BSc (Hons) Mathematics

Farhana

I entered University straight from college as I was really interested in continuing my education without taking a gap year. I’ve always been really interested in Mathematics from GCSE Level. At first I did find it quite hard to grasp the key concepts and ideas, but the one thing I realised is that practice really does make perfect. Admittedly A Level Maths was much more exciting and interesting to study compared to GCSE level. It may seem weird reading about someone with an interest in maths, but if a subject truly interests you, then talking/writing about it passionately will seem perfectly natural. From studying A Level Mathematics, I realised that I was more suited to specific pure modules such as algebra and calculus compared to the more applied or practical modules such as statistics or mechanics. With statistics, I think it’s easy to get confused between the different types of distribution, binomial, normal and Poisson to name but a few. Other topics I found quite tricky would be hypothesis testing and two tailed testing.

The majority of my first year was spent making friends and getting to know lots of different people, most of which are still my closest friends even till today. At the same time I did concentrate on my studies. I had to you see, since the people I formed friendships with were more interested in their studies compared to me, and so from following their examples I felt encouraged and enthusiastic to concentrate in my classes and therefore I was able to study hard and perform well in my coursework and examinations.

Unbelievably, probability and statistics turned into one of my favourite modules of all time. I guess it was taught slight differently at University level compared to college, or maybe it’s because I had such a fantastic and supportive teacher who took time in explaining each topic and gently guiding je, in pointing out my mistakes and helping me to better understand my weaknesses and strengths in this module, so that I can perform well. Whatever the reason maybe, I know that I do this module a lot more than

Other modules which I was particularly interested in throughout my studies would be Calculus, Linear Algebra and Numerical Software for Partial Differential Equations. These subjects are mostly interlinked and are an advancement of one another. The main reason why I enjoy these modules the most is because considering I studied algebra since secondary school, I guess things just click and I find it easier to understand compared to other topics of mathematics.

Overall, I really do enjoy studying mathematics. It was one my favourite subjects at school and college, but I guess that was evident since I continued studying the subject up to degree level. My future plan in relation to completing my honours degree is to study a PGCE in secondary Education Mathematics. I think I do have a lot of experience c considering I have been a student ambassador for the university and did a sustained project for a whole year working with students from the ages of 14-16, so I would say that in terms of working with different types of people my confidence is increasing and I think that is one of the key qualities which will enable me to ne a successful teacher.