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Maths for PPE

Hey,

I'm thinking of applying for PPE this autumn.

Everyone says how maths is a very crucial subject, especially if you are thinking of continuing the Economics aspect past the first year (as i would be, should i be lucky enough to get in.......).

I've done modules C1, C2 and M1 for AS, and will do C3 and C4 definitely at A2. I however have a choice between M2 and S1 for the third module. Some people I have spoken to have said that Statistics would be the wiser choice for PPE, because it might actually be useful, whereas I doubt economics requires much mechanics! In which case, I would choose stats no problem. But people in the year above have said that mech is much more interesting that stats, which is boring....

Anyway, so the question that I want to ask any PPEists out there: is it just the pure element that is useful for maths? Or would statistics come in handy? Or will it really make no difference and I'm just being pedantic?

Thankyou

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Reply 1

RxB

Stats is useful - if I'd done S2 and S3 instead of M1 and M2 I'd have been better off.

On the other hand, Mechanics is really easy.

Reply 2

ThePants999

Personally I've always rather enjoyed statistics - and there is no denying it, it's definitely useful.

Reply 3

he1c14h10

I'm going to apply for PPE as well. I'm doing Maths and Statistics as two subjects. So I will do further pure maths after doing c1-c4. I'm much more interested in pure maths. And probably not very good at mechanics. But I don't think stats is boring, nor difficult.

Reply 4

RxB

Possibly, but you have no idea how easy M1 and M2 are. It's silly.

Reply 5

Font

RxB

Stats is useful - if I'd done S2 and S3 instead of M1 and M2 I'd have been better off.

On the other hand, Mechanics is really easy.

harder than stats though..so they say :smile:

Reply 6

Font

Is there a lot of essaywriting in PPE? - how does it compare to maths...does maths even have any written elements to it, or is it all calculations, etc?

bit of a werid question, but you never know - they may make you write essays about past mathematicians etc :smile:

Reply 7

RxB

In PPE, you write essays. That's what you do.
In Maths, you do Maths. There's no essays.

And M1-3 is easier than S1-3, in my experience.

Reply 8

.........

People doing maths here have had to do presentations, essays and book reports all about maths for tutorials :smile:

, but I don't think they count for anything bar tutorials.

Reply 9

he1c14h10

I think PPE is really an essay-based course and that's where it is challenging for me. I won't be worried about maths and stats. That could be my advantage somehow. but essays...er...

Reply 10

RxB

Umm, if you can't write essays, PPE probably isn't the subject for you. I hate to break it to you, but there you go. I write 2 essays a week - so do most people.

Reply 11

nooneknows

S1 is piss easy!!! The further maths set in the year above me did P1-6 and M1-6 then decided S1 would probably boost their marks...they learnt it in a fortnight and no one got less than 90/100 UMS. Personally, I'd do Mechanics...imho it's much more interesting and S1 and 2 can be learnt so quickly!

Reply 12

RxB

S2 is much harder than S1.

Also, you'd be learning S1 in an hour rather than a fortnight. You might as well just spend the time on it...

Reply 13

he1c14h10

Umm, if you can't write essays, PPE probably isn't the subject for you. I hate to break it to you, but there you go. I write 2 essays a week - so do most people.

It's not that I can't write essays or I hate writting essays. I wrote a lot and quite well in my own language :P. But it obviously takes me longer to express my opinion well enough in english. I know even british students have sort of "essay crisis" . That's really the challenging part. Anyway, you shouldn't choose something easy for you to study but something you want to. I think you would agree with it.

Reply 14

ThePants999

If you have a free choice of modules and need to choose up to three applied ones, I suggest S1, D1, M1 in that order. S1 will give you all the grounding in statistics you need while still being almost as easy as the early Mechanics papers. D1 and M1 are both a piece of piss, and I suggest D1 ("join the dots") first on the off-chance that by the time you choose Finals papers they might have made Economic Decisions Within the Firm available to PPEists.

Reply 15

Drogue

RxB

Stats is useful - if I'd done S2 and S3 instead of M1 and M2 I'd have been better off.

On the other hand, Mechanics is really easy.

Depends on which board. My AQA mech was harder than my AQA further stats (ie. S6 and S8).

Reply 16

Drogue

ThePants999

first on the off-chance that by the time you choose Finals papers they might have made Economic Decisions Within the Firm available to PPEists.

Does that have a chance of happening? The part on "within the firm" seems to ground it as an economics and management course, so I doubt they'd give that as a PPE option, but I may be wrong.

Reply 17

ThePants999

Not much of a chance, no, despite it being an Economics option. In fact, it's more of an EEM paper that they let E&Mists sit than an E&M paper - it's even taught in the Thom building!