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AS Maths for Biochemistry at Oxford?

Hi

I'm taking AS Maths at the moment - I took it up because I think I want to do Biochemistry at University, and thought it would help me out in that respect. But the thing is I dont want to do the maths AS any more... its become a bit difficult to manage with my other subjects and I don't enjoy it as much.

The only university that actually requires it however is Oxford (its under the 'helpful' subjects heading for biochemistry - does 'helpful' in Oxford language mean 'essential'?) I just want to know if anyone knows, from a getting onto the course point of view, whether its much harder without maths? I'm not dead set on going to Oxford, and if its going to be unlikely I'll get in without the maths, then I'll just focus on applying somewhere else

By the way, when I spoke to one of the biochemistry admissions tutors at Oxford, she strongly suggested I do the maths, but I'm not sure if that was advice based on the fact that it will be harder when doing the course itself, or whether its because I will be disadvantaged for getting in

It's a bit confusing at the moment...
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give :smile:

Reply 1

Opalfruit

Basically, helpful means helpful not essential. Not having it shouldn't prevent you from getting in if you are good in other ways and it is probably better to do well in your other subjects and not do maths than try and take maths and struggle with them all. However, if you think you really want to go to Oxford, you may need to try and do the maths AS, or else you'll be forever wondering whether or not it will/ did effect your chances of getting in. I personally suggest not doing it if you think it will spoil your A-level experience and just concentrate on other universities (does Cambridge ask for it for example). Finally you could consider not doing the maths AS, but see if you could find any other maths type courses/extra curricular type things which could help you keep on top of your maths and can put on your application form. Good Luck with whatever you chose to do.

Reply 2

alispam

Hiya, Im an Oxford biochemist. Basically when they say 'helpful' it depends on which college you are applying to. Some colleges e.g. Trinity probably wont take you without it, but yet others (e.g. exeter where i am) really dont require it and it wont affect your application at all.

For the actual course it is useful to have done AS maths as the prelim paper in the first year is pretty much AS maths. It just makes things easier if you've already done it. But plenty of biochemists havent done maths at all.

Reply 3

tomo89

Another Oxford biochemist here. I'd suggest that you do AS Maths, though you will have a good chance of getting in without it. I only had GCSE maths, and feel as though AS should be an entrance requirement as the first terms maths lectures seem to assume AS knowledge.

In short - doing maths for AS will make your 1st year a lot easier if you do get in.

Reply 4

ClaireHogben

not there yet but i have an offer for biochem at brasenose. i think the maths could be quite a key factor as people were asked maths questions at interview. Most people tend to assume that they need maths so take it so you'd probably be one of the only ones without it, although it may not necessarily harm your chances.

with the no. of applications going up every year then i would definately reccommend taking a "helpful" subject

Reply 5

ixivxivi

Hmm, I suppose it depends a lot on colleges, I got asked very little maths (and muddled it up immensely, informing the interviewers that 20/2 is 1/2, or something retarded like that, but got told straight away they wouldn't hold it against me). There's about ~20ish at rough estimate who only seem to have GCSE maths, a good bunch that have AS level and the rest with the full A level. People with just GCSE can find it a little difficult, since you effectively do the entire A-level syllabus in the first term, so doing some extra maths could be useful, BUT it's not a requirement.

(although, as alispam says, do please check on the college websites what their individual takes on the matter is)