Part III Mathematics at Cambridge: the Hardest Maths Course in the World

Summary

Ellie, 一位剑桥大学数学硕士毕业生，分享了她在学习世界上最难数学课程之一——剑桥大学第三部分数学课程的经历。她详细介绍了课程结构、评估方式、入学要求和准备工作，强调了课程的挑战性和密集性，同时也提供了如何选择模块、如何平衡学习负担的建议。Ellie还分享了她如何通过研究论文提升研究技能，并鼓励对研究感兴趣的学生选择论文选项。此外，她还提到了剑桥大学提供的支持系统，包括讲师、学院导师和系部联系人，以及她个人如何享受与世界顶尖研究者的互动。

Takeaways

• 🎓 Ellie 在剑桥大学完成了数学三部分（Part Three of the Mathematical Tripos），这是一门为期九个月的硕士课程，被认为是世界上最难的数学课程之一。
• 🌟 每年大约有260名学生参加这个课程，其中包括剑桥大学本科生和外部候选人。
• 📚 课程提供约75门课程，涵盖纯数学、概率统计、应用数学和理论物理等领域，旨在为学生提供深入研究的准备。
• 📈 Ellie 选择了连续介质力学和天体物理学作为她的专攻领域，这反映了课程允许学生根据自己的兴趣选择课程。
• 📝 学生可以选择是否撰写论文，这取决于他们是否对研究感兴趣。Ellie 选择了撰写论文，并在流体动力学领域取得了优异成绩。
• 📊 课程的评估主要基于考试，学生可以选择参加的模块数量，以满足不同等级的要求（优秀、良好或及格）。
• 🏆 剑桥大学的本科生如果成绩优异，可以继续攻读硕士课程，而外部候选人则需要具备一等荣誉学位或同等资格。
• 🔍 申请者需要在学术简历和申请中突出自己，以确保能够进入这个竞争激烈的课程。
• 📅 课程的强度很大，学生需要在八周的学期内学习大量内容，因此建议在开始课程前给自己足够的休息时间。
• 💼 学生在课程中主要得到讲师和学院导师的支持，但需要具备高度的独立性和自我激励能力。
• 📌 Ellie 强调了准备课程的重要性，建议学生在开始课程前熟悉所需的先修知识，并尽可能地了解课程内容。

Q & A

剑桥大学的数学三部分课程是什么？

剑桥大学的数学三部分课程是一个为期九个月的授课型硕士课程，被认为是世界上最难和最密集的数学课程之一，每年约有260名学生参加。

数学三部分课程的课程结构是怎样的？

数学三部分课程通常包括大约75门课程，涵盖纯数学、概率统计、应用数学和理论物理等多个领域。学生可以根据自己的兴趣选择课程组合。

学生在数学三部分课程中如何选择课程？

学生可以根据自己的兴趣和能力选择课程，通常建议开始时选择四到五门课程，然后根据实际情况调整。每门课程的单位数不同，学生需要根据自己的目标成绩（如优秀、良好或及格）来决定需要修读的课程数量。

