Gap Year, Aeronautical Engineering... HELP!!!!

Hey there.

Well I start university this coming September and already have my unconditional for the course.

I'm going to be doing Aeronautical Engineering at the University Of Glasgow.

The thing is, I got the grades i needed from my 5th year of high school (AAAAB in Maths, English, Geography, Computing and Physics respectively), and therefore didn't go on to do a 6th year. Instead I took a gap year, and now i'm getting nervous.

During my gap year I haven't been doing any academic work whatsoever and i'm beginning to fear that i'll struggle at uni because i've been out of it for so long.

My main concern is in maths. Maths is the only subject that i'll be doing in first year university that I done previously in high school. So I know that the other subjects will be easy to get into because everyone will be as new to it as me and have no previous expierence in it. However, with maths I've got a feeling that they'll assume prior knowledge of the subject and rely on it for success in the class. And while I do have prio knowledge of Higher level mathematics and done considerably well in my exam for it, i've been away from it for 8 months or so now and know that I don't remember a vast majority of it.

So is this the case? When i start uni will my mathematics classes basically start where high school left off? Or will they assume that some people may have been away from it for a while and ease us into it gently?

Also I'm kind of worried about physics too? Will that be the same? I know there's no class called Physics in the cirriculum, but would my knowledge of higher physics be expected for classes like fluid dynamics etc?

I have recently went out and bought all the Higher mathematics materials to try and re-teach myself the course and get up to date for going into uni, but I've hard getting motivated to study for it because i've already sat and passed the exam and I don't have anything to study towards if you know what I mean.

So would I have to relearn it all or am i fussing over nothing?

Thanks in advance!

Regards

Mush.

Reply 1

Scuttle

It clearly works differently in scotland, but I am now in my first year of Aeronautical Engineering at an english university having gone through the english further education system.
Aero is all maths. Maths maths maths maths maths. Every module, excluding something like aircraft sytems (if you do that) will just basically be maths.
Now in my case I have a load of modules (Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Mechanics, Mechanics of Materials and so on) which require proficiency in algebra/calculus/vectors/matrices mostly. Then I have pure maths modules, which are around the further maths level for first year.
Im hoping you have a good enough understanding of the english system considering the amount of chat that goes on here about it.
You are obviously a bright person, and I do not think that you wont be able to cope with the material. That said, the fact you have not done any for a year might make it more of struggle for the first month or two (but in my opinion i'd forgotten all my A levels over summer before going to uni despite having no gap year).
I would say do not worry, and that you should be able to cope with the material - however Aeronautical is no easy degree. The material can be hard and there is lots of it, so if you are having a hard time well its par for the course.

Oh sorry forgot to say, physics. It's not taught seperately, its basically assumed knowledge but you wont need any of that nuclear physics (shame as its the best bit) or that stuff.
If its anything like my course the main things are electrical circuits, gas laws, particles and that jazz. Obviously the laws of motion are used heavily as you might expect.

Reply 2

rich_greeny

I don't think they guy above can explain it any better. Engineering is plain and simply maths based. If you've chosen engineering to write essays, then you've got the wrong idea, but if you've got a logical head and you're willing to put the time in to learn calculus, then you should be ok. You'll have a massive long summer anyway, so learn it up during then!

I'm not a natural mathematician so i do find it tough at times, just as an idea, but i would make use of your gap year and learn up on your maths good. I'm really quite surprised that they've accepted you on the course not having had a mathematics background, since there's a reason for it! :s-smilie:

As for physics, i found it pretty much useless at uni, perhaps it's got some underlying principles that i wasn't aware of (probably because i did mechanics modules in maths at a level). In my first year, they taught a lot of a level maths, within the space of 2 semesters to get everyone upto the same level, but the pace was fairly rapid, but physics modules were only really covered in statics and dynamics mechanics modules, where you applied newton's laws of mechanics, but that was about it.

HTH, any other questions, send me a message.

Reply 3

Mush

OP

17

rich_greeny

I don't think they guy above can explain it any better. Engineering is plain and simply maths based. If you've chosen engineering to write essays, then you've got the wrong idea, but if you've got a logical head and you're willing to put the time in to learn calculus, then you should be ok. You'll have a massive long summer anyway, so learn it up during then!

I'm not a natural mathematician so i do find it tough at times, just as an idea, but i would make use of your gap year and learn up on your maths good. I'm really quite surprised that they've accepted you on the course not having had a mathematics background, since there's a reason for it! :s-smilie:

As for physics, i found it pretty much useless at uni, perhaps it's got some underlying principles that i wasn't aware of (probably because i did mechanics modules in maths at a level). In my first year, they taught a lot of a level maths, within the space of 2 semesters to get everyone upto the same level, but the pace was fairly rapid, but physics modules were only really covered in statics and dynamics mechanics modules, where you applied newton's laws of mechanics, but that was about it.

HTH, any other questions, send me a message.

I am fully aware of what an engineering course entails. Yes, it's extremely mathematical and requires a great deal of logic etc. I did know what I was getting myself into when I selected the course. I just didn't expect to lose so much of what I've already learned over my gap year.

I do have a mathematics background as far as academic qualifications go. For me to meet my conditions required that I get an A in higher mathematics, which is the Scottish Equivelant of A-Level. And I did get an A in mathematics.

I am quite natural with maths, I've always been logical and great with numbers. During my higher course it all came naturally to me and i found it really easy to learn and understand all the principles etc.

However, it's just the fact that I've been away from it for so long.

I've no doubt that once i get back into the academic swing of things then I'll be able to pick maths back up quite quickly as I go along. But obviously i'll be a bit rusty, and i'm worried that it might hold me back or make me struggle beyond what I can cope with.

Reply 4

rich_greeny

Mush

I am fully aware of what an engineering course entails. Yes, it's extremely mathematical and requires a great deal of logic etc. I did know what I was getting myself into when I selected the course. I just didn't expect to lose so much of what I've already learned over my gap year.

I do have a mathematics background as far as academic qualifications go. For me to meet my conditions required that I get an A in higher mathematics, which is the Scottish Equivelant of A-Level. And I did get an A in mathematics.

I am quite natural with maths, I've always been logical and great with numbers. During my higher course it all came naturally to me and i found it really easy to learn and understand all the principles etc.

However, it's just the fact that I've been away from it for so long.

I've no doubt that once i get back into the academic swing of things then I'll be able to pick maths back up quite quickly as I go along. But obviously i'll be a bit rusty, and i'm worried that it might hold me back or make me struggle beyond what I can cope with.

Apologies, i'm not 100% on how the Scottish system works, i probably miss read your first post too! When i hit first year, it'd been 3 months since i'd looked at any mathematics, so i found it a struggle trying to remember particular techniques, like sequences and series, but it did start to trickle back. I would strongly recommend you look back at your notes just before you go back so that everything thats thrown at you doesn't feel completely new, otherwise everything else that builds ontop of the maths building blocks will become very tricky.

Gap Year, Aeronautical Engineering... HELP!!!!

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