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Mon 13th Feb 2012

So You're Going to Study Natsci…

What an excellent choice, every Natsci that joins us means one fewer historian. As a first year, your course will involve choosing three modules and a maths module. You will have twelve hours of lectures and four hours of supervisions a week, as well as fortnightly practicals.

To put it bluntly, this is an intense course. And what's worse, many of you have probably sailed through A levels. Imagine learning a whole topic in A-level maths, say C4 integration. Now imagine doing it overnight. Even the brightest of you will have moments where the workload is chasing you like a steam engine pumped with testosterone. But don't worry, as long as you are well-organised, and make most of your supervisions, you'll be perfectly fine.

Lectures, handouts, and missing lectures.

Lectures are one-hour presentations given by members of the department. In your first year you will encouter anything from sixty to several hundred people in a lecture theatre at one time. Most lectures you will encounter will be part of a structured course, with each 'chapter' presented by a different specialist in the department. Although it is not customary to interrupt the lecture to ask questions, should you have any pressing query you can speak to the lecturer at the end of the hour and they are often quite chuffed to have been approached.

Each lecture series gives a separate handout. They often range from simple powerpoint slides, to fill-in-the-blanks, to what appears to be nearly a complete transcript. Along with these you have example sheets which you complete and discuss with your supervisor in the physical sciences and maths. In the biological lectures, you won't get example sheets but your supervisors will give you essays/questions/multiple choice questions.

No registers are taken during lectures, which leads to a common epidemic amongst students: print the handout and get a lie in. To be realistic, this sometimes works, but I stress the word 'sometimes.' The depth of the content is nothing like you would have experienced at A-level; you think you are missing a simple lecture on differential equations, only to look at the notes and be faced with an illegible monstrosity pooing the letter 'd' everywhere. I'm not joking.

Supervisions, handing in work, and missing supervisions

"I know exactly what supervisions are."

Supervisions, as you probably found out, are hour-long meetings with a fellow or graduate student who is an expert in the field you are studying. As a first year Natsci, you will have four every week, with groups of 2-3. Together, you go through the questions from the lectures, and if you haven't understood something, to have it explained. It is your responsibility to take initiative, and lead the supervision to the topics you feel you need to discuss.

"I understood the lectures completely, and did all of the exercises perfectly."

Oh well done, but that's going to be a very dull supervision, and quite likely a wasted one. If that happens, go through some sections you had trouble with in the past lecture series. Another alternative is to do past tripos questions, which with time will be very useful. Another useful tip especially for biological subjects, is to ask for examples or related concepts from outside the lectures - which will enhance your essays immeasurably. Remember you're not there to impress, you have to learn as much as possible from the hour you get.

"HELP I spent the week getting wasted at Cindies, now I haven't done anything for my supervision"

It happens to all of us, even those who turn their noses up at the idea of sticky-floored nightclubs. You had other things happening throughout the week, and didn't get around to doing your work. At this point, do not make up silly excuses, do not get 'ill,' and for heaven's sake do not simply not turn up. Send an email to the supervisor, and copy in your supervision partner as soon as you realise the deadline is a no-go. You do not have to go into detail ("on Monday I woke up at 4am face-down on King's Parade, and Tuesday I can't remember…") Just explain you couldn't get around to it, and you will either negotiate an extension, bring the work to the supervision, or move it to later in the week.

The supervision is not there for you to tick boxes, you have to be the one making the most of it.

"HELP I don't understand any of this rubbish; I've spent 4 hours on it and it's STILL utter tosh"

You cannot show up to a supervision without work. That having been said, sometimes you just can't understand where to begin. Make sure you've made attempts for all questions, and write a note for your supervisor where you get stuck and what is confusing you. If you still feel there is no point, and this can happen in physics lectures where you experience an utter mind block, ask a friend who understood it. Remember it's not acceptable to ask someone for their solutions so you can have something to hand in, however it's encouraged that you use each other to understand topics.

"It's the first supervision of the term and lectures have only just started, therefore we don't have any problems to hand in"

This shouldn't be the case for the first term, but it can happen for Lent and Easter. Just because it's the beginning of the term doesn't mean you shouldn't have work - or did you forget all about your holiday work(!) Email your supervisor, and either move your supervision to later in the week, or explain that there is no question sheet yet and that you will be handing in work you had trouble with last term. Or do tripos questions.

"It's too fast, it's too hard, I haven't slept in days, and I feel like I'm going to give up"

As I've said before, natsci is a difficult course. The first term won't be too hefty, but after that the term is going to feel like running 800 metres: you can't sprint it, but you can't settle into a leisurely jog. Some topics are going to seem impossible, but lecture courses don't go on forever. Within two weeks you will be moving on to something completely different, and, at worst, you can make up missed work in the vacation.

To have gotten here, you must have been one of the brightest people in your school, but so is everyone else. Naturally some people are going to find it easier or harder, but don't forget that there is a reason you're here in the first place.