数学三部分课程的评估方式有哪些？

数学三部分课程的评估主要基于考试，学生需要参加所选课程的考试。此外，学生还有机会撰写一篇研究性论文，这有助于提高最终成绩。

数学三部分课程的入学要求是什么？

非剑桥毕业生通常需要拥有英国一等荣誉学位（数学、物理、工程或统计学）或同等资格。剑桥内部学生则需要在本科阶段表现优异。

数学三部分课程的学习强度如何？

数学三部分课程非常密集，每个学期为8周，学生需要在短时间内学习大量内容。课程的难度取决于学生选择的课程数量和内容。

数学三部分课程提供哪些支持？

学生可以从讲师、示例课教师、学院导师和部门联系人那里获得支持。此外，学生还可以通过与同学合作来互相帮助。

数学三部分课程的讲座是怎样的？

讲座通常由世界领先的研究者进行，内容充满激情。三单元课程每周有三节讲座和一节示例课，两单元课程每周有两节讲座和几乎一节示例课。

数学三部分课程的课程内容会变化吗？

是的，每年可能会有一些课程不再开设，同时也会有新的课程加入。学生需要查看当年的课程列表来确定哪些课程可供选择。

数学三部分课程的论文部分是怎样的？

学生可以选择一个研究主题，进行深入研究。论文可以是原创研究，也可以是文献综述。完成论文后，学生会与导师进行几次会面，讨论进展。

数学三部分课程对未来发展有何帮助？

该课程为数学研究提供了优秀的准备，并且对于那些希望在工业、教学或研究机构进一步培训的学生来说，也是非常有价值的。

Outlines

00:00

📚 剑桥大学数学三部分课程介绍

Ellie介绍了她在剑桥大学数学三部分课程的学习经历，这是一项为期九个月的硕士课程，被认为是世界上最难的数学课程之一。她分享了自己的背景，包括在剑桥大学完成数学三部分课程和作为空间系统优化工程师的工作。Ellie还提到了她的频道计划，将制作一系列关于剑桥大学的视频。

05:02

🎓 数学三部分课程结构与选择

Ellie解释了数学三部分课程的结构，包括大约75门课程，涵盖纯数学、概率统计、应用数学和理论物理等领域。她强调了课程的多样性，允许学生根据自己的兴趣选择专业领域。同时，她提到了课程的不确定性，有些课程可能不会在下一年开设。

10:02

🌠 数学与天体物理学的区别

Ellie比较了数学三部分和天体物理学三部分课程的不同。她提到，尽管两者有重叠，但天体物理学课程更侧重于课程作业，而数学三部分则更多依赖于考试。她还分享了自己选择专注于连续介质力学和天体物理学的原因。

15:04

📝 评估方式与论文经验

Ellie讨论了数学三部分的评估方式，包括考试和论文。她分享了自己选择写论文的经历，以及如何通过研究和写作提高自己的研究技能。她还提到了论文的评分和对未来发展的帮助。

20:06

📈 申请要求与准备建议

Ellie强调了申请数学三部分课程的高要求，包括通常需要英国一等荣誉学位。她建议申请者确保自己的学术背景和个人陈述能够脱颖而出。此外，她还提供了如何为课程做准备的建议，包括提前学习相关课程的讲义。

25:07

🤝 支持与资源

Ellie描述了在数学三部分课程中获得的支持，包括讲座、示例课程和导师。她提到了讲座的重要性，以及与世界领先的研究者互动的机会。她还强调了在课程开始前给自己休息的重要性，以适应紧张的学习节奏。

📌 课程总结与观众互动

Ellie总结了数学三部分课程的主要内容，并邀请观众在评论区提出更多问题或视频建议。她感谢观众的支持，并预告了即将发布的更多视频内容。

Keywords

💡剑桥大学

剑桥大学是位于英国的世界著名高等教育机构，视频中提到的数学三部分课程是该校提供的一种高强度数学硕士课程。它被认为是世界上最难的数学课程之一，每年约有260名学生参加。

