Shoot for the Stars

Original post by Skiwi

I originally wanted to do astro, but turning points has actually been really interesting. What offers have you got?

I haven't applied to uni this year

Reply 22

OP

Original post by summerbirdreads

I haven't applied to uni this year

Fair enough, what are your plans then? Gap year and apply next year, or go for an apprenticeship. ( I'm assuming your yr13 if you're not ignore me lmao)

Reply 23

Original post by Skiwi

Fair enough, what are your plans then? Gap year and apply next year, or go for an apprenticeship. ( I'm assuming your yr13 if you're not ignore me lmao)

I'm taking a gap year because of health problems. I'll apply this autumn for physics :biggrin:

Reply 24

OP

Original post by summerbirdreads

I'm taking a gap year because of health problems. I'll apply this autumn for physics :biggrin:

Good luck with that then, where you thinking of applying to? Or do you not know?

Reply 25

Original post by Skiwi

Good luck with that then, where you thinking of applying to? Or do you not know?

Cam, St A, Edi, Glasgow and Warwick.

Are you firming Warwick?

Reply 26

OP

Original post by summerbirdreads

Cam, St A, Edi, Glasgow and Warwick.

Are you firming Warwick?

Yes. I've thought about it properly and the difference between Warwick and cam/Oxford isn't so large that I want to take a while year out. The only thing that might make me go somewhere else is if I get into cam through the summer pool, and even then I might not go because the Warwick course is more flexible.

Reply 27

Original post by Skiwi

Yes. I've thought about it properly and the difference between Warwick and cam/Oxford isn't so large that I want to take a while year out. The only thing that might make me go somewhere else is if I get into cam through the summer pool, and even then I might not go because the Warwick course is more flexible.

I totally get you. Cam/Ox really isn't the be all end all, Warwick is one of the best in the country for maths, good luck!

Reply 28

Cupcakes12

18

Original post by Skiwi

Shoot for the Stars

A very late GYG post but seeing as A-levels are just around the corner and my revision has been almost non-existent I thought I would start one to keep me motivated.

-A bit about me-

I'm in Yr13 and studying Maths(Edexcel), Further Maths(Edexcel) and Physics(AQA).
I'm taking Turning Points as the optional module in Physics and M1/M2 as the optional modules in FM.
I play a lot of chess in my spare time( although I'm still not very good) so if anyone else plays let me know and we can play sometime.

-How its going-

Yr13 Mock results-

•

Maths: Oct-92%, March-95%

•

Further Maths: Oct-90%, March-97%

•

Physics: Oct-82%, March-81%

Extra Competitions-

•

SMC: Gold

•

Maths Kangaroo: Merit

•

Physics Olympiad: Bronze( was 1 or 2 marks off a silver apparently :mad: )

University-

•

Cambridge Natural Sciences : rejected after interview and still waiting on feedback, though i'm guessing the main reason was a poor section 2 in the NSAA (3.5). This one hurt as it would have been my first choice :frown: .

•

Imperial Physics with Theoretical Physics : rejected, not too sad about this one as i had already decided i probably wasn't going to go, but a rejection still hurts especially as i'm not exactly sure how i could have improved my application.

•

Warwick Maths and Physics : Accepted, Most likely my firm choice as i'm still a bit unsure on which subject i would enjoy more at uni.

•

Manchester Physics with Theoretical Physics : Accepted.

•

Southampton Physics with Maths : My insurance Choice.

-Goals-

Minimum Grades A*AA with A* in maths, i need this for both warwick and manchester so this is the lowest i can get.
Aiming for A*A*A*, mainly a pride thing honestly but as i also qualify for Cambridge's august reconsideration pool i want to get the highest grades possible, even if its a pipedream.
Not school related but want to hit 1600 blitz on chess.com by the end of summer.

Nice to find another GYG of someone doing maths and further maths. Further maths is hardcore so I feel like we need to support each other lol. Although I do FS1 and D1 not mechanics.

What's your favourite bit of maths? Mine's differential equations I think.

Reply 29

OP

Original post by Cupcakes12

Nice to find another GYG of someone doing maths and further maths. Further maths is hardcore so I feel like we need to support each other lol. Although I do FS1 and D1 not mechanics.

What's your favourite bit of maths? Mine's differential equations I think.

How do you find Fs1 and d1? I don't know anyone who does either.

I don't really have a favorite bit tbh, if i had to pick some topics then:
Complex numbers, Differential equations, Hyperbolic functions, Proof by induction, vectors and all the integration.

Reply 30

OP

Original post by summerbirdreads

I totally get you. Cam/Ox really isn't the be all end all, Warwick is one of the best in the country for maths, good luck!

Thanks

, good luck next year on the nsaa. Its the part that i messed up

Reply 31

Cupcakes12

18

Original post by Skiwi

How do you find Fs1 and d1? I don't know anyone who does either.

