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Studying Civil Engineering without Maths or Physics Alevel

Hey guys,

I started University studying Business law and Philosophy, I’ve done A Levels in Business, Philosophy and English Literature. However, I took a gap year and did a placement in civil engineering and construction and I really loved it and wanted to get in to the industry. I’ve seen online some university will let students on a course without maths or physics alevel would I be to hard to start at such a high level ?
(edited 4 years ago)
No, otherwise they wouldn't waste everyone's time by letting you on the course without them. You typically repeat the relevant a level stuff in first year.
Reply 2
You could do a foundation year.
Reply 3
Original post by ajj2000
You could do a foundation year.

I only get 4 year’s student finance funding so I don’t think I can :frown:
Reply 4
Original post by Karlah
I only get 4 year’s student finance funding so I don’t think I can :frown:

I think it might be worth checking - you generally (in England) get length of course plus one 'free' year. So you if look for an 'engineering beng with foundation year' its a 4 year course and you use the one year you have done as a 'free year'. The same would apply if you took a 5 year MENG course.
Reply 5
That sounds really good, I’m definitely going to look in to it. Thank you so much for the information you provided, I really appreciate it
personally I think knowledge in physics and maths is needed cuz that's very much used in all aspects of engineering. It's not impossible to do but you definitely need to put your head in maths and physics books to get on the level that you need to be on. If you don't like maths or you're not good at it, then it will be difficult I must say. I'm assuming you only done maths up to GCSE level which is very basic compared to A level maths. The guy above is right in saying that they start off with the relevant A level maths stuff but then they expand it to harder maths later. A level maths is then the 'basics' which they build on so you definitely need to learn it quickly.

From personal experience, I've seen mates who didn't do maths in A levels (although they did engineering in college without much maths) and they struggled with it, most of them had to retake the maths exam and some changed course (similar course - more to do with management in engineering - which doesn't have the maths module in year 2) to avoid doing the maths.

Long story short, your abilities in maths need to strong otherwise you'll find it difficult. For physics, you can get away with learning the theory most the time but again, it requires maths to solve the problems, especially in mechanics problems.
Reply 7
Thank you that was explained very clearly, yes I’ve only done Maths to GCSE level, as I’m 21 I haven’t looked at Maths for quite some time so I’ll probably need lots of support. I was even thinking about going down the apprenticeship route but if I did I’ll be starting at level 3, which means i can only qualify to be an engineer by the time I’m around 27/28. That’s why I wanted to look in to going straight for the degree but don’t want to set myself up for failure.
Yes I was told I could do it without Maths or physics but as the maths is quite hard it will be sleepless nights, begging lectures for help and all around working hard.
I have to make a decision in a couple days if you was in my position what would do?
Reply 8
Original post by Karlah
Thank you that was explained very clearly, yes I’ve only done Maths to GCSE level, as I’m 21 I haven’t looked at Maths for quite some time so I’ll probably need lots of support. I was even thinking about going down the apprenticeship route but if I did I’ll be starting at level 3, which means i can only qualify to be an engineer by the time I’m around 27/28. That’s why I wanted to look in to going straight for the degree but don’t want to set myself up for failure.
Yes I was told I could do it without Maths or physics but as the maths is quite hard it will be sleepless nights, begging lectures for help and all around working hard.
I have to make a decision in a couple days if you was in my position what would do?

Depends. Do you like your current course? If you took a foundation year and didn't like engineering could you go back to it?

Edit to add - I wouldnt risk going straight to first year without a maths/ physics background. Too big a risk.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by Karlah
Hey guys,

I started University studying Business law and Philosophy, I’ve done A Levels in Business, Philosophy and English Literature. However, I took a gap year and did a placement in civil engineering and construction and I really loved it and wanted to get in to the industry. I’ve seen online some university will let students on a course without maths or physics alevel would I be to hard to start at such a high level ?


Which university? The only one I am aware of that does this is UCL.
Reply 10
sorry for the late reply but University of East London do a course a bsc civil engineering course that you don’t need maths or physics as you start from GCSE level maths and physics and work your way up
Reply 11
Original post by Karlah
Hey guys,

I started University studying Business law and Philosophy, I’ve done A Levels in Business, Philosophy and English Literature. However, I took a gap year and did a placement in civil engineering and construction and I really loved it and wanted to get in to the industry. I’ve seen online some university will let students on a course without maths or physics alevel would I be to hard to start at such a high level ?

I have just finished third year civil engineering and I don't have physics a level, but I have maths. The only physics I've come across really is statics and a basic understanding of forces, moments etc. These were introduced in the first year of the course, but remain a key part to solving some questions as you progress.
Reply 12
thank you for the information you provided, was it difficult to grasp the concepts of physics or would you say it was easy?
Also did having the maths alevel help you a lot ?
Reply 13
Original post by Karlah
thank you for the information you provided, was it difficult to grasp the concepts of physics or would you say it was easy?
Also did having the maths alevel help you a lot ?

Maths is a compulsory module in first year (and/or second year) depending on the university. Having a level maths is helpful as you'll understand concepts better. The maths module at the beginning of first year is a recap of a level stuff, then as you progress the content dives into further maths, then first year undergrad (though this not the same rigour as in a maths degree). Maths is used in all subsequent years.

The only 'physics' I learned were the basic concepts of statics, moments, forces. The concepts are applied in questions in subsequent years e.g. after obtaining the results of a finite element model of a truss using software, you should verify the results from the software using hand calculations; here you will use these concepts of statics and moments etc to obtain the member forces for example.

There may be applied questions in the math module(s) that relate to physics (such as differential equations), but other than that, that is it.. nothing too difficult to grasp
(edited 4 years ago)

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