💡数学三部分

数学三部分是剑桥大学提供的一种为期九个月的硕士课程，它是数学研究的优秀准备课程，也适用于希望在工业、教学或研究机构进一步培训的人士。

💡课程结构

数学三部分的课程结构包括大约75门课程，涵盖纯数学、概率统计、应用数学和理论物理等领域。学生可以根据自己的兴趣选择课程组合，以深入学习特定领域。

💡评估方式

数学三部分的评估主要基于考试，学生需要根据所选课程参加相应的考试。此外，学生还有机会撰写一篇研究性论文，以获得额外的学分。

💡支持系统

剑桥大学为数学三部分的学生提供了一系列的支持系统，包括讲师、示例课教师、学院导师和系主任等，以帮助学生应对学习中的挑战。

💡入学要求

数学三部分的入学要求通常包括拥有数学、物理、工程或统计学等相关领域的一等荣誉学位。剑桥大学毕业生可以获得MMath学位，而非剑桥毕业生则获得MAST学位。

💡准备工作

为了准备数学三部分课程，学生需要确保自己具备所需的先修知识，并在课程开始前给自己足够的休息时间，以便适应高强度的学习环境。

💡讲座

讲座是数学三部分课程的重要组成部分，通常由该领域的世界领先研究者进行，内容涉及他们的研究成果。讲座通常为50分钟，每周进行。

💡示例课

示例课是数学三部分课程的辅助教学活动，通常由讲师或专门的教师负责，通过解决示例问题来帮助学生理解和掌握课程内容。

💡学术压力

数学三部分课程以其高强度和学术挑战而闻名，学生需要在短时间内学习大量内容，并准备考试。

Highlights

Ellie刚刚完成了剑桥大学数学三部分的课程，这是一种高级数学硕士学位。

Ellie目前的工作是太空系统优化工程师。

剑桥大学的数学三部分课程被认为是世界上最难的数学课程之一。

数学三部分是一个为期九个月的硕士课程，为数学研究提供了极好的准备。

每年大约有260名学生参加数学三部分课程。

剑桥大学的本科生在三年内完成学士学位，然后有机会继续攻读硕士。

数学三部分课程提供了大约75门课程，涵盖纯数学、概率统计、应用数学和理论物理等领域。

学生可以选择专攻特定领域，如连续力学和天体物理学。

数学三部分课程的评估主要基于考试，但学生可以选择写一篇研究论文。

剑桥大学建议学生在每学期开始时选择5-7门课程，然后根据兴趣和理解程度调整。

数学三部分课程的最低要求是通过12个单元的考试。

对于非剑桥毕业生，申请数学三部分课程通常需要英国一等荣誉学位。

Ellie建议在开始数学三部分课程前确保自己有足够的休息。

剑桥大学的讲师通常是各自领域的世界领导者。

Ellie在数学三部分课程中获得了优异的成绩，并在研究论文中获得了高分。

Ellie计划制作一系列关于剑桥大学的视频，包括数学课程的详细介绍。

剑桥大学的课程结构允许学生在米迦勒学期和复活节学期学习课程，然后在复活节假期复习准备考试。

Ellie强调，数学三部分课程的难度取决于学生选择的课程数量和内容。

剑桥大学提供了丰富的资源和支持，帮助学生适应和成功完成数学三部分课程。

Transcripts

hi everyone and welcome back to my

channel for those of you that are new

here my name is Ellie and I've just

finished part three of the mathematical

tripos at the University of Cambridge

which as I say in all of my videos is

basically a fancy way of saying that I

studied a maths Masters now my current

job is as a Space Systems optimization

engineer which is quite the mouthful but

I graduated well I will be graduating

from Cambridge in the spring so I

thought I would make a video about

studying the hardest math course in the

world and give you a bit of insight into

how the courses run what goes on in the

course and just give you generally what

what my experience was before diving

into the video please consider

subscribing to my channel I am planning

on making this the first video in a long

list of Cambridge series

um you know I'm going to film loads of

videos about Cambridge and specifically

what maths was like there and make it

into a series so if you fancy watching

those videos or if you're interested

then hit the Subscribe button so you

don't miss out on those videos so I have

a list of notes on my laptop so I may

refer to my laptop from time to time

just to make sure I'm giving you all the

information that you need but the first

thing that I'm going to do is give you a

bit of an introduction into what is

known as the hardest math course in the

world or what is known as one of the

hardest math courses and that is known

as part three maths at Cambridge so I've

got a bit of a short description from

the website itself part three is a nine

month taught Masters course in

mathematics it's an excellent

preparation for mathematical research

and it is also a valuable course in

mathematics and in its applications for

those who want further training before

taking posts in Industry teaching or

research establishments it is regarded

as one of the hardest and most intensive

mathematics courses in the world and is

taken by approximately 260 students each

year so that's a bit of an overview of

the course itself I'm going to break

down what it means by part three you

know you may be wondering where's part

one and two

um and I'll give you a bit of a

breakdown of that now so generally

Cambridge you do a bachelor's and that's

three years and each year at Cambridge

it's broken broken down into to part one

a part one b and part two so those are

your three years at bachelor's and then

as you guessed part three is the fourth

year which is also known as the Masters

year now typically what happens is

people will study their bachelor's at

Cambridge and then if you get you know

if you score well enough then you will

be able to progress onto the Masters now

this is something that's worth

mentioning because the best performing

students at bachelor's level at

Cambridge go on to study the Masters

aside from external candidates so you

were already kind of grouped up with

people who are the top performing

students in the bachelor's course so

typically you need a first in your

bachelor's to progress onto the Master's

course for those people that have scored

two ones and they have the option to do

part three astrophysics which they're

two completely different courses but

they do overlap to a certain extent and

I'll explain that later on in the video

so the main thing to take away from this

section is that typically you have

around 90 students who have come in

internally through Cambridge bachelors

um and they are the top performing

students in that bachelor's course so

you're already kind of grouped with

people who are incredibly intelligent

and they take around 90 of those

students internally externally they take

around 160 170 students

um from universities that other

universities in the UK so that was like

myself or other universities around the

world so typically the whole part

through cohort is around 260 students so

that's a little bit about the whole

explanation of part three what it means

and how many students take it now I'm