The most overwhelming thing people face is the speed of the course. The lectures continue regardless of how new or difficult the material is. If you start falling behind, and don't do anything about it, you could land yourself with an impossibly gargantuan of work to catch up with. Keep motivated, get sleep, drink plenty of water, and talk to your supervisor or your director of studies.

The Shopping List

Labcoats

You can bring your own (as long as it's white in colour) or you can buy them for a reasonable price (£10) from the chem. department after your introductory lecture. You will not need them for physics and maths.

Safetly goggles

You will need these for chemistry, and you can buy them cheaply from the chem. department as well (£3)

Calculators

All calculators must have CU sticker on it saying it is suitable for Tripos exams. You can buy a heavily subsidised calculator in the chemistry department (£12 for a CASIO FX 991-ES compared to £19.99 at WHSmith). However if you already own a correct model, you can come and have it stickered for free (in the chem. prep room.) Resist the temptation to use a graphical calculator, nobody really uses them, and it's like riding a Hummer in fifth gear to the local co-op.

The approved models are:

• CASIO FX 115

• CASIO FX 570

• CASIO FX 991

Notebooks, papers, files

There is nothing you need specifically. You can be the most organised person in the world and keep carefully tabbed and colour coded notebooks on each lecture series. Or you can be like me, and own a solitary unemployed lever arch file, whilst your work and unopened lecture handouts lie in a pile at the back of your wardrobe.

Remember, there is a strong case to be more organised if you've previously never done much work. That spare hour or two between the end of a practical and dinner could mean the difference between staying up until 2am, or going to bed at midnight.

Practicals

Chemistry

Chemistry practicals run fortnightly from 11am-5pm, although you will often be finished long before the 5pm deadline, and there is an hour for lunch (usually whilst something is refluxing or drying.) The practicals are a very good complement to lectures, and more importantly, they contribute to your final mark.

At the beginning of the practical, you will get a worksheet to fill in the blanks which you hand in, along with any IR spectra and a small sample of your product when applicable. A very good practical mark is around a 7/10 (although if you sweat over it very hard, and hand in a perfect report, you might pull an 8/10)

Physics

Physics practicals range from passively interesting to infuriating. In Michaemas you will get a booklet with detailed questions for which you must fill in the blanks. Make sure you address and answer everything that is being asked in the question, and mind your grammar. Eventually the booklets will have shorter questions (although the same diligence in answering is expected) and finally you will be presented with a blank notebook which you must write in then hand in. The good thing is if you adhere rigidly to the mark-scheme you can score full marks.

Practicals start promptly at 2pm and end at 5:45. Don't forget, before each practical you must complete the preliminary work at the back of the booklet, forgetting this will lose you 10%, and it only takes 10 minutes.

During the Lent and Easter vacations you will be assigned a Practical Report to complete. I will post details of this later in the term, as well as chasing up a specimen lab report. This is a particularly sensitive subject, and I wish nobody to suffer the indignity I did: losing a mark for not numbering the pages of my one-page report.

Biology

The practicals vary - for Biology of Cells you will have a practical almost every week - but pay attention because some are online which means you can do them from home! They complement the lectures well, and you are given plenty of direction. Pay attention as there is a practical exam at the end of the year - and make use of the demonstrators. If your supervisor claims they aren't responsible for helping you with practical work - they are wrong- demand the help.

Evolution and Behaviour has some really interesting practicals, and some maddening ones. They vary in helpfulness - but are only every other week, and often end early. Some of the practicals are assessed, but everyone tends to get an average mark in the end - so don't worry about it too much. Just write down all of your thought processes, and you'll come out fine.

Physiology of Organisms probably has the most organised and intense practical course. There will be a one hour debrief session and then a lunch break and then three hours of practicals. I warn you - they will try to trip you up. Not to worry - everyone trips. They do this to teach you to plan and execute your own practicals. Although there is plenty of work, they encourage you to try your own experiments. Your practical book contains questions and you need to print out your own lab reports - as well as practical multiple choice questions in the Physiology exam.

Exams and Grades

At the end of the year, once you have completed exams, you will receive a class depending on where you are ranked compared to all first year natscis. A 1st is awarded to the top 25%, a 3rd is awarded to the bottom 10%, and everyone in between will receive a 2:1 or a 2:2 (Second class, first and second division respectively.) A 1st or a 2:1 is considered very good, whilst a 2:2 or a 3rd is not seen very favourably

Nobody gets a 90%. A 70% on a physics paper is already enough to get a first (but don't even begin to think that 70% is an easy feat) The exams are designed to be difficult for everyone, so don't lose heart when you sit down to do a practice paper and find you can only attempt half of the questions. Keep trying.

Don't have a breakdown over getting perfect marks in your first year, as you do not need to put it on your CV. However if you score badly in the second year you may be stopped from studying the subjects you want, and scoring badly in the first year puts you in an unfavourable position when choosing rooms for the second year. It's also a matter of personal pride for most people.

Anastasia Noraev, Lotte Rietveld. 2010