Best Bits of Being a Physics Student so far!

Well it’s my last day of work tomorrow. It has been a VERY long summer – being a cleaner is a really tough job. It’s also a horrible job – I think people would be amazed at the disgusting state hotel rooms are left in and there’s only one person who’s going to clean it up – the poor old cleaner! However, it has given me enough money to go on a nice holiday next week (I’m off to Sardinia!) and has given me some more motivation to get back to my degree! It’s a tough truth, but working in a job like this does make me want to work harder just so I hopefully wont have to do anything similar again! It also makes you think about what you like most about your degree as you look forward to not having to clean up other people’s bodily fluids, and so I thought this would be a perfect time to let you know what have been my favourite bits of my degree so far.

Good old first year textbook!
If you're heading off to study
Physics you may well find
yourself with a copy!

Every UK physics degree has to fulfill criteria set out by the Institute of Physics, so every degree at every university will cover some common topics. These include advanced mathematics, mechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism, quantum physics, condensed matter physics, waves and optics and relativity. This sounds like a lot, but having looked through the list I’ve covered all of these in my first two years (I’ve got another two years to go which will be more specialised). While different universities cover material at different speeds, and some go into more detail than others it guarantees that every physics graduate will have a certain level of knowledge about a wide range of core physics topics. But which bits of these have I enjoyed the most?

Quantum Physics

This has definitely been one of my favourite parts of the course. Not only is it mind bending and really exciting, with each new year it becomes cooler. At school I would always say “Oh yes, I’m really interested in quantum”. Little did I know. Literally. At school, you basically learn about some funny particles with weird names and some concepts that sound pretty cool. It’s when you get to university and get to see WHY it works that it becomes much more amazing. The maths is really pretty, the fact it all works when you apply it both to the micro and macro scales and because it is just so often so impossible to understand (well in a sense that you can’t really imagine it) but you can see that it does work makes it a really FANTASTIC topic to study!

How cool does this look! It's such a
lovely equation! :D

Mechanics

This was the very first topic I studied at university, and what a wake up it was for me. As a result of not having studied Further Maths at school, I’d never done any of the mechanics maths modules. I’d only studied topics like vectors and calculus as fairly abstract topics in maths, so discovering they were so important in physics was actually quite a big jump for me. I’m not ashamed to say that I found this topic really challenging either. Most other people had more experience than me so I had to work really hard. But it paid off and actually was really rewarding for me as I felt like I was getting somewhere straight away. My tutor was also fantastic, and I’ll always be grateful to her for convincing me that I wasn’t completely stupid or out of my depth!

The random, generic 'bodies' that
you use in mechanics quickly became
known as potatoes...

Labs

I really love practical work – I always have. I love actually doing stuff myself and over the years I’ve had the opportunity to do some pretty cool stuff. First year labs weren’t always the most interesting tasks, however as we gained the skills required to become more independent the tasks we were given became much better. At the end of my first year I got to do a week long project using X rays to determine the composition of British Coins – we even got to use super strong acids to remove the outer coatings to determine the compositions of the cores (1p,2p and 5p all have steel cores now as otherwise the metal they are made of would be worth more than the coin. As such, not all coins are magnetic) and got to prove which pound coin out of a selection was fake. It's also meant I am full of a wealth of fairly dull information about British coins! My second year long project was also really good – over 6 weeks we got to write programmes in python and use telescopes with digital cameras attached to determine the temperature of sunspots. Next year I’ve got another long project to come, I don’t know the exact topic yet but it will probably fall within the Nuclear Physics category. Exciting times!  

Believe it or not this is the sun! (And
I took the photo!)

I think these three topics have been the most notable parts for me so far, but I am very excited to continue with my degree and find out more stuff. The great thing about a physics degree though is that it is usually pretty interesting, and there are some real WOW moments. When we managed to find the speed of light using Maxwell’s equations (which link electricity and magnetism), when we first learnt about relativity, when we saw how cool maths could really be, when we spent some amazing hours watching beautiful ‘fly throughs’ of galaxies… they’re moments that make the degree really worth it. And well it’s much better than cleaning!

First year coin project - I spent rather
a long time cleaning coins for this
project!

How to... Cope with Illness at University

Ooops – looks like something went wrong last week! I posted last Saturday but it seems to have mysteriously disappeared (it was probably me deleting it by accident or something – silly me!). So apologies about that; I was none the wiser about the lack of a proper post! I’ve reposted it below so check it out – just a couple of hints about how I like to revise for Physics exams!

