Wanting to study Computer Science with no coding experience

6

Hey, I am currently a Year 12 student studying Maths, Economics, Chemistry. Further Mathematics. I want to study Mathematics and Computer Science but I didn't study Computer Science at A-Level nor GCSE. I would like to know what supercurriculars I could during the summer for the computer science aspect. For mathematics, I have doe some MOOCs on Baynesian Statistics, Partial Differential Equations, Number and Group Theory and I am doing the Mathematics of Morality course and learning Babylonian and Egyptian Mathematics. If anyone could help me with supercurriculars on Computer Science that would be amazing, thank you. :smile:

Reply 1

klafow

14

i mean...if you have no coding experience, maybe getting some coding experience would be a good idea?
there's loads of free online stuff, you can try w3 schools, codecademy (but you need to pay for certification), scrimba
Coding Games and Programming Challenges to Code Better (codingame.com)
ive also seen that which looks cool and i think is free
i'd suggest starting with python, its the most useful, easy and versatile language out there

Reply 2

lewiscm

4

Hi, I know a few people at my uni that arrived with no programming knowledge, our main module in first year caught them up to speed pretty quickly as it went right back to the foundation of programming. I would recommend learning some JavaScript as we did a lot of that in my degree (check with the uni first!), that's a quite easy language you can learn on w3schools.

Reply 3

Uni of Southampton Students

Official Rep

16

Hi @bl3ss-ng ,

I wouldn't worry too much about not taking CompSci A level, plenty of my friends at uni didn't take it either and are doing great now! Often the first module in first year is designed to bring people who haven't coded before up to the same level as the rest, and having a strong knowledge of maths always helps too.

Like others have mentioned, learning through places like w3 schools is a great place to start to learn a few fundamentals, but like I said even if you don't learn any programming before starting your degree, they will teach you when you start.

Most Unis will teach different languages, but once you learn one its quite easy to pick up another. I'd recommend starting with python, and then maybe progressing to Java which will give you a very strong base to work with.

Hope this helps 🙂

Joshua
3rd Year CompSci student
UoS Student Rep

Reply 4

username5443984

17

Original post by bl3ss-ng

Hey, I am currently a Year 12 student studying Maths, Economics, Chemistry. Further Mathematics. I want to study Mathematics and Computer Science but I didn't study Computer Science at A-Level nor GCSE. I would like to know what supercurriculars I could during the summer for the computer science aspect. For mathematics, I have doe some MOOCs on Baynesian Statistics, Partial Differential Equations, Number and Group Theory and I am doing the Mathematics of Morality course and learning Babylonian and Egyptian Mathematics. If anyone could help me with supercurriculars on Computer Science that would be amazing, thank you. :smile:

Go to CS50 Introduction to Computer Science. This takes you from a complete beginner and teaches you the basics of programming in loads of different languages, and gives you the opportunity to complete your own projects and other things.

It's really good, highly recommend it.

BroCode has a Python course on YouTube that is 11 hours long and takes you from a complete beginner to a master level.

Now, all of this is well and good, but remember, you don't actually have to have done any programming. You can still do other things and get by with it, and given your mathematics focus, I think you should be OK.

Reply 5

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

18

Original post by bl3ss-ng

Hey, I am currently a Year 12 student studying Maths, Economics, Chemistry. Further Mathematics. I want to study Mathematics and Computer Science but I didn't study Computer Science at A-Level nor GCSE. I would like to know what supercurriculars I could during the summer for the computer science aspect. For mathematics, I have doe some MOOCs on Baynesian Statistics, Partial Differential Equations, Number and Group Theory and I am doing the Mathematics of Morality course and learning Babylonian and Egyptian Mathematics. If anyone could help me with supercurriculars on Computer Science that would be amazing, thank you. :smile:

Hello!

You do not need to have studied Computer Science to do a Maths and Computer Science degree, as most universities tend to list Maths without CS as a required A-Level subject.
I too didn't study Computer Science A-Level, but my experience of settling in and doing a Computer Science degree at Lancaster has been a great one: the university has structured the course to allow beginners to quickly get up to a necessary level, while still maintaining the challenging aspects of the degree.
There are plenty of options when it comes to supercurriculars and extra-curriculars: you could complete online courses, read books, get started with some projects for a practical learning approach, attend webinars...
A nice book is Automate the Boring stuff with Python (it includes good explanations and sample questions and projects): Automate the Boring Stuff with Python
FreeCodeCamp offer many projects, courses and certifications: Learn to Code — For Free — Coding Courses for Busy People (freecodecamp.org)
More free courses can be found at: Codecademy, coursera, edX, Khan Academy, and of course the famous CS50 course.
Good resources can be found through Find the best online Programming courses and Tutorials - Hackr.io

I cannot recommend enough attending a hackathon: online or in-person. There are some beginner-friendly ones, and student-specific ones too. A hackathon encourages creative problem-solving under time pressure, and allows you to meet cool people, compete for prizes, have fun, learn a variety of new skills and technologies, get noticed by potential employers, and it is a fantastic experience overall. Search online for any such events, they tend to happen throughout the year (e.g. New & upcoming hackathons · Devpost)
Teens in AI offer some AI-focused events and webinars, if you are interested in that: Homepage - Teens in AI
Moreover, competitions: Home | Reply Challenges Companies like Google, Microsoft, etc. also often run challenges for students.
Websites such as Hackerrank also have nice programming questions and challenges from beginner level and up.

Anyways, decide on what interests you specifically and go for it! Best of luck!
Here is a roadmap which might be helpful for exploring the different directions of Computing: Developer Roadmaps - roadmap.sh

Hope this helps!
Polina,
Lancaster University Computing Student Ambassador.

Reply 6

Instructor!

4

Original post by bl3ss-ng

Hey, I am currently a Year 12 student studying Maths, Economics, Chemistry. Further Mathematics. I want to study Mathematics and Computer Science but I didn't study Computer Science at A-Level nor GCSE. I would like to know what supercurriculars I could during the summer for the computer science aspect. For mathematics, I have doe some MOOCs on Baynesian Statistics, Partial Differential Equations, Number and Group Theory and I am doing the Mathematics of Morality course and learning Babylonian and Egyptian Mathematics. If anyone could help me with supercurriculars on Computer Science that would be amazing, thank you. :smile:

That’s fantastic that you’ve already dived so deep into mathematics. Your passion really shines through! For the computer science side, the good news is that not having studied it formally at GCSE or A-Level won’t hold you back if you show curiosity and initiative through supercurriculars. One great option is exploring online short courses, especially on platforms like CS50 by Harvard (free and beginner-friendly), MIT OpenCourseWare, or Coursera, which offer introductions to programming, algorithms, and data structures which are key foundations for CompSci. You could also try hands-on projects, like building a simple app, experimenting with Python or Java, or even exploring computational maths to blend your interests. If you enjoy solving problems, consider entering coding competitions such as UK Bebras Challenge or trying out competitive programming platforms like Codeforces or LeetCode, which develop both logical and algorithmic thinking. The aim isn’t to know everything in advance but to show universities your eagerness to engage with the subject independently.

Wanting to study Computer Science with no coding experience

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