going to talk to you a little bit about

the course structure I realize this

video will be very structured in the

sense of I'm going to talk you through

the whole of part three I wanted to do

that because I've had a lot of people

interested in what part three is like

how my masters went at Cambridge and I

wanted to do a full video explaining the

whole course for those of you that maybe

you know may have decided you're already

going to do part three and want to watch

this video or for people that might

think this is the course for me so I

wanted to put that in as an aside here I

wanted to explain the whole of part

three there's a lot of information to

get in so I'm gonna get stuck in again

and continue with the course structure

and just the course itself so again an

extract from the University website says

there are normally about 75 courses

covering an extensive range of pure

maths probability statistics Applied

Mathematics and theoretical physics

they're designed to cover those Advanced

parts of the subjects that are not

normally covered in the first degree

course but which are indispensable

preliminary to independent study and

research students have a wide choice of

the combination of courses that they

offer though naturally they tend to

select groups of similar courses so I'll

put an image on the screen right here

and you can find this on the course

website it's basically just a list of

what each department can be broken down

into so for example if you look in

Applied Mathematics you'll notice

there's a Continuum mechanic section and

in there will be all of the lectures

that you can study within Continuum

mechanics so for me when I studied this

course last year I had 10 modules in the

Continuum mechanics section and some

other sections may have four courses may

have more than have less it just depends

on what is being taught that year I just

wanted to stress that some modules you

may see that may be taught this year are

not necessarily running the following

year I made that mistake of thinking oh

my gosh I'm so excited to study this one

module it was called hydrodynamics

hydrodynamic stability and then it was I

think discontinued for the following

year and I was really good so just bear

that in mind if you are going to study

the maybe some courses that may not run

and there are also some new courses that

do run um there are some new courses in

the year that I took part three so the

idea behind offering so many different

courses is that you can specialize you

can go into a particular area that

you're interested in so for me it was

Continuum mechanics and astrophysics now

as an aside you may be thinking why is

astrophysics as part of maths the

astrophysics modules were very maths

heavy so there were still classed as

mats but the astrophysics students who

took part 3 astrophysics could also take

those modules so it's kind of like an

overlap but a lot of math students also

took the astrophysics courses as well

and for me they were like the best

courses I honestly loved them so much

but anyway I digressed the for me you

know I wanted to specialize in Continuum

mechanics so fluid dynamics and

astrophysics and I was able to do that

because they had a whole range of

modules on offer some people I know

specifically just said okay I'm going to

take all 10 courses from continuing

mechanics and just do do that which is

completely fine you can do that so the

idea therefore is that you choose an

area that you can specialize in and

learn a lot you know you go into a lot

of depth about that particular area now

because I've mentioned part three

astrophysics and part three maths before

I just thought I'd give you a bit of an

idea behind the difference between the

two of them students from Natural

Sciences can go into Masters in

astrophysics students who generally

don't get a first in undergrad maths can

go into astrophysics or if you do you

know even if you get a first in math you

can still go into astrophysics it's open

to a wide range of different students

that can apply for the astrophysics

course the difference between part three

astrophysics and part 3 maths is that

astrophysics has a larger coursework so

they have a rather large project whereas

part three maths we only had a small

essay which counted for a small aspect

of our entire course there's more exams

that count towards your final grade in

part three maths so that's a difference

really I made quite a few friends in

part three Astro and they I think were

allowed to take two modules or maybe one

module a term from maths whereas math

students can take as many astrophysics

modules as they want that's how the two

courses differ so if you are someone

that's interested in both of them have a

look and see what they offer if you're

someone that does better in exams maybe

the math courses for you if you just

love astrophysics and want to go into

that then do that so there are two

different paths you can take there so

that's a bit of an aside really so a

question that I got quite a lot um from

people that have read up on part three

basically they'd asked how modules work

at Cambridge and it's it's very strange

because for me I did my undergrad

elsewhere in the UK and I went from a

uni where we would they would say to us