I don't really have a favorite bit tbh, if i had to pick some topics then:
Complex numbers, Differential equations, Hyperbolic functions, Proof by induction, vectors and all the integration.

D1 is fantastic, it has a little bit of overlap with computer science which I enjoy. It is quite wordy but alot of fun. I also quite like FS1, there's a few more distributions we learn and then things like probability generating functions which are cool. It's all theoretical statistics and probability rather than looking at data sets which is good I think.

Honestly the combo of modules suits me well because I am gonna go to uni to do maths and computer science, and then probably go into something like data analysis, so I love it!

Reply 32

OP

Original post by Cupcakes12

D1 is fantastic, it has a little bit of overlap with computer science which I enjoy. It is quite wordy but alot of fun. I also quite like FS1, there's a few more distributions we learn and then things like probability generating functions which are cool. It's all theoretical statistics and probability rather than looking at data sets which is good I think.

Honestly the combo of modules suits me well because I am gonna go to uni to do maths and computer science, and then probably go into something like data analysis, so I love it!

Sounds like i might have actually enjoyed FS1 then, my favorite parts of it in normal maths are the two distributions we do. What unis if you don't mind me asking?

Reply 33

Original post by Skiwi

Thanks

, good luck next year on the nsaa. Its the part that i messed up

How did you prepare for NSAA? what did you do for PS if you don't mind me asking?

Reply 34

OP

Original post by summerbirdreads

How did you prepare for NSAA? what did you do for PS if you don't mind me asking?

tbh barely anything, which is the main reason i didn't do that well in the physics sections ( 4.0 and 3.5). I only started preparing once i sent my application off as before then i had been thinking of applying for maths so was preparing for the mat. So i only did the past papers available and then making sure my a-level knowledge was good.

I would recommend doing engaa and bmat section 2 past papers first as the styles are very similar(same spec) and then you can leave the past papers for timed mocks. Make sure you have a good time strategy as well. I got thrown off by how much time i wasted on reading questions in the physics section that i only left myself 20min for the maths section . In hindsight should have moved to maths once 30min had passed or maybe even earlier as it was by far my strongest section (5.9).

My PS wasn't anything special, i mentioned a couple of books i had read and spoke about a black hole mooc i did over lockdown. Then just mentioned a couple of things i did outside of school: piano, chess etc

Reply 35

Original post by Skiwi

tbh barely anything, which is the main reason i didn't do that well in the physics sections ( 4.0 and 3.5). I only started preparing once i sent my application off as before then i had been thinking of applying for maths so was preparing for the mat. So i only did the past papers available and then making sure my a-level knowledge was good.

I would recommend doing engaa and bmat section 2 past papers first as the styles are very similar(same spec) and then you can leave the past papers for timed mocks. Make sure you have a good time strategy as well. I got thrown off by how much time i wasted on reading questions in the physics section that i only left myself 20min for the maths section . In hindsight should have moved to maths once 30min had passed or maybe even earlier as it was by far my strongest section (5.9).

My PS wasn't anything special, i mentioned a couple of books i had read and spoke about a black hole mooc i did over lockdown. Then just mentioned a couple of things i did outside of school: piano, chess etc

Would you recommend doing PAT papers for practice as well? What books did you read? again, sorry for bothering you

Reply 36

OP

I don't think pat questions would help at all, at a stretch the multiple choice questions. But they are a very different style to what you get on the nsaa, especially as even section 2 is now multiple choice as well. It's why i recommended bmat and engaa, they resemble the questions you'll get much better.
The books i mentioned was chaos by james glick, Chance by michael brooks (@Cupcakes12 given you like stats you might be interested in reading this), can you solve my problems by alex bellos and calculating the cosmos by ian stewart. I personally recommend the one by alex bellos, some of the problems are really fun.
Ask as many questions as you want lmao, i've not got much better to do atm

Reply 37

Original post by Skiwi

I don't think pat questions would help at all, at a stretch the multiple choice questions. But they are a very different style to what you get on the nsaa, especially as even section 2 is now multiple choice as well. It's why i recommended bmat and engaa, they resemble the questions you'll get much better.
The books i mentioned was chaos by james glick, Chance by michael brooks (@Cupcakes12 given you like stats you might be interested in reading this), can you solve my problems by alex bellos and calculating the cosmos by ian stewart. I personally recommend the one by alex bellos, some of the problems are really fun.
Ask as many questions as you want lmao, i've not got much better to do atm

I heard someone say international A-level has an mcq paper which resembled nsaa apparently. I think I'll start preparing in summer.
I'll check out those books. I've only read generic books so far, I had wanted to do chem previously, so I did chem stuff in the past.

Reply 38

OP

Original post by summerbirdreads

I heard someone say international A-level has an mcq paper which resembled nsaa apparently. I think I'll start preparing in summer.
I'll check out those books. I've only read generic books so far, I had wanted to do chem previously, so I did chem stuff in the past.

Probably still relevant, a lot of parts of chem will have heavy overlap with physics.

Reply 39

Inc3me