Should I have taken Physics as one of my A-Levels????

I've been onto the websites of a few different Universities and the Engineering courses always say that you should preferrably have taken Physics as one your A-Levels.
Im taking As Bio,Chem,Maths and Psychology.
The grades I think I'll come out with at the end of A2 are:
A in Maths, A/B in Chem and a B in Biology, im not trying to get into the top Universities if you're wondering but im worried that the Universities I apply for will choose people who have taken Physics over me.
I love Maths and I really want to take up a course in any type of Engineering; what do you think the chances of me getting into a good course are and if I do get into one will i find it hard because of the fact I haven't taken physics?
Thanks in advance!

So... wait...

You aren't doing Physics and you aren't doing ANY Mechanics modules?

It would be the latter part you should be worried about, to be perfectly honest.


The stuff relevant to Engineering from Physics at A Level is covered in (and more detail in) M1 and M2 (some little tid-bits in M3). When people say Maths for Engineering, they're predominantly talking about Mechanics - sure, you learn about Calculus and Trig in Maths, but it's really how they're applied that is useful, and that's what you learn in Mechanics. Maths with Stats isn't going to be useless for Engineering, but without Physics, they would expect you to be doing some Mechanics elsewhere, and that would usually be in Maths.


If the reason you aren't doing Mechanics is because it's 'harder' and you might not get a good grade in it, I would ask if you really want to do (Chemical) Engineering. Pretty much 90% of any Engineering course is (Mechanical) Maths.

Is mechanics really going to provide me with enough physics xp to put me on par with these guys who have taken 2 years worth of physics..

What im trying to say is: I don't want to have that hopeless feeling when you think everyone gets something and you don't and you know you're struggling, It's happened to me before and I don't want University to be like that.

So do you think it is right of me to abandon Engineering and try and find some other course that's predominantly Chemistry and Maths??

Honestly, I'd say the only part of physics I found useful was stress & strain, materials, but particularly mechanics which is covered to a better extent in M1 and M2. In fact, I found reading JE Gordon's 'Structures' far more useful than A Level physics. This isn't to say physics is useless, in many ways it is (especially for Electrical) but engineering physics, is very, very different from normal physics. So I really don't think once you start a course you'll be that disadvantaged at all - if you have a good grasp of maths and intuitive mind you'll be fine.

Slightly cynically, I don't think it would be engineering if you didn't get that hopeless feeling, but pretty much everyone gets it so people tend to band together and help each other out a lot As with any university course, there will be things you don't get, but there's always suport systems be it your lecturers, graduate teaching assistants, classmates, or worst comes to worst the library. To put things into perspective, a week into our lectures and I'd say already over 60% of our class doesn't really understand 3/5 modules, but we never really feel 'hopeless' because there is help if you seek it.

I'd say go for what you want, as you don't want to be 40 years old and still thinking "what if?". Engineering is pretty damn hard at the best of times, but it's very unique, interesting and fulfilling career. I'd also add that chemistry and maths are also pretty hard - I think chemists over here do 70 hours a week on average.

Could you name some other courses that involve maths if you know any?

Stats / Actuary, Economics, Computing. Those are the only ones that spring to mind, but I'm sure you can find others if you do some research.