Is further maths essential for physics?

I've been hearing that further maths is essential for studying physics at uni and wanted to know if it's actually true. Also, is it possible to self teach all of the units?

I'm doing AS physics, maths, history and chemistry this year, but I'm also sitting A2 maths this year. I plan to drop history so it'll give me time for further maths if need be.

Reply 1

h8skoooooool

No it isn't essential, but it is highly desirable and would definitely give you a boost on your application if you're applying to a top university like imperial.

I'm current doing triple science and maths at AS, but I am also self teaching further maths. If you want to self teach, speak to your maths teacher about it to see what support is available and if they think you can handle it. I also want to apply for a physics degree too btw :wink:

If you're doing the whole maths a level this year then maybe do further maths next year after you drop history, it sounds like you'll have the time to manage it tbh. Or perhaps start looking at the further maths material now to get a head start :biggrin:

Reply 2

shawn_o1

Further Maths certainly helps but is not required except for the best Physics uni's. And yes, you can learn pretty much all the modules yourself if you wanted to but it'll take a lot of dedication.

Reply 3

High Stakes

If you're aiming for top universities. It's almost a prerequisite.

Reply 4

TunaTunnel

Unless you're going down the theoretical route a physics degree doesnt really have that much mathematics. You'll spend most of your time solving equations, using matrices, and eigenvectors/values or solving differentials.

First/second year will cover all the mathematics you will need.

Just for the reference, all of the above posters are A-level students and I'm doing my 4th year of physics at a top uni.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 5

Arbolus

If you have the option to study further maths, and you don't take it, it will put your application at an enormous disadvantage. Not just because you're missing out on things which will be very useful for a degree, but because they'll be worried that it's a sign you're just not interested enough in maths.

The latter point is probably the more important. In any undergraduate physics course, the first year and a half or so is mainly applied maths, learning the tools and tricks which will allow you to understand the physics.

Reply 6

Absent Agent

Original post by TunaTunnel

How many hours did you have to learn Mathematics during the first two years?

Reply 7

TunaTunnel

Original post by Mehrdad jafari

How many hours did you have to learn Mathematics during the first two years?

A lot, I took 3 modules.

Reply 8

Absent Agent

Original post by TunaTunnel

A lot, I took 3 modules.

Would you be able to tell me all the modules offered? I would really appreciate it

Reply 9

TunaTunnel

Original post by Mehrdad jafari

Would you be able to tell me all the modules offered? I would really appreciate it

https://www.dur.ac.uk/faculty.handbook/module_description/?module_code=MATH1561

https://www.dur.ac.uk/faculty.handbook/module_description/?module_code=MATH1571

https://www.dur.ac.uk/physics/modules/2014/phys1141/

Reply 10

TeeEm

for top universities and if you have high standards yourself is a MUST

Reply 11

bobbybob12

Original post by peanutbutterjam

For oxbridge, imperial, durham - the top universities for physics YES, highly recommend but not essential, if you will easily get an A* in single then you should be fine. Maybe you could self study M3 and/or FP1/2/3 modules as they are the only further ones which would actually help for your degree - your first year will be further maths effectively in maths.

Reply 12

username807367

Just finished second year of my physics degree, in terms of making your application look good, further maths is great. In terms of actually helping you in the degree, not so much. The maths lectures are pretty comprehensive (at least at my uni) and they assume that there are some people who haven't done the stuff before so they are geared towards teaching you the maths not just reviewing it or using it slightly differently. I did AS further maths for a week before I quit because I hated the teacher so I was a bit worried about the maths content at uni but I picked up all the further maths stuff pretty easily. Also for the record I had a bit of a wobble in A2 maths but after 2 years of uni I can tell you all the bits I was rubbish at (mainly trig, show that this=that questions), have literally never come up.

From my experience, I would say the fact that you're doing chemistry will be much more helpful to you than further maths because there was a lot of stuff in a few modules that was kind of mentioned briefly and glossed over but never explained to a beginner like the maths was. So as someone who dropped chemistry at GSCE to suddenly be confronted with bonding and shell configurations was awful. I really struggled with the chemistry part because I hadn't done any in over 2 years whereas the people who did it at A level were sat back barely paying any attention because they remembered it all from their A level! Thankfully during last semester's revision sessions one of my friends took pity on me and gave me a crash course in everything I needed to know from A level chemistry, a few tricks for how to remember certain things and how they related to the particular module I was struggling in.