A-level physics and maths opinions??

I'm in Year 11 and frantically deciding what my A-level options are for my application. I have grown a strong interest in astrophysics/astronomy and I have found that I need Physics and Maths to get onto a similar uni course. I do like the subjects but they are quite challenging sometimes. What do you guys think about these subjects? Do you regret taking them or are they not as hard as people make them out to be?

Reply 1

MP_25

10

Original post by evsurfer

I'm in Year 11 and frantically deciding what my A-level options are for my application. I have grown a strong interest in astrophysics/astronomy and I have found that I need Physics and Maths to get onto a similar uni course. I do like the subjects but they are quite challenging sometimes. What do you guys think about these subjects? Do you regret taking them or are they not as hard as people make them out to be?

hiya, yr 13 here doing physics, maths + chem :smile:

i wouldn't say i regret taking the subject combo i do but i definitely found it really hard at first, but that's partially my fault cause i definately didn't focus enough on consolidating my work at first, but i really enjoy it now as i've gone through alevels :smile:

physics is definitely challenging at first but it gets better as long as you consolidate often enough - going through content + questions from when you finish a topic and actively working through everything, it's manageable once you get used to the routine. honestly the hardest bits for me is working through the questions since they like wording physics problems in a funnny way so you need to look out for that, but otherwise it's not too bad of a subject haha
as for maths it's not too bad in itself, obviously harder + more rigorous than gcse but it all adds onto itself so it's easy to follow on and as well as long as you put enough time into doing questions since all of it stacks up if you get the basics down you'll be good for most of the course

i find the combo generally quite nice and the way kinematics in physics overlaps the maths mechanics content is super satisfying too. at first you're gonna have doubts cause of the gcse to alevel jumps but as long as you don't get discouraged you'll be absolutely ok :smile:

Reply 2

evsurfer

OP

4

Original post by MP_25

hiya, yr 13 here doing physics, maths + chem :smile:

i wouldn't say i regret taking the subject combo i do but i definitely found it really hard at first, but that's partially my fault cause i definately didn't focus enough on consolidating my work at first, but i really enjoy it now as i've gone through alevels :smile:

physics is definitely challenging at first but it gets better as long as you consolidate often enough - going through content + questions from when you finish a topic and actively working through everything, it's manageable once you get used to the routine. honestly the hardest bits for me is working through the questions since they like wording physics problems in a funnny way so you need to look out for that, but otherwise it's not too bad of a subject haha
as for maths it's not too bad in itself, obviously harder + more rigorous than gcse but it all adds onto itself so it's easy to follow on and as well as long as you put enough time into doing questions since all of it stacks up if you get the basics down you'll be good for most of the course

i find the combo generally quite nice and the way kinematics in physics overlaps the maths mechanics content is super satisfying too. at first you're gonna have doubts cause of the gcse to alevel jumps but as long as you don't get discouraged you'll be absolutely ok :smile:

thank you so much!!

Reply 3

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

15

Original post by evsurfer

I'm in Year 11 and frantically deciding what my A-level options are for my application. I have grown a strong interest in astrophysics/astronomy and I have found that I need Physics and Maths to get onto a similar uni course. I do like the subjects but they are quite challenging sometimes. What do you guys think about these subjects? Do you regret taking them or are they not as hard as people make them out to be?

Hiya,

I'm a current 3rd year astrophysics and cosmology student at Lancaster University and studied physics and maths at A-Level. It may seem a bit bias for me to say that I definitely don't regret taking these subjects at all! Yes, they are challenging but if you enjoy something, it makes it easier to learn and delve into. There are always points within a course or subject where you find you may not enjoy a particular topic, but it's all part of the process if you know you definitely want to pursue a certain subject and enjoy the majority of it.

Overall, I started out not enjoying physics at lower levels at all, but then started to delve into astro-based topics and found I enjoy it way more than I initially thought. Personally, I've always liked maths, and I found that really helped during A-Level where topics became more challenging compared to GCSE. There is no doubt they are challenging and complex at certain times but I wouldn't let that deter you from pursuing it at all. If it's something you enjoy and are sure you would like to focus on in further education, don't be discouraged and go for it!

I hope all this helps and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask :smile:

)
-- Arya (Lancaster University Student Ambassador)

A-level physics and maths opinions??

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