CompSci at Cambridge hopeful?

Hi I'm Saskia and I'm in the middle of studying for GCSEs at the moment. I am taking: English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, Spanish, Drama, Computing and Additional Maths

For A levels I am going to take Computer Science, Maths, Further Maths and Physics, and then intend on doing the Computer Science with Mathematics course at Cambridge.

However, I’m worried im not doing enough to get in. so far, to write on my personal statement I have:
Gold in Junior UK maths challenge, Silver, Best in year and Best in school in senior UK maths challenge
Bronze DofE
Bronze, Silver and Gold Spirit of Queen Mary’s (a school award)
Half colours in Netball and Rounders, Full colours in Rounders (school award)
Self teaching HTML

Also in the summer I am:
Going to a STEM Inspire course at Uni of Newcastle
Making use of a Raspberry Pi
Reading books like Fermat’s Last Theorem and other computing books
Teaching myself more python (done some in computing GCSE)
Possibly going to NCS
Learning to play piano (currently grade 2, hoping to get grade 4 by uni)
Teaching/assisting with computing in my primary and current school after my exams
Volunteering at my local sports club with the under 8s team
Signing up for a computing/maths review/magazine
Maybe go to a computing/physics/maths lecture/day at Oxbridge or other uni????

But is there anything else I can do? I have 11 weeks of summer and I need to fill it somehow I also have extracurricular sports clubs and volunteering for my gold DofE that I’m going to be doing in 2016 or ‘17
Any replies would be greatly appreciated as I like to organise things in my revision breaks so I have stuff to look forward to (also compsci, maths or physics based please)

Hi I'm Saskia and I'm in the middle of studying for GCSEs at the moment. I am taking: English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geography, Spanish, Drama, Computing and Additional Maths

For A levels I am going to take Computer Science, Maths, Further Maths and Physics, and then intend on doing the Computer Science with Mathematics course at Cambridge.

However, I’m worried im not doing enough to get in. so far, to write on my personal statement I have:
Gold in Junior UK maths challenge, Silver, Best in year and Best in school in senior UK maths challenge
Bronze DofE
Bronze, Silver and Gold Spirit of Queen Mary’s (a school award)
Half colours in Netball and Rounders, Full colours in Rounders (school award)
Self teaching HTML

Also in the summer I am:
Going to a STEM Inspire course at Uni of Newcastle
Making use of a Raspberry Pi
Reading books like Fermat’s Last Theorem and other computing books
Teaching myself more python (done some in computing GCSE)
Possibly going to NCS
Learning to play piano (currently grade 2, hoping to get grade 4 by uni)
Teaching/assisting with computing in my primary and current school after my exams
Volunteering at my local sports club with the under 8s team
Signing up for a computing/maths review/magazine
Maybe go to a computing/physics/maths lecture/day at Oxbridge or other uni????

But is there anything else I can do? I have 11 weeks of summer and I need to fill it somehow I also have extracurricular sports clubs and volunteering for my gold DofE that I’m going to be doing in 2016 or ‘17
Any replies would be greatly appreciated as I like to organise things in my revision breaks so I have stuff to look forward to (also compsci, maths or physics based please)

maybe try and get involved in small programming start ups and help them out

or really build up your skills and make programmes others can use (either sell it or give it away for free)...I think (but don't know) that getting involved and being practical will demonstrate much enthusiasm for your passion.

best of luck
(also perhaps look at Java as I know that is a programme that is taught at Uni...also perhaps consider MatLab)....

If you want to do more I would suggest doing some extra (fun!) maths. You can never go wrong with more maths. Maybe you could look into the reading lists, are there any introductory books that interest you? Although tbh you do loads already so it's probs not necessary

Btw, IIRC for CS+Maths at Cambridge I think you need STEP, so that will be something to consider -- eventually.

