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Chemistry Research, Durham University
Durham University
Durham
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Physics at Durham?!?!

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Probably. He's a latin type. Cosmologist.

Hell of a guy. Been on quite a few shows, and always entertaining. Just wish I could have caught all of it.
Chemistry Research, Durham University
Durham University
Durham
Reply 41
Avatar for briggfoot
briggfoot
OP
Cheers for the help Matt and the rest. The banter is a laugh too :biggrin:
Would it be fairly straightforward to switch from a physics to a physics with maths course at the end of the 1st year? IIRC, then the prospectus says it is?!

all the best
briggfoot
i don't know what "IIRC" means, but if you took the core maths options, in a physics course, then it's fine, not too sure about if you take single maths a&b though.
I dont think you could realistically switch if you only did a&b instead of the core options. Even switching from the core options, you're still a module behind mathsci people, who have 2 core modules and basic physics to study.

You'd certainly have to do extra work over the summer.
Reply 44
Avatar for Sebby
Sebby
Hello all. this is a question for physics freshers who have had a look at the maths workbook. In the first question in the book (matching graphs to functions) it would appear that graph 1 and graph 12 are the same. Meaning there is no graph for f4(x)=¦3-x¦. Have I missed something or has anyone else spotted this?
Reply 45
Avatar for Jonesy05
Jonesy05
Yeah I noticed that as well, it's probably just a printing error.
It's the same booklet as last year, it's a mistake, the same as last year. Don't worry about it, and I don't really know why you're bothering to do it anyway, it's just boring and pointless, and probably difficult if you've done no algebra for 3 months.
We had none of this "booklet" noncing about in my day. We just turned up and got into some maths hardcore style.

Better calibre of students, of course.
Reply 48
Avatar for Piggsil
Piggsil
16
morals_officer
We had none of this "booklet" noncing about in my day. We just turned up and got into some maths hardcore style.

Better calibre of students, of course.

I bet your A levels were harder than ours too.... :rolleyes:
Of course they were, you don't think the UMS system actually means anything other than a fiddle-factor for the government to say how much grades should improve by. Kids getting brighter every year is about as realistic as Soviet boot factories producing 15.7 Billion boots a year by the end of a "seven year plan".
The only exam system not rigged* is the University exam system, since the Universities want their degrees to be worth more than the paper they're printed on.



*much
Reply 50
Avatar for Piggsil
Piggsil
16
There are lots of possible reasons exam results are getting better and better.

-teaching is improving
-kids are working harder (not neccessarily getting brighter)
-learning is tailored to the exam
-people are taking more 'doss subjects'
Pff. There is no viable reason to say why exam results are improving other that the fact that the system is rigged. The fact that there are several exam boards, all competing to show who gets the best results hardly helps. The large amount of material cut from the syllabus (eg maths) also helps. And loads of universities now complain that first year is essentially an excercise in standardising pupil knowledge, which is hardly an ideal state of affairs.

I mean, my high school experience hardly suggested that everyone was a budding genius. I refuse to believe that straight rises in pass rates for 15 years are to do with the students.
yeah, of course.
If any of those was the case, then there would be drops every now and then in the pass-rate or average pointscore or whatever.
Learning has been tailored to the exams for years, and the "doss subjects" are only "doss" because the answers to the questions are subjective. In Physics and Maths (etc), you can say whether an answer is right or wrong, but in arts and essay-based subjects it goes on how the "Grade descriptions" are interpreted. "Competently uses quotations" could mean that the candidate has to be able to use 2 quotations in the essay and comment on them, or, it could mean that the candidate has to use quotations to back up every point he makes, and then comment on them in a terse and cogent manner, showing that he understands implied meanings and subtlities..
Teaching may well be improving (but the red tape around it isn't), kids may be trying harder (or sitting in the back of lessons chatting, like kids have done since time immemorial, Plato and Shakespeare both described reluctant scholars), and more doss subjects may be taken (see prev. post), but that still doesn't mean the system isn't rigged.
And maths and the sciences have been ravaged. Theres nowt in the syllabus worth learning. Teaching you about black holes at GCSE for christs sake. You don't even know about newtons laws at that point!
Reply 55
Avatar for Sebby
Sebby
Mattmoy_2000
It's the same booklet as last year, it's a mistake, the same as last year. Don't worry about it, and I don't really know why you're bothering to do it anyway, it's just boring and pointless, and probably difficult if you've done no algebra for 3 months.


I am doing it precisely because I have done no algebra for 3 months...........but thanks anyway
Teaching you about black holes at GCSE for christs sake. You don't even know about newtons laws at that point!

Exactly, how is a 15 year old supposed to understand the concept of singularity, without knowing any real physics whatsoever?
Reply 57
Avatar for Piggsil
Piggsil
16
Mattmoy_2000
Exactly, how is a 15 year old supposed to understand the concept of singularity, without knowing any real physics whatsoever?

That's why I got 24/50 in my Physics GCSE then........ :redface:

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