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How to prepare for a Physics degree as a Mature Student

Looking for tips on to prepare for university Physics as a 23 year old mature student.

I studied Physics, Maths and Chem at A-levels (A,B,A) , but have not done any maths courses since so feel rusty.
Currently working my way through the Birmingham Uni's - Maths for Physics workbook which has been fun, but is there any other way I should prepare?
(edited 1 year ago)
Your maths fluidity is going to be rusty, and likely to be harder to get back into than the core physics, how about doing some timed past A level maths papers "blind" to highlight where you need to do some revision to get back up to speed.
Original post by Mr Wednesday
Your maths fluidity is going to be rusty, and likely to be harder to get back into than the core physics, how about doing some timed past A level maths papers "blind" to highlight where you need to do some revision to get back up to speed.


This is a great idea! I definitely need more visibility of my blind spots, so will do this.
Thank you :smile:
Original post by book-obsessed
Looking for tips on to prepare for university Physics as a 23 year old mature student.

I studied Physics, Maths and Chem at A-levels (A,B,A) , but have not done any maths courses since so feel rusty.
Currently working my way through the Birmingham Uni's - Maths for Physics workbook which has been fun, but is there any other way I should prepare?


Hi @book-obsessed!

In my experience, first-year physics started at A Level Maths / Further Maths level so it may be useful to look into material covering topics at this level.

First-year aims to give you a good grounding and bring up everyone to the same baseline (i.e. some people will have done Further Maths A Level etc.). First-year also often does not contribute to your final degree classification, but it is important to be prepared and do as well as you can as later modules will take first-year modules as assumed knowledge and build upon them with little review of the previous content.

Let me know if you have any further questions as I have just graduated from physics so should be well equipped to answer them.

Hope this helps!

- Tineke
Lancaster Physics Graduate
Original post by Lancaster Student Ambassador
Hi @book-obsessed!

In my experience, first-year physics started at A Level Maths / Further Maths level so it may be useful to look into material covering topics at this level.

First-year aims to give you a good grounding and bring up everyone to the same baseline (i.e. some people will have done Further Maths A Level etc.). First-year also often does not contribute to your final degree classification, but it is important to be prepared and do as well as you can as later modules will take first-year modules as assumed knowledge and build upon them with little review of the previous content.

Let me know if you have any further questions as I have just graduated from physics so should be well equipped to answer them.

Hope this helps!

- Tineke
Lancaster Physics Graduate


Thank you Tineke!

I will actually be going to Lancaster so this is super helpful.

How was your Lancaster experience btw? I tend to thrive when I have supportive advisors and lecturers so it would be nice to know how you found it and if there is anything you wish you had known before starting.
Original post by book-obsessed
Thank you Tineke!

I will actually be going to Lancaster so this is super helpful.

How was your Lancaster experience btw? I tend to thrive when I have supportive advisors and lecturers so it would be nice to know how you found it and if there is anything you wish you had known before starting.


Hi @book-obsessed!

Ah, that’s cool. I really enjoyed my time at Lancaster and will be starting a PhD in the autumn so I might just see you around 😊

All the lecturers and staff at Lancaster Physics are really friendly and supportive.

All physics students are assigned an academic advisor. You’ll meet with them once a term and have a chat about how you’re finding the course etc. This is a chance to bring up any concerns but, you are also free to email them outside of these times too as of course you cannot control if or when problems pop up.

There’s also an open door policy at Lancaster, and I found this very helpful once I started making use of it. At the start of first year I found it to be quite a scary prospect but, once I started attending I quickly found that the lecturers are real people and very friendly - haha. They all want to see you succeed and are always eager to help eager students who take an interest in their subject. Sometimes they’ll have a meeting or something else on but, if you email them they’ll often suggest an alternative time that you can come back to see them. So my advice would be to certainly make use of the office hours if you have any misunderstandings or otherwise need help.

Another great resource to make use of in first year is workshops. Each week you’ll be assigned a worksheet for each module. This is like a problem sheet that you do as homework. Workshops are an hour, usually towards the end of the week, where PostGraduate Teaching Assistants, and sometimes also the lecturer, are there to help with any queries or hints you need to solve the problems.

The workload of a physics degree is a lot, but honestly if you give it your all and enjoy the subject you’ll certainly have the potential to do really well on the degree 😊

My favourite part of the department is the atrium. It is a large open space by the entrance to the department with tables along it. Here you can study and complete worksheets. I found that it really helped if you had a group of friends to study with and contemplate any difficult worksheet problems with – in fact it’s encouraged by the department. Friends made whilst struggling over a worksheet are friends for life!

I now realise that this was quite a long response, sorry for that, there was just so much to condense after 4 years here! But in summary, I really enjoyed my degree and I hope that you will too! 😊

Hope this helps!

- Tineke
Lancaster Physics Graduate
Original post by book-obsessed
Looking for tips on to prepare for university Physics as a 23 year old mature student.

I studied Physics, Maths and Chem at A-levels (A,B,A) , but have not done any maths courses since so feel rusty.
Currently working my way through the Birmingham Uni's - Maths for Physics workbook which has been fun, but is there any other way I should prepare?

You might find theses revision resources useful: https://www.drfrostmaths.com/sow.php?year=Full%20Coverage%20Revision%20Worksheets&term=A%20Level

MathsMadeEasy also has revision resources: https://mathsmadeeasy.co.uk/a-level-maths-revision/#Revise

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