University of Durham Credits System and Module Options

Hey, so hopefully I'll be going off to Durham to do maths this coming October

But I was just looking at the module system / options and have 2 questions:

http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/faculty.handbook/degrees/frameworks/g103.pdf


(i) Is it possible to take extra modules/credits? There are so many interesting modules that I would probably like to take on a few extra. Is this possible?

(ii) There are lists of modules in the above link which are offered in alternating years. What's up with that? Does that mean I would miss out on studying something I really wanted to such as number theory / elliptic functions / relativity just because I joined in an odd/even year?!?!

*Nerd problems, I know *

Thanks

You have to do 120 credits a year if you're a full time student though there's nothing stopping you going to lectures in other modules if they don't clash...apparently a lot of maths students do this for the first few weeks of term if they struggle choosing.

A lot of maths modules are basically for 3rd and 4th year students so are available in alternate years so you get to do them in either your 3rd or 4th year depending on which year they're offered. Admittedly this could be annoying if you're on the 3 yr maths course but I think most mathematicians do 4 yrs so it's not often a problem and there are so many modules to choose from you should be able to find 6 you like the sound of each year.

Ahh brilliant, that makes sense. Thanks! Are there any people who have done things like sit a 2nd year module in the 1st year or 3rd in the 2nd etc / would that be allowed?

Some degrees let you take one module from the year below (eg one level 1 module in second year) but I don't think maths lets you do that, you have to choose from the modules listed in the link you posted.

You definitely can't take modules from the year above as you need to do specific prerequisite modules to be able to understand the later years' modules (eg you would need year 2 statistics to be able to do the year 3 statistics module).

Some degrees let you take one module from the year below (eg one level 1 module in second year) but I don't think maths lets you do that, you have to choose from the modules listed in the link you posted.

You definitely can't take modules from the year above as you need to do specific prerequisite modules to be able to understand the later years' modules (eg you would need year 2 statistics to be able to do the year 3 statistics module).

Apart from Warwick is there any uni's which give you 1st year module options in and also allow you to over cat?