Teaching myself more python (done some in computing GCSE)

thank you was looking at open source projects so may try my hand at those, and might try and do tumblr themes (sounds a bit stupid but they can be hard/complicated to program)
thank you was thinking of Java, might do that after HTML and CSS might also look into programming languages because i want to be a coder rather than designer

thank you, didnt think about looking at the recommended reading lists ill look at those, im sure id be interested, i also have some astronomy themed books for physics, and might look into alan turing for computing

yes, i have thought about that, my school offers STEP and i already spoke to the head of maths and theyre more than willing to enter me for the papers, and also they offer AEA papers for us to do, if theyre still available, so should be able to do both STEP and AEA

Btw here are some more Python tutorials, aside from those in the official docs:

http://www.diveintopython.net/
http://www.diveintopython3.net/

sounds awesome...I too am a programmer (although no where near pro level)...I would suggest that Cambridge won't think of HTML too highly...its pretty straight forward and shoudln't really take more than 2-3 days to become a pro at it (meaning able to make fairly nice websites with graphics / images / videos...)....I would suggest learning hard-core languages...I don't know much about CSS...perhaps look up which languages are currently being used by major firms such as Apple, microsoft etc... I know its all changing all the time....

also you should consider (I don't know if you already do) using Unix based systems such as Linux because you are very likely to use these systems at university...also alot of stuff is done through the command line on those systems so its just another way to improve programming capacity and breadth of knowledge

sounds awesome...I too am a programmer (although no where near pro level)...I would suggest that Cambridge won't think of HTML too highly...its pretty straight forward and shoudln't really take more than 2-3 days to become a pro at it (meaning able to make fairly nice websites with graphics / images / videos...)....I would suggest learning hard-core languages...I don't know much about CSS...perhaps look up which languages are currently being used by major firms such as Apple, microsoft etc... I know its all changing all the time....

also you should consider (I don't know if you already do) using Unix based systems such as Linux because you are very likely to use these systems at university...also alot of stuff is done through the command line on those systems so its just another way to improve programming capacity and breadth of knowledge

Yes one final point, perhaps it's a bit picky but technically HTML is only a mark-up language, not a programming language. You mentioned Turing, "proper" programming languages are Turing complete but HTML isn't.

Edit: Okay I just skimmed the Wiki article I linked to and apparently certain hackish uses of HTML5+CSS3 can be Turing complete; I never knew that.

This is advice from someone who decided they weren't hard enough to apply for CS+Maths at Cambridge, so perhaps take it with a pinch of salt, but I'd say don't bother with AEA.

The style is apparently very similar to that of A-levels and Cambridge are more bothered about the more rigorous, proof-based style of STEP, which is a really really hard set of exams so it's worth spending as much time on that as you can. The benefits of doing AEA would be marginal* so I'd say jib that and spend more time really understanding the STEP stuff.

HTH

Edit: *if you're already doing STEP

Yes one final point, perhaps it's a bit picky but technically HTML is only a mark-up language, not a programming language. You mentioned Turing, "proper" programming languages are Turing complete but HTML isn't.

Edit: Okay I just skimmed the Wiki article I linked to and apparently certain hackish uses of HTML5+CSS3 can be Turing complete; I never knew that.

i started learning HTML over christmas and its pretty simple so i might just use that as a hobby and create simple web pages and could possibly help out small businesses with revamping their sites or something, but im definitely going to look at more programming languages, i think CSS is just an extension on HTML, but python is specifically suggested on the cambridge site, so im going to become familiar in that definitely

and yes i was looking up Linux yesterday after looking through some of the cambridge site and i think ill start looking at stuff like that so i can get comfortable with it

Thank you

completley agree...HTML (although I did not officially know this) doesn't count as a language...its actually so different from programming languages that I can't really think of any transferable skills between HTML and the lnaguages i have used (C++, Python and Visual Basic)...

completley agree...HTML (although I did not officially know this) doesn't count as a language...its actually so different from programming languages that I can't really think of any transferable skills between HTML and the lnaguages i have used (C++, Python and Visual Basic)...

That's a bit harsh tbf, HTML can get a lot of people interested in programming because the results are instant and there's also an easy path to including some JavaScript, which is intended to be Turing-complete.

Also just the process of writing something in a text file and seeing how the browser renders that file is important and similar in many ways to, for example, the concept of writing a Python script and seeing what the interpreter does with it: just having the idea that the browser is in some way being controlled by what is in the file you point it at is more than most people ever think about.

Python is definitley a nice language to start with...I started with Visual Basic 6 but its really outdate now...the two are fairly similar though in terms of programming basics...

don't touch Java or C++ or similar until you understand Python though...other basic ones are Ruby and Pearl although I don't really hear of anyone using those so perhaps it isn't worth the effort...

Also with linux there are just so many different "types"...so to speak...I've only used Scientific Linux but I assume the command line varies between them (in fact I know there are some subtle differences)...best thing is to ask Cambridge which version they use and learn with that one (although I expect by the time you get in (best of luck by the way; you CV looks very impressive)) they will have moved on!