Chemical engineering maths hard ?
Hey, ive applied to chemical engineering with foundation year at manchester uni I've done the research and everything and it seems to be a really good course and is interesting. I want to know how hard is the maths involved in chemical engineering, as maths has not always been my strongest( i got a 6 in GCSEmaths and i have not chosen it as my A level ) so im just a bit scared as i don't want to start falling behind on the work because i might find understand the maths bit hard. Please let me know.thanks !
Original post by minmin10
Hey, ive applied to chemical engineering with foundation year at manchester uni I've done the research and everything and it seems to be a really good course and is interesting. I want to know how hard is the maths involved in chemical engineering, as maths has not always been my strongest( i got a 6 in GCSEmaths and i have not chosen it as my A level ) so im just a bit scared as i don't want to start falling behind on the work because i might find understand the maths bit hard. Please let me know.thanks !
Maths is fundamental to an engineering degree, but if you work at it you should manage.
Maths is essentially the language of physics, engineering is really applied physics. You’ll have to develop strong maths skills & become confident using it as a tool as well as managing data.
Original post by minmin10
Hey, ive applied to chemical engineering with foundation year at manchester uni I've done the research and everything and it seems to be a really good course and is interesting. I want to know how hard is the maths involved in chemical engineering, as maths has not always been my strongest( i got a 6 in GCSEmaths and i have not chosen it as my A level ) so im just a bit scared as i don't want to start falling behind on the work because i might find understand the maths bit hard. Please let me know.thanks !
To put it in context, I'm currently at UoM studying Chemical Engineering and I can count the number of written questions we had in the whole of first year exams on one hand. What I mean to say is our exams were entirely mathematical calculations from start to finish.
Not trying to put you off or anything it's just more important you know what you're signing up to above all. If the degree actually interests you enough then you'll easily be able to put in the extra effort to get up to speed.
Original post by briteeshbro
To put it in context, I'm currently at UoM studying Chemical Engineering and I can count the number of written questions we had in the whole of first year exams on one hand. What I mean to say is our exams were entirely mathematical calculations from start to finish.
Not trying to put you off or anything it's just more important you know what you're signing up to above all. If the degree actually interests you enough then you'll easily be able to put in the extra effort to get up to speed.
Not trying to put you off or anything it's just more important you know what you're signing up to above all. If the degree actually interests you enough then you'll easily be able to put in the extra effort to get up to speed.
Thankyou ! Also one more thing, you know for the course work what does it normally include by that I mean like what type of things do they give u to research and all, and what is the minimum percentage that u need for the written examinations to pass? would really appreciate if u could answer these questions as well.
Original post by minmin10
Thankyou ! Also one more thing, you know for the course work what does it normally include by that I mean like what type of things do they give u to research and all, and what is the minimum percentage that u need for the written examinations to pass? would really appreciate if u could answer these questions as well.
Coursework will often form a technical report type submission.
They will pose a series of technical questions, likely very analytically based where you’ll use maths, and some other analysis techniques or analytical tools. You’ll essentially submit a report working through each one of the tasks/questions. Coursework requires more descriptive language but being engineering they will be expect evidence led discussion and a sound scientific approach.
There is another type of coursework you’ll get in your first 2 years at uni, called labs. You’ll investigate a problem occurring in physical apparatus, you’ll be responsible for understanding the lab methodology, data collection followed by analysis. Typically you’ll have to submit a lab report and deliver a presentation explaining your findings.
There maybe a couple other bits but this is what the majority of your coursework will be like.
Original post by mnot
Coursework will often form a technical report type submission.
They will pose a series of technical questions, likely very analytically based where you’ll use maths, and some other analysis techniques or analytical tools. You’ll essentially submit a report working through each one of the tasks/questions. Coursework requires more descriptive language but being engineering they will be expect evidence led discussion and a sound scientific approach.
There is another type of coursework you’ll get in your first 2 years at uni, called labs. You’ll investigate a problem occurring in physical apparatus, you’ll be responsible for understanding the lab methodology, data collection followed by analysis. Typically you’ll have to submit a lab report and deliver a presentation explaining your findings.
There maybe a couple other bits but this is what the majority of your coursework will be like.
They will pose a series of technical questions, likely very analytically based where you’ll use maths, and some other analysis techniques or analytical tools. You’ll essentially submit a report working through each one of the tasks/questions. Coursework requires more descriptive language but being engineering they will be expect evidence led discussion and a sound scientific approach.
There is another type of coursework you’ll get in your first 2 years at uni, called labs. You’ll investigate a problem occurring in physical apparatus, you’ll be responsible for understanding the lab methodology, data collection followed by analysis. Typically you’ll have to submit a lab report and deliver a presentation explaining your findings.
There maybe a couple other bits but this is what the majority of your coursework will be like.
Yeah exactly what he said. We get a couple where we present our work in posters instead of reports but its the same information really.
The nature of the coursework also does vary quite a bit from module to module. If we're lucky it'll be in the form of an exam question but others are a lot more testing in that they're more open-design sort of briefs. Others are more research related but not that often. Even our coursework is mostly made up of Mathematical questions too though. They're usually just longer and harder.
