[FadedJade]

Good point. I found it OK, I only very occasionally got more than an average on the question sheets, even though I thought I understood it ok. And i ended up getting a third on that exam, but how relevant that it im not sure, that may or may not be another story!

[groovy_moose]

i would suggest that perhaps the formal wasn't the only reason for that - you sounded like you had a horrific exam - but then again, only you know that...

[FadedJade]

No it wasn't. walking out had something to do with it too, but all this is beside the point. My ultimate point was that if you struggle to get an A in mathematics, you may very well struggle with the formal stuff. It might be worth looking at a couple of elementary logic books and seeing how you find it. We can recommend a few if you like.

[coldfish]

Yes, absolutely.
I was working on the idea that the OP (Well, not the OP, but you get the idea) was proficient at maths though was never really comfortable with it. If you haven't got an A at GCSE then it may well be worth looking at some logic books. The take home message is that there are people here who took double maths, chemistry and physics A level, but there are also people who took a load of humanities and then spent a gap year in art college.

It'd help if you could tell us what stage you are at: are you applying, or have you got a place and are just concerned about the work?

Edit: having looked at the poster's spoiler, I see that they're only in year 10. In the light of this information my advice changes to this:
Don't worry about things like this. Obviously continue working, and if you want to study philosophy then that's great and try to pull something out of the bag in maths. Apart from that, though, you seriously shouldn't be worrying about the specific details of university courses. You'll be a very different person when you're 18 to now, and you may have decided that you don't even want to study philosophy. I know that between your age and university I wanted to study the following subjects (in chronological order): maths, law, english lit, chemistry, music, then philosophy.

[Jigglypuff]

I thought I'd add my two cents...I'd never been brilliant at maths at school (I ended up with an A at GCSE but it was definitely my weakest subject and I had to work at it) and I absolutely stank at formal logic. My DoS reckons I outright failed the formal section of the logic paper in order to end up with a third on that paper overall. Nina, have you seen the examiner reports? 9 of us got thirds and one person failed the whole paper--must be a Cambridge record!

I'd say there is probably some kind of relationship between being good at maths and being good at formal logic. I know people who did further maths and found formal logic easier than all the essays they did. I don't think it's having the qualification as such that helps: if you're good enough to do maths A-level but choose not to you'll probably do well in formal logic. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not sure the maths A-level is inherently valuable for formal logic, but I reckon being mathematically minded is.

I'd say to any prospective applicants, don't feel like you have to take maths. If you're mathematically minded, I'd say that is sufficient to do well in formal logic.

For those of you who (like myself) are not mathematically minded, I wouldn't worry about it. Despite completely bombing the logic last year I got 2is in everything else (remember as Coldfish said formal logic is only a third of one paper in the first year. You never have to touch it again!)

[coldfish]

Just to stress how little a part of the whole it is:
In the first two years I answered the largest proportion of formal questions possible. Two on the logic paper in first year, and one on the logic paper on second year. That's a total of three questions out of the equivalent of thirty.

Incidentally, I was the only person to answer that formal question on the second year logic paper. Reading the examiner report was interesting: "One attempt. Reasonably well done."

[FadedJade]

I actually prefer the formal questions to the essays, i find reading and writing logic essays quite difficult because there never seems to be much to write about.

[EscapeTheFate]

i cant wait for uni!!
just reading about cambridge philosophy makes me want to be there right now!
A levels are seriously getting on my tits now...

I didnt ask the question, bt i was getting worried about the logic side of things as well so cheers for clearing that up! =D

[solihp]

I'm in GCSE year, and my teacher reckons I should get an A* in maths quite easily with little work. Would Cam find it odd that I hate maths and I'm dropping it as fast as possible?

[EscapeTheFate]

only if you tell them...

[solihp]

I mean in as far as I'm not doing it for AS?

[FadedJade]

No why would they? Most Cambridge applicants have many A*s, and it wouldnt be possible for students to do that many Alevels so they have to drop some of them!

[solihp]

Okay, just thought they might expect maths if you were any good at it. Or at least that's what my maths teacher is trying to convince me with...

[FadedJade]

No they don't. It's a bonus if you have it, but it wont disadvantage you if you don't. As long as you can do the logic stuff (which is normally tested at interview) it wont matter in the slightest.

[solihp]

Marvellous

[coldfish]

After all, it is mathematical ability and not love of mathematics[1] that they're after.

[1] Platonic love?

[Qlick]

As for whether you'll struggle with the logic papers if you haven't done maths: one professor said that languages are supposed to be a good indicator of whether you'll cope with the logic, so I guess it's not only maths, just anything logical/structured.

[binarybelle]

Hello:

Does anyone here have any comments or opinions about the programme in History, Philosophy and Sociology of Science, Medicine and Technology? I know HPS isn't technically part of the same faculty as the rest of philosophy, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to start a new thread. I'm looking at doing the MPhil next fall.

Thanks.

[coldfish]

As far as I know, nobody who posts on here has anything to do with the MPhil in HPS. Whilst there's obviously lots of overlap between the departments and we share some lectures, there seems a quite large amount of seperation. Sorry to be so unhelpful!

I'm sure somewhere on the website you'll be able to find email address of current students, you'd probably be best off asking them.

[elspeth_nanette]

help needed!
i got 8 A*s and 1 A at GCSE, am predicted 4 As at AS, and will drop one subject before A2.
i want to study philosophy, and want a college that has a good reputation for student drama, as i'm a keen actress (i'm a member of nyt).
i have ruled out: hughes hall, lucy cavendish, new hall, newnham, st edmunds and wolfson, since they are either single sex colleges or only for mature students.
any advice would be appreciated! x