Today’s blog is another one that hopefully might help someone out at some point. University is quite a daunting experience, most people move away from home to an entirely new place and are suddenly entirely responsible for themselves, often for the first time in their lives. Added to this is the fact that you become really busy – not only is there lots of work to do, but there are also new friends to meet, activities to try, places to be! All of which can leave you feeling a bit run down. Universities are a hot house for diseases to thrive in – people from all over the country (and beyond) come and share around their various illnesses in lecture halls (which are always either WAY to hot or cold) with other students whose immune systems have already taken a beating from sharing maybe slightly less than spotless kitchens and other communal areas and Friday night’s maybe slightly dodgy 2am pizza from that place that only opens for the ‘late night crowd’.

And getting ill at university is not nice at all! There are no parents to phone up school for you to tell them you can’t come in, no one brings you hot drinks or nourishing food and people are in general far less sympathetic than the treatment you got at home. Instead you have to carry on looking after yourself as best as you can, crawling out of the nest you have formed for yourself in your bedroom, looking miserable as you skulk towards the kitchen to get yourself some food. Trying to look less guilty as other people see you, as you silently apologise for even daring to leave your den of illness and share with everyone else the possibility that they too might catch it.

So yeah, it’s not great. Students are also liable to get some really nasty illnesses which can have some really significant complications at our age. So what can you do about it? I am one of those “more ill than the average person” people, so I have lots and lots of experience at being ill, and more importantly for this post, what you can do to cope.

·      Doctors – when you’re ill you go to the doctors right? Well first off, when you start university make sure you register at your new GP, your university will probably help with this. Then appreciate the fact that it may not operate in the same way as your current GP does. At my university, there are lots of students all registered to the same GP surgery, so they have to operate in such a way as to maximise the number of people they can see. So instead of necessarily just booking an appointment, you may have to attend a drop in session where you arrive and wait to see the first available doctor or nurse. This is all well and good for most people, but if you have long standing health problems you may wish to see someone consistently who gets to know you and knows about your history and appreciates your health record. Ask about whether you can have it mentioned on your record that you would like to see a particular doctor, in such circumstances I’ve found they’ve been very good about letting me see a doctor who knows me and who I like.

·      Find out about university policy. If you’re ill you will probably be missing lectures, which may or may not be compulsory to attend. Even if not compulsory you’ll be missing teaching time so either try and get notes from a friend, or try asking the lecturer do they have any slides or notes or similar. If you are missing compulsory sessions, find out what the protocol is. Often you can just contact the university or specific department to let them know you’re ill so are missing classes/ need an extension on a deadline or whatever. In lots of universities for short term problems (like flu for example) you can self certify, which means you don’t need a doctor’s note to prove you were ill, however you will probably be limited in how many of these you can submit and under what circumstances. Make sure you know the procedures for any more important circumstances such as being ill during the exam or revision period, as there are often more forms to fill in, more important people to contact and you will often need a doctors letter (which aren’t necessarily quick or easy to get and are often not free either).

·      Find out about the support networks in the university or surrounding area. If you suffer from a long term health issue there are often people you can talk to who can help you deal with these, from disability services to counselling services or university welfare teams. These people can really help by explaining procedures you need to follow, helping you find resources that might help (such as support in buying a Dictaphone if you regularly miss lectures for health reasons so the lecture can be recorded for you) and just being a friendly face you can go to when you’re feeling rubbish.

·      Look after yourself. You have your freedom now but this doesn’t mean that takeaways all the time and drinking every night is a good idea. Eat properly, get enough sleep, get some exercise in and you’ll be less likely to be ill. Pay attention to any notices sent round about any particular illnesses that are going round like mumps or glandular fever and protect yourself from them and recognise the symptoms, as they are not fun at all! Keep a check on your mental well being too as students are some of the most likely people to experience mental health difficulties as well, and help is out there. Find help if you need it as there is no shame in making sure you’re ok.

Try not to worry as well. Whilst when you’re ill the world can seem like a horrible place, but there are people who understand and people who have been through it all before. As such, there are many systems in place to ensure that no matter what happens, you should be able to access help and really enjoy university to the full, even if slip ups occur along the way. You’re not alone, there genuinely is always someone out there to help and finding them will really make you feel a lot better!

How to... Cope with Physics Exams

NOTE: Due to technical difficulties this blog was originally posted on 24/05/14 but seems to have disappeared since then - so here it is again! 

Hello everyone! I’m so sorry it has been so long, but I have been living holed up in my room and the library for the last month! However I have now broken out of the stress of exams, the monotony of revision and can once again turn my attentions to more fun endeavours. From now I will be blogging regularly (aiming for once a week, to be published on Saturdays). 

So, exams. Exams are hard, and everyone knows it. Having now been taking official exams every summer for the last 8 years (goodness me that’s a lot of exams!) I can now say that I think I’ve got my revision strategies worked out. Now of course everyone has different methods for revision, but this blog post just aims to give some ideas about what works for me, and what may work for others if they want some ideas.