This course grading is no different from most other courses in that you need like 40% overall to pass? Some modules also offer a compensated pass at 30% or something. I'm not quite sure on exact numbers but I wouldn't really worry about that at the stage you're at I'll be honest. Also note that modules are assessed as a whole and not on individual pieces of work. There's no one module that I've done to date that has been 100% exam.
Original post by minmin10
Hey, ive applied to chemical engineering with foundation year at manchester uni I've done the research and everything and it seems to be a really good course and is interesting. I want to know how hard is the maths involved in chemical engineering, as maths has not always been my strongest( i got a 6 in GCSEmaths and i have not chosen it as my A level ) so im just a bit scared as i don't want to start falling behind on the work because i might find understand the maths bit hard. Please let me know.thanks !
I’ve also applied for the same course starting this year
Original post by minmin10
Hey, ive applied to chemical engineering with foundation year at manchester uni I've done the research and everything and it seems to be a really good course and is interesting. I want to know how hard is the maths involved in chemical engineering, as maths has not always been my strongest( i got a 6 in GCSEmaths and i have not chosen it as my A level ) so im just a bit scared as i don't want to start falling behind on the work because i might find understand the maths bit hard. Please let me know.thanks !
As above there is a lot of maths in chemical engineering. It's one of the more mathematical engineering disciplines I'd say in fact. Probably about 70% maths, 20% physics and 10% chemistry.
Why did you apply to chemical engineering if you find maths difficult, if I may ask? What specifically appealed to you about the course otherwise?
Original post by rha_nre908
I’ve also applied for the same course starting this year
What A levels are you doing ?
Original post by artful_lounger
As above there is a lot of maths in chemical engineering. It's one of the more mathematical engineering disciplines I'd say in fact. Probably about 70% maths, 20% physics and 10% chemistry.
Why did you apply to chemical engineering if you find maths difficult, if I may ask? What specifically appealed to you about the course otherwise?
Why did you apply to chemical engineering if you find maths difficult, if I may ask? What specifically appealed to you about the course otherwise?
It was the vide variety of opportunities that are available after finishing the degree !
Original post by minmin10
What A levels are you doing ?
Biology, chemistry and sociology wbu?
Original post by rha_nre908
Biology, chemistry and sociology wbu?
Biology chemistry and psychology
Original post by rha_nre908
Biology, chemistry and sociology wbu?
also, may i ask why did u apply for chemical engineering?
Original post by minmin10
also, may i ask why did u apply for chemical engineering?
I originally wanted to go into medicine, but changed my mind so I did research on different courses and this one was the one I found most interesting
Original post by minmin10
It was the vide variety of opportunities that are available after finishing the degree !
But that won't matter if you don't graduate with decent grades. If u struggle with Maths pick another course.
@artful_lounger is there another engineering with less Maths that would better for OP. (I understand all engineering disciplines will have a heavy Maths content)?
Original post by minmin10
It was the vide variety of opportunities that are available after finishing the degree !
That's true of most degrees though. And the specific opportunities available to chemical engineering (or other engineering/physics/CS/maths) graduates after graduating that aren't available to others are heavily numerate ones involving you doing advanced maths every day of your professional career. If you struggle with maths, and especially if you don't like or enjoy it, this is clearly not something worth pursuing then as you're just aiming for a career you will struggle with and/or dislike.
You need to be practical about your choices - it's all well and good deciding that you think engineers are paid a lot of money (not especially more than other fields that are much less mathematical, like accountancy, I'd note...and sometimes paid less) but if you fundamentally would be unable to cope with the career it's a non starter. You'd have all the same non-engineering, non-data science etc job options if you did e.g. chemistry, biosciences, or even humanities or social sciences degrees. Employers for those generalist grad schemes (which are the majority of them) in e.g. accountancy, banking, the civil service, the media, various other business based roles, law training contracts etc, don't actually care what your degree subject was and do not have preferences about them.
Obviously a B in maths at GCSE isn't a barrier per se, especially if you enjoy it for itself, generally did well in it (but perhaps didn't make any particular efforts in revising as a result) and just didn't take it at the time to A-level for other reasons. But if it's something you do find hard, that you had to put a lot of work in to get to that grade, and that you don't enjoy doing, then it's worth thinking very hard about whether a mathematical degree and/or numerate career is right for you. There are plenty of other options even if not! I'd note I'm not categorising accountancy or investment banking as "numerate" careers since they really just use fairly basic GCSE maths, just very frequently with advanced excel skills, which is quite different.
Original post by Dnsnnssn
But that won't matter if you don't graduate with decent grades. If u struggle with Maths pick another course.
@artful_lounger is there another engineering with less Maths that would better for OP. (I understand all engineering disciplines will have a heavy Maths content)?
@artful_lounger is there another engineering with less Maths that would better for OP. (I understand all engineering disciplines will have a heavy Maths content)?
I mean, none really. Engineering is fundamentally mathematically based - they're largely courses in applied maths. There are obviously other aspects involved but in any engineering degree you will be doing calculus, solving differential equations etc, on a daily basis usually.
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