewithal to get through the questions, it's just a bit boring to me? I'm afraid I've chosen the wrong subject!

My interests lie in creative writing and psychology but with maths, although I'm pretty good at it and it does interest me, it doesn't to the same extent. For example, I remember when I took English at gcse level and finding the exams fun! I loved sitting there and getting lost in writing stories, or writing up essays since it fascinates me. But overall I'm not really sure which direction to go in now...
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 1
Original post by Awkward_Model
I've always got the best grades in maths; I got an A* at GCSE, an A* for maths at A level and a B for further mathematics (being a perfectionist I was hoping to get an A, but I went to a college which is in the bottom 15% of the country!).

I've got a confirmed place at Exeter to study maths which is all good but I'm very nervous. I had personal issues that affected me throughout my higher education, and that's subsequently left me a bit behind socially.

Obviously I worked very hard to get those grades though since I knew uni would be a fresh start, but now that I'm looking over some maths stuff before uni I'm just not feeling that passionate about it! It could be that I finished my a levels last year and decided to defer, again due to personal issues, so I'm a bit rusty with my maths.

I've been trying to have a go at a few step papers, or other maths entrance exams just for practice and although I can do the odd question, a lot of it is insanely difficult for me. Plus, I don't even seem to have the wherewithal to get through the questions, it's just a bit boring to me? I'm afraid I've chosen the wrong subject!

My interests lie in creative writing and psychology but with maths, although I'm pretty good at it and it does interest me, it doesn't to the same extent.


Entrance exams are more about practice and less about aptitude than you might think. Even though I've been through a year of uni maths, and got a 1 in STEP when I sat it, if I sat a STEP paper of a similar difficulty today I'd probably do worse just because I'm out of practice with that sort of exam. Tbh I haven't been that interested in Maths during holidays, but when at uni I for the most part really enjoyed it. So I'd recommend giving it a go - someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but you can withdraw after first year and still get funded for another degree right? If not, maybe it would be worth considering doing another degree instead. But note that uni maths is a different ballgame to what you've done so far and it's difficult to tell how into it you will be (it's really nothing like STEP or any other entrance paper).
Original post by Awkward_Model
I've always got my best grades in maths; I got an A* at GCSE, an A* for maths at A level and a B for further mathematics (being a perfectionist I was hoping to get an A, but I went to a college which is in the bottom 15% of the country!).

I've got a confirmed place at Exeter to study maths which is all good but I'm very nervous. I had personal issues that affected me throughout my higher education, and that's subsequently left me a bit behind socially.

Obviously I worked very hard to get those grades though since I knew uni would be a fresh start, but now that I'm looking over some maths stuff before uni I'm just not feeling that passionate about it! It could be that I finished my a levels last year and decided to defer, again due to personal issues, so I'm a bit rusty with my maths.

I've been trying to have a go at a few step papers, or other maths entrance exams just for practice and although I can do the odd question, a lot of it is insanely difficult for me. Plus, I don't even seem to have the wherewithal to get through the questions, it's just a bit boring to me? I'm afraid I've chosen the wrong subject!

My interests lie in creative writing and psychology but with maths, although I'm pretty good at it and it does interest me, it doesn't to the same extent. For example, I remember when I took English at gcse level and finding the exams fun! I loved sitting there and getting lost in writing stories, or writing up essays since it fascinates me. But overall I'm not really sure which direction to go in now...


Remember that often the grass is greener on the other side, but at the same time - if you've genuinely lost your passion for it (or that at degree level it's not as interesting as you may have thought) then it's okay to switch courses or give it an extra year. I know that may be slightly difficult though as you've taken a year out already, but I would say don't worry too much about that.

STEP papers are meant to be really difficult, especially when you've never done the material before. You're not going to be thrown into the deep end at uni - you get weeks' worth of lectures and some practice material, and by the end of the lectures the exams generally shouldn't look too bad as long as you've kept on top of it.

I could tell you how I find maths at degree level, though how useful it would be I do not know. Some bits are okay, interesting at best, and then some bits are kinda meh, but I'm under the impression that that's to be expected with any degree where you're still studying a range of things within one or two subjects, and apparently it's a good degree to have.

You can also use your English skills for, say, writing for your uni's paper or 3500 word essays in education modules (on my maths course you get them anyway :lol:) and granted, GCSE was probably a lot of fun but even at A-level it just changes and you'd probably wish you weren't doing it then, let alone at degree level. At least, that's my experience and from talking to others who've done it.
Reply 3
What else did you study? You could do a joint honours. Or maths with something else.

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