Outside subject(s) in 1st and 2nd year *post here with questions*

Probably a weird question (what else is new lol), but is it possible to take more courses in your own subject? Like, if it's your first year, is it possible to make one of your "outside" courses a second year course in your main subject? Or some optional course in your subject?

What would you do in second year though then? The majority of second year courses require a pass in the first year course as obviously the learning follows on so they wouldn't let you do a first and second year course at the same time if you were a first year as what would be the point? You'd have nothing to do next year then!

Some courses have optional modules, so then yes, you'd be able to take them if you wanted however other subjects quite literally have the compulsory modules in first and second year then don't have any choice until third year. If you're doing a course where there are compulsory modules then optional modules in the first two years then yes you can take them but otherwise, no, because there aren't any to do.

For example, with history in first year you have to do at least 60 history modules out of a total of 120 credits. There's around 10 history modules to chose from so I imagine if you really wanted you could do all 120 credits from the history modules offered. However, with say, Spanish, there is only a 40 credit course available to first years which is compulsory so you have no option but to take other courses (which could be other languages, for example) as there aren't any other Spanish options available to do.

Haha I just meant like taking ONE second year or optional course. But actually, now that you mention it, is it theoretically possible to kind of skip a year then by taking second year courses in your first year? Then the whole degree course could be 3 years? That also wouldn't be more demanding than taking the courses in another subject right, cuz it's the same number of courses? That's of course assuming second year courses even fit into a first year schedule!

And how many courses outside of your required/main ones can you take?

P.S You're super helpful! You're post was so detailed!

okay so i want to do a joint degree so am assuming that will take up 2 thirds of my credits for the first year.
but if i do physics for my 3rd subject, do i need to do maths modules or something? my two other subjects are completely unrelated to physics so i won't be taking maths to begin with. is it possible to do physics without maths?

I suppose you /could/ do so, but if you're not good at maths, you'll likely struggle. There's a reason people who are on the physics degree course are required to take things like "Mathematics for Physics".

i'm not actually bad at maths. i have a terrible teacher now but i actually quite like the subject and enjoy it a lot, and am currently doing HL physics and SL maths in IB. i'll have a look at the modules for physics but if it seems like i won't be able to manage without doing maths modules or not to my liking i'll probably take something else.

From what I know of physics, you need to be very good at maths and enjoy maths.
My boyfriend did physics at Oxford and didn't have A level Further Maths in addition to his A at A level Maths as his school didn't offer it, so he self taught some of it but its different to actually receiving teaching. He really really struggled with the first year or so of his physics degree and said he felt he had to work doubly hard to account for the fact he didn't have the FM knowledge like a lot of other people. In the end it worked out fine and he got a first by a sizeable margin, but he certainly struggled due to not having the highest level of maths available pre uni even though FM isn't classed as an essential/mandatory subject for the physics degree.

How come you're not doing HL maths?

I know that for Mathematical Physics all lab work is replaced by programming. Can I still choose lab works?

Unless things have changed very drastically since I was a second year, you'll still have some labs in 1st/2nd year. Mathematical physicists take Physics 1B/2B which have lab components. It's not until 3rd year that you don't take experimental physics/electronic methods/etc.

They don't do Physics 1B any more.

Has anyone done either Introductory Spanish or Introductory Italian? I'm having trouble finding courses for next semester, and was wondering if it would be too much work to do both of these courses at the same time. I can't find many reviews for these on the course reviewer.

I did Introductory Spanish last year. The workload wasn't too heavy, just had a homework sheet every lesson, and two class tests in week 4 & 8 which went towards your final grade. The tutors were lovely too, and we just learned basic material which wasn't too hard to grasp.

I've applied to study a Bsc in maths (G100) at Edinburgh and would like to take the opportunity to learn another language while at university. However, for the G100 course 60 credits of maths must be taking during each of the first two years of study, and as I would quite like to take 40 credits of physics, this would only leave 20 credits for the taking of a language course. I would also only be eligible for the 1A/introductory courses as I haven't taken any languages past standard grade. Would this be enough (if I did it for both first and second year) to acquire fluency in a language, or am I better of trying to find language courses outwith the university?