PROF brian Cox got a D in maths!

[mollykins]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...-environment-12344973

According to this, he got a D in a-level maths. How do you get onto a physics course with only that? i supose when he was a college a-levels were harder, you're going to say, and that rarely anybody got As, like they do now, but still . . . .

[NazNomad]

Should have stuck with D-Ream then, lol

[mollykins]

Like he says, you expect the best scientists to be genius old men in white coats, and i thought something rediculous like straight As in GCSE and A-levels.

[jackthehat]

And like he says..............it doesn't have to be the case..............

[dotty.]

when he was at college 'A' levels were harder, most students only took a 'A' levels too, and none of them seemed to do them early, nor were there AS levels too, which cover alot of the work of the first year of the old 'A' leve; course

[nightmare]

Molly,
it all depends on the offer he was given by the university.
I was given an offer of 2 grade Es when I applied to university to study theoretical physics - i.e. all I needed to do to gain a place was achieve 2 x grade E, in any subjects. This is effectively what was known as an "unconditional" offer. That was way back in 1982.

I got 3 grade A and 2 grade B at A level, in case you were wondering. The annoying thing was, I got B for the two subjects for which I actually did any revision.

[ABerrant]

Having to meet an academic requirement, as described above, is a "conditional" offer. An "unconditional" offer is when the institution is happy to accept you based on the quals you already hold.

Prof. Brian Cox must have been given an unconditional offer for placement as he applied to Manchester Uni as a 23-year old mature student - 5 years after earning his D in Maths. Do we know the other 'A' Level grades (I suspect a higher grade in Physics) he possessed that ensured his acceptance to the course?

[Davethedog]

Doesn't say what he got in Physics or his 3rd A level.

[mollykins]

I don't know about his other grades Aber . . . . but if you do that abdly at maths how do you do well at physics?

[mike11111]

A grade D is a pass, not a fail, so he can hardly said to have done badly. The level required to achieve a grade D when Prof Cox sat his exam would probably gain an A* these days.

[mollykins]

I have ways of possibly finding out, I'll tell you if he replies :)

[ABerrant]

Many Uni courses now tend to offer the first term as remedial study in Maths (& English), where necessary, to bring students up to speed - not sure if that was as readily the case 17 years ago.

[jd_1984]

I admit that I didnt meet my academic potential in school, I did a great deal of maturing age 17-18 and my A level grades were far better. I would hate that my GCSE grades were a reflection on my current work ethic and effort that I put in. I got a C grade at GCSE in maths and now I am responsible for budget calculations in our company.

[Hazel104]

I got a D in my uni subject, but I made an impression at the interview/open day and was offered a place anyway, so it is not all about the grade.

[jake-the-peg]

I did my A levels shortly before and did about the same - I ended up a professional physist too for a while - perhaps being bad at maths is a pre-requisite for an experimentalist.

As to whether A-levels are easier or harder - My son has been doing them recently and from what I can see it's a bit complicated.

The subjects are modular and the schools can select the modules to teach for standard A-levels - this allows them to select slightly less challenging subject areas - so for example although complex numbers infinite series and basic calculus are all generally studied subjects that we used to call applied maths, ie mechanics, statics etc. aren't taught much now and I think those were harder.

Advanced Maths students do all the modules so there's not much difference there.

For what it's worth Chemistry now seems to be much more difficult than it was when I was doing A levels it's far more mathematical and there are a lot of quite complex concepts in there.

I think Physics is about the same although a lot of the older 19th Centuary topics are gone and have been replace by trendier subjects like quantum mechanics and astro physics that I'd have given my eye teeth to study at 18

[Backdrifter]

@mollykins - "if you do that abdly at maths how do you do well at physics?"

Interesting question. At school I failed maths and was scheduled to re-sit it, but meanwhile started A-level physics. The physics actually helped me to understand the maths. I know what you mean, your instinct is for it to be the other way around, but in fact doing the advanced physics made sense of the maths - instead of being abstract, it acquired some meaning.