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Do you reckon I will be able to cope with Electrical Engineering

(edited 11 years ago)

Engineering Maths Level 3 June 2011.pdf120.0KB

The paper you've shown reminds me of a typical AS-Level mathematics paper (its been a few years, mind you), and so it provides a glimpse into what mathematics at university studying engineering will be like. I'm not going to lie, the maths used in the degree is a significant step up from that, but if you got an A* in a paper similar to that one then you've got the ability to cope with it, in my opinion. It'll be a learning curve, sure, but that's why you're going to uni - right?

I wouldn't worry too much about a C in Physics at A-Level - it's link to engineering at university is tenuous at best, as it only touches on the sort of mathematics you need. An engineering degree is far more focused on mathematics than the stuff done in A-Level physics.

Electronics engineering is very similar to electrical engineering, the only differences are the scales are larger in electrical. The toolkit you'll learn at university is very similar, and the mathematics will be almost identical between the two. There will be slight differences based on how things are in the real world - e.g. electrical will concentrate on 3 phase systems and the accompanying mathematics, whereas electronics might branch into other areas of less interest to electrical such as communications protocols and the accompanying mathematics. However, given a few weeks to read up on the subject, an electronics engineer would be perfectly capable of doing an electrical engineers project and vice versa. I should know, as I work in electrical and I'm technically an electronics graduate by degree.

Electrical engineers are fast becoming in huge demand, as the demographics of the industry is inflated at the "soon to retire" end. So it's a very good option to choose in terms of future employment prospects. There are a significant amount of challenges facing your (and my) generation in the area of power systems and electrical - so there are plenty of interesting options to go into. The work placement will show you a lot about what it is like, and help with university too - it's a lot easier to learn something that you have seen operating in real life, and it's a lot easier to see why you're learning different things and the links between different modules.

But basically - there will be a lot of maths, not having A-Level Mathematics may mean you'll spend a little more time studying it than people who have done it, but in the end everyone is going to be learning a lot more maths than they've done previously. The first year is generally getting everyone up to the same level of understanding in terms of maths, at least it was at my uni (and I'd be very surprised if that isn't a typical way of doing things), and the majority of people are able to keep up, so I wouldn't worry too much about that side of things.

One last thing - Check the IET scholarships website. Staffs uni isn't eligible for the power academy but you might be able to get yourself onto another scholarship they offer, if the course is accredited by them - it's effectively some free money to help out at university, but they're looking for candidates who are serious about their studies and looking to go into the industry following university and I'd say the fact that you've already gone and got yourself a work placement will strengthen your case dramatically over other applicants. Most of the time they barely get enough applicants to give out all the scholarships - so don't let anything prevent you from applying.

Hope this helps,

Stu Haynes MEng MIET MIEEE