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How necassary is Further Maths for Engineering/Physics?
It seems so early to be thinking about this but these choices always seem to come far too early. Anyway, at Uni I'd probably like to study Physics or Engineering - preferably at a University such as Bristol which as it is known for its Engineering facilities has quite difficult entry requirements.
I am soon going to have to decide on A Level options and am almost definately going to take Maths, Physics and Chemistry which hopefully I should do OK in as they are some of my stronger subjects. We also have to take Critical Thinking to at least AS level but I will probably take it all the way to A level as it can be useful for Uni applications. This leaves me with one option slot open and for that I am really stuck. There are a few subjects I would like to take, for example English Lit or Economics to have a break from the intense maths from the others. However, I've heard that Further Maths is a must-have for getting into a good course in a decent University, could someone tell me how important it really is? I don't mind taking it if it is that important but obviously narrowing down choices is difficult at this point.
I am soon going to have to decide on A Level options and am almost definately going to take Maths, Physics and Chemistry which hopefully I should do OK in as they are some of my stronger subjects. We also have to take Critical Thinking to at least AS level but I will probably take it all the way to A level as it can be useful for Uni applications. This leaves me with one option slot open and for that I am really stuck. There are a few subjects I would like to take, for example English Lit or Economics to have a break from the intense maths from the others. However, I've heard that Further Maths is a must-have for getting into a good course in a decent University, could someone tell me how important it really is? I don't mind taking it if it is that important but obviously narrowing down choices is difficult at this point.
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Me and my brother have just got into Cambridge for Engineering with single Maths, so it is by no means an impossibility. Most universities will be happy to take engineers without further maths, but I'd certainly recommend taking at least an AS in it. If you are not choosing further maths because you think it will be too difficult, then perhaps you should consider if it will be the right course for you?
In general though, taking further maths is not a necessity. It is simply considered desirable for an applicant to have. If you perform well in A Level Single Maths, getting into a good university will not be a problem at all!
Also, critical thinking is considered by many of the top universities as a 'soft' A level and so will not necessarily be a great help for entry into engineering.
Hope that helps!
In general though, taking further maths is not a necessity. It is simply considered desirable for an applicant to have. If you perform well in A Level Single Maths, getting into a good university will not be a problem at all!
Also, critical thinking is considered by many of the top universities as a 'soft' A level and so will not necessarily be a great help for entry into engineering.
Hope that helps!
Further Maths is extremely useful for engineering whereas Critical Thinking is of no use whatsoever.
And being able to spell necessary would be even better!
I'm a second year engineer at the moment and it's certainly not a bad idea. It'll make your first year easier if you're revising stuff rather than learning from scratch! (More time for recovering from hangovers!) I find maths really difficult (I had to retake my A levels to scrape a B) but I can kinda get through these days. I don't know what's in further maths but it will probably be useful - so far at least we've not done much that I would call mechanics rather than pure.
further maths is fun =]
you should definately take it, lets you take more modules in different areas of maths etc, i find it quite interesting, and the 'further pure' modules aren't particulary hard.
and critical thinking, is pointless... but if you get high grades in it, you might as well take it on to a'level..... i personally sucked in it greatly...
you should definately take it, lets you take more modules in different areas of maths etc, i find it quite interesting, and the 'further pure' modules aren't particulary hard.
and critical thinking, is pointless... but if you get high grades in it, you might as well take it on to a'level..... i personally sucked in it greatly...
From what I've gathered:
The further Maths syllabus will be covered in your first term. It will go very quickly and presumably most of it will be in lecture form rather than conventional lessons. This could obviously be quite tricky.
If you have the oppertunity to do Further I think it's a very good idea to do it. For one thing it's exceptionally good fun
The further Maths syllabus will be covered in your first term. It will go very quickly and presumably most of it will be in lecture form rather than conventional lessons. This could obviously be quite tricky.
If you have the oppertunity to do Further I think it's a very good idea to do it. For one thing it's exceptionally good fun
Do it. Honestly, you'll find Maths at University so much easier if you can get through Further Maths. From what I've found, those who did not do Further Maths struggled with Maths in their first year (and in the subsequent years) but those who did Further Maths found the first year Maths boring but managed to get through with 80% minimums. So do it...it'll make life a lot easier for yourself, and you'll find that a lot of stuff you learn now you'll draw upon when you get to it at University level (heck, I've still yet to cover complex transformations and I'm a 2nd year!) which will make learning it just that much easier.
I teacher at my college said to me a friend of his worked at a uni engineering department, and basically, at the start of the first year you can easily tell who did further maths but at the end of the year you can't. If you don't do further maths top unis will want another way of making sure your mathematical ability is good enough - I know some colleges at Cambridge ask you to sit the AEA maths if you don't do further maths. In my opinion, if you're good at maths, you won't find it too much of a burden.
tuesday91
...
You are going to be incredibly unique in the engineering field for oh so many reasons if your profile is what I'm reading here...(in a good way!)
I hope this is the way our field is going!
Some advice...yes, do further maths. It made my life easier for sure.
hi, i'll be starting aero eng this autumn but i wasn't able to do further maths becuase it wasn't offered at my school.
for those who are currently at uni doing aero without f.maths, how much harder will the first year be for me,realistically, especially at a good uni?
for those who are currently at uni doing aero without f.maths, how much harder will the first year be for me,realistically, especially at a good uni?
If you don't do further maths when it is offered by your school, some universities will not be very happy and you would be disadvantaged. Critical thinking is of no account whatever.
thespacedonkey
hi, i'll be starting aero eng this autumn but i wasn't able to do further maths becuase it wasn't offered at my school.
for those who are currently at uni doing aero without f.maths, how much harder will the first year be for me,realistically, especially at a good uni?
for those who are currently at uni doing aero without f.maths, how much harder will the first year be for me,realistically, especially at a good uni?
Significantly harder. University courses typically cover A level material in less than a term so you'll be working on new and harder maths with only a sixth of the time you would have had at A level to understand it.
I am at Southampton university which like Bristol is one of the best in the country for enigneering and in our first year maths I dont think they really assumed any prior knowledge above AS levle standard. So in that respect further maths is not neccisery at all, you will find yourself covering that matireal in your second semester of first year. Having done it already will make that module easy for you and mean that you probably go away with it more secure inside your memory since you have covered it more times. You will also learn things we do not learn at university since at university you only have time to learn what is the most relivant to engineering, ie calculus, vectors, transforms, matrices and not much else. Chances are that wheather or not you take further maths, it wont make a very big diffrence to you.
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