First off: Revising for different subjects really does necessitate revising in different ways. I mean, different subjects obviously have different content, but that content is also applied very differently in exams. I studied Physics, Maths, English Literature and Music at A level and even then it was obvious that each subject needed to be approached in a different way. But it was approaching my first year university exams that it became clearer I needed to hone my revision techniques to be most efficient for revising Physics. At school many hours were spent doing (slightly weird) workshops that were meant to tell you what kind of learner you were, and therefore how you should revise. Everyone was encouraged to produce many different resources in order to revise, but many subjects didn’t actually give any hints about how to revise specifically for their subject.

Physics, at least at university level, is hard. The exams are tough. There is a lot of content to know (formula sheets are a vague memory from the past), but it isn’t enough to just know what you’ve been told in lectures. You have to be able to use this knowledge to do things that you may never have seen before, so you really have to understand it all too (and where it all comes from and how it all links together). You then also need to have the maths skills to do some pretty complicated mathematical tasks, where a small error will completely ruin your final answer. So what would I recommend?

·      Make your notes for the content in a way that works for you - People learn the content in different ways. I used to make colourful posters, as my memory works in such a way that I can usually visualise particular pages of revision and particular sections of that page and the colour can help me recall the image. However as the amount of content has increased, I have just found that often I don’t have enough time to cover all of the content in this way. Instead, I go through and make notes for the entire course, but making sure I understand every single part before I write it down as I will only have time to do this step once. I try and structure my notes such that content is presented in a logical order, and cross reference different parts so I understand how it all fits together and refer back to this resource whilst practicing.

·      Go back over everything regularly using the syllabus as a guide – when going back over your notes, use the syllabus (which should define what you need to know) to check your knowledge. You can write yourself a list of questions that you should be able to answer, and then go through it. (My boyfriend Adam came up with this one and it really works! :)) If you can’t write down the correct answer, go back through your notes and try again (sometimes writing it out a few times again helps). And do this regularly, starting a long time before the exams actually happen.

·      PRACTICE – the most important part of Physics revision is practice. Not only does it let you practice your maths skills properly, it can give you clues as to what sort of questions might come up and how these questions might be phrased. If you get sample solutions it can also give you good tips of how to answer questions and what to write down to gain the maximum number of marks.

·      In the exam – don’t panic. Many exams at university follow a different format to exams at school such that you can choose a certain number of questions to answer and leave the rest. Some people like to read the whole exam paper at the start, some people find that may panic them and prefer to answer some questions first, particularly if they are compulsory. But anyway – keeping calm is the most important thing. Even if you think you can’t do a question, write down what things you know about the topic. These might help you start to come up with a solution, as they can help you focus more on the topic but even if not may gain you some marks.

·      Make sure you write down your working. You’ll get told this constantly whilst at school and you know what – they’re right. It means if you make a mistake during a calculation they can see where you went wrong and then give you marks for the bits you did right. This is way more important as calculations get longer and harder.

And remember – at university the bar changes. 70% or more is excellent, gone are the days when less than 90% meant you missed out on the top grade. They are meant to be hard so don’t necessarily panic if you can’t do everything, just make sure you are especially careful when answering questions on things you can do.

All of the above may seem like common sense, but I’ve come across many people who really do find it hard to revise and are looking for a bit of help. So if that is you, best of luck! Hopefully something I’ve said might help but remember it’s all about what works for you!

To anyone else – do you have any revision tips that you think might help someone? What works for you?

So what is it like being a Physics student?

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't written for a while but it's all been extraordinarily busy recently! As this blog aims to demonstrate what it is like to study Physics at university, this seemed like a fairly obvious topic to begin with. However, seeing as this weekend marks International Women's Day I felt I ought to say a little on what it's like to study Physics as a female. In a nutshell, it's getting better. More and more girls are feeling able to go away and study Physics at whatever level they want to. More high profile science is being done by women. People are gradually accepting that females can study Physics and can be as good at it. I mean, you still come across some idiots who think that if you are studying Physics you are either a) deluded about being good at a 'male' subject or b) just looking for a husband. Thank goodness times are moving ahead and we are beginning to reach a stage where a woman can feel confident about entering a male dominated subject. International Women's Day is such a brilliant way to celebrate the many, diverse achievements of women from across the world, but also to highlight areas in which progress still needs to be made in terms of gender equality. However, that's enough for now. I will be doing a proper blog post about being a woman in Physics in the next few weeks so watch this space!

