On Tue, 21 Apr 2015 13:01:26 +0100, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Simply because I wasn't too keen on chemistry, my A level subjects were
physics, maths and further maths. That wasn't my best choice - resulting
in an A in physics, E in maths and fail in further maths. This was not a
great surprise, and I had set up my UCCA choices to cope with this. OTOH
it may have been that only with the double exposure to maths did I get
to scrape through at all.
I had to have two goes due to a senile maths master (really; the first
time, two out of 14 passed the A level, and the second time 3 out of 16;
the second time, 2 of the 3 were a friend and I, and we self-studied).
My science was Nuffield Physical Science, which was fine if a bit rough
round the edges (only the second year of its existence).
One thing I never realised was how much of a university engineering
course is actually maths. There is just so much that I never understood,
and even the bits I did grasp are lost in the mists of time. I remember
my disappointment, having chosen a "Machines" option (1), to be
presented with a large matrix and being told that, for the purposes of
this analysis, the design details were pretty irrelevant, all large
machines reduced to this grid of numbers.
I had the same problem with electronics.
It was also clearly my personal ceiling for physics - I had to re-sit in
my first year at university.
It didn't kick in until the second year for me.
Luckily, I managed eventually to find myself in a field where, as one of
the old hands once told me, "All you need is Ohms law and 25 years'
experience."
Same here. I got through the degree on some very selective marks, and a
very good project (I won the prize) [1]. Then I did a 'conversion'
Master's to CS at Essex (very hard work but fun all the way). At the
time, only two places offered that course and I was offered a place by
both. I rejected Imperial as their course was too basic.
[1] I modified a CPU (SSI technology) to change parts of its instruction
set.
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