Topic outline
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Top universities need to distinguish between a surplus of applicants, all of whom have excellent predicted grades and therefore needed to be differentiated based on their Personal Statement and perhaps an Entrance Examination or Interview. You should coordinate with the Department most closely related to your field of study to get advice on how to prepare for a university application for that subject. The aim of this page is to give you an insight into how Maths is used in your chosen field of study, as well as share some resources which will allow you to explore that further. These might be useful in your statement or interview and give you experience that help you to perform well on maths-related questions in an interview or entrance examination.
Maths related questions are very common in interviews for Computer Science, Economics, Physics and Engineering and entrance examinations for these subjects have a significant amount of mathematical content. They are less frequent, but still possible in a context related to the field of study, in Chemistry, Biology and Medicine interviews.
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Below are is the Mathematics for Natural Sciences workbook written for A Level students by Cambridge University. It is equally useful for applicants for Computer Science, Economics or other Sciences and gives you some practice on the areas on A Level Maths (and a short section on Further Maths if you study it) which are most closely related to degree-level study in these subjects. It is also good revision for parts of Maths A Level!
Curve sketching is the most common interview question across all these subjects, including Medicine on occasions. These questions require some practice, in particular so that you know the features to identify. There are some notes below which give some pointers on how to attempt these questions and plenty of examples for you to work through.
Handling Data is important in any science-related subject. There is a link to a self-study course in Data Science which might prove interesting and is a great way to link your Maths studies to your chosen field in a Personal Statement.
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At some universities, Computer Science shares entrance examinations with Mathematics. Depending on which offer you accept, you might be asked to sit MAT, TMUA or STEP 1. If you are in this position, you should look at the resources for that exam on the Preparation for Maths Courses page.
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Please see Mrs Mahony's Maths for Economics Moodle course