Anyway... what is it like doing a Physics degree? Firstly: BUSY! During your degree you really do learn what being busy really means. You will probably have one of the highest number of contact hours of any subject (around 20 hours a week). That doesn't sound too bad you think? I mean school has about 25 hours a week? The difference is in the amount of work you have to do outside of the the teaching hours, and how much more intense the teaching really is. There will be days when you really start to resent your friends on other degree programmes, who might just about manage to get in for 5 hours teaching time per week. Reading they say, we have to do lots of reading. And they're right, they do work hard too. But you know the unfair bit? The physicist also has to read -  if they have time that is! As well as the aforementioned contact hours (lectures, lab sessions, tutorials and workshops), each week there are multiple problems to complete and hand in, each of which will probably take hours to do. Add in a couple of lab reports a term, some computing projects and some poster presentations (which will inevitably all be due in at the same time) and you already have a very busy timetable. Then add the reading that we're meant to do (otherwise you'll have no idea what is going on in the course) and there are suddenly no spare hours in the day. 

Credit goes to Gary Larson, creator of The Far Side
cartoon series.

However this in turn has its own benefits. One way of looking at it? You're getting much better value for your tuition fees. And university really is all about hard work and learning at the end of the day. Physics is HARD, there are no two ways about it. But there are rewards in the end. At the same time you also do learn to make the most of the time you have. You find you can actually fit an awful lot into the day and still have time to join societies, go out, make friends and enjoy your time. Even if it means having occasional frantic panics about work. It's still worth it. For example, as well as my degree I enjoy music, including singing in my college choir. I enjoy swimming, yoga and archery. I participate in folk dance, including a recent weekend trip to Edinburgh for IVFDF - the Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival which was great. This is as well as being involved with many other societies and activities; and spending time with friends. So despite all the busyness there's a lot else to get involved with and a lot of fun to have. I mean, university is about trying new things too. It's just a case of learning how to use your time. 

Secondly: Studying Physics at university level is nothing like studying it at school. Gone are the days of A level Physics where it was all about passing exams. Passing those exams are also a distant memory - no longer are questions short, no longer does the paper lead you towards the answer they want and memories of formula booklets are now fading fast. Exams are now 3 hours long but have far fewer questions. It is no longer a memory test; instead it is a test of your understanding of the actual Physics. Instead of being given some variables that you just plug into a formula you may or may not need to remember you are expected to derive different formula. You need to use MATHS to just get towards a solution to the problem in terms of many variables before you even think about maybe plugging real numbers in. And of course your answer might not have much to do with real life at the end of it anyway. I guess that is one of the biggest differences - Physics at university is all about the maths. If you are considering a Physics degree make sure you a) actually enjoy maths just for the pure maths-y-ness of it and b) are pretty good at it. You will suddenly discover all the varied and wonderful uses for all those things you learnt at A level about which we all said "But yeah, when am I going to have to use this in real life?". I'll tell you where - in a lecture where you write several long pages of notes but never write a single word, except maybe the title. Sometimes not even then. Expect to be pretty much perpetually confused, desperately hoping everyone else is as confused as you are. Sometimes it's worse when you actually think you understand it, you can't help feeling you must have missed the point. Not even joking, questions sometimes look like this when you're feeling lost: "A roof is sloped at 42.7 degrees. A ball is dropped from a height of 1.63m. Remembering the assumption that we are working in just 3 dimensions; when an orange lorry drives past at 99.9% of the speed of light, what is the probability that a pineapple will be produced when the system is observed for the second time? Can we tell what colour it will be?"

However it's not all that bad. Lots of the degree is confusing and will make you tear your hair out but equally it will fascinate you too. You get to break out of the limitations of the physics you learn at school and learn about some really cool stuff. And feel pretty darn smart and smug when you get to quote Physics at other people. To put it briefly - it is all worth it. Yes you spend a lot of time wondering what is going on, and wondering whether you're actually going a little bit mad or whether maybe someone is playing a massive joke on you and this stuff really is just made up. But then there are moments like working out a particularly nasty solution to a complicated integral and finding that suddenly the solution you are meant to get out "just falls out so beautifully and neatly and IT JUST IS SO BEAUTIFUL". Or getting more than a little excited about how particularly stunning your graph turned out to be. (Yes. I get excited about graphs.) Or the moment when your code works so you run through your house proclaiming "IT WORKS. AND IT IS THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING I HAVE EVER CREATED". These are all the moments that make it worthwhile - despite the fact that you may look a little bit like a total weirdo. Oh well - weird is good. At least it's fun!

Credit to the creator at twisteddoodles.com

So yes, as with any degree Physics has it's ups and downs. There are plenty of boring bits (at least to you - you have to try and remember that someone somewhere thinks this is the most fascinating subject of all) but they are made worth it by the bits where everything suddenly makes sense and you finally feel like you're on top of everything. It's a bit like life really. So is it worth it? Why yes, of course!

What about you? Are you interested in pursuing Physics as a degree? Are you like me currently in the middle of it all? Or have you finished? Has your opinion changed at all? Feel free to ask any questions or add your own thoughts below!