you need to take this many credits and

you'll fill those credit's worth of

modules but at Cambridge you can

literally take as many modules as you

want the terms at Cambridge are split

into mikomas lent and then Easter and

typically you take your courses in both

mikamous and lent I didn't have any

courses in Easter I think it's quite

rare that you have courses in Easter

there may be a couple that run

um but for me I didn't have any so the

idea is you take your courses in mikomas

and lent and then you have the whole of

Easter term and East like the Easter

holidays to revise for your exams that

are at the start of June and it's worth

mentioning that the length of a term is

eight weeks now you might think that's

incredibly fast for me there are 11

weeks at my old University so eight

weeks is a fast term and you learn a lot

um but you also have quite long breaks

over Christmas as well and Easter so you

have plenty of time to revise so if you

are doing part three and you're in you

know you're in the middle of term

usually five by week five it hits you

that's when everything kind of the

stress comes they call it I think the

week five Blues is what they call it so

don't worry you know you have plenty of

time to revise but typically you get fed

a lot of information uh in a short

amount of time and that can get very

stressful now you may be wondering well

how do I choose how many modules I want

to take if I can take as many as I want

why can I take as many as I want

um so typically there's a general rule

of thumb really at Cambridge you can get

different grades in can get distinction

you can get a merit and you can get a

pass a distinction is 17 to 19 units and

Merit is 15 to 19 units and a pass is 12

to 15 units now each module at Cambridge

is comprising either two units or three

units so you can kind of figure out you

know I'm sure most of you that watching

this video study math so you can figure

out how many two units and three units

you'd need in order to qualify for

distinction Merit or pass I took 17

because I wanted to be in you know the

the region for a distinction and for me

I took five exams and then I took one

essay which counts for three units and

I'll explain how the essay Works in a

little bit so I took five exams and a

three unit essay four of my exams were

three units and one was a two unit now

for these distinction Merit and past

that is just the units you need to take

to exam so for me I took five modules to

exam and then I did an essay which was

worth three units you may break that

down and think okay well that's roughly

around three courses a term and that's

very doable you might think that's

almost too easy and what's important to

remember is that you can take more

courses than what you're actually taking

towards exam so for me I I took five

modules to exam but I think I studied

around eight or nine different courses

and I'm going to be doing a whole video

on each of the modules that I took and

explaining you know whether I like them

and just generally giving you advice for

how to how to know which modules to pick

so that will be one of the videos in

this series so as I said make sure you

subscribe so you don't miss out on that

video now typically at the start of make

or Miss you'll have a lecture with some

staff at the math department and they

will say to you we recommend you take

five six seven modules at the start of

the term then by the end of the first

week you drop down to I think it's like

four or five modules they basically say

to you don't do too many you'll burn

yourself out you'll get so stressed you

won't be able to understand the content

of other modules don't push yourself do

four or five start with get you know

start with take as many as you want you

can take eight take as many as you want

and then figure out which ones you enjoy

which one has you know the teaching

style is up to your standard do you like

the lecture you like the people in it

you understand the material well then

drop down to the ones that you think

yeah okay I'm gonna want I want to learn

these this term now don't worry if you

think four or five is a lot most of my

friends and myself included took between

three and four for each term because it

does get intense yeah it's it's a very

intense course you learn a lot in a

short amount of time and you have

example sheets and example sheets and

they're long example sheets for for the

ones that I studied anyway and it can

get very hard so you know one thing that

I would always say is part three is as

hard as you make it if you give yourself

loads of course content to learn then

it's going to be hard so just be

sensible with with the modules that you

choose that's that's kind of what I did

and I'm glad I did that now what's worth

mentioning if say you're watching this

video and you go away and you do put you

you get an offer from part three and

then you're in the middle of part three

and you're really struggling please

remember this you only need to take 12

units to pass so you could say okay I'm

going to take what three units for a

essay I'm gonna do my essay and then you

only need to take three exam three exams

that's all you need to do so if you're

in a position where you are so you are

struggling playing so much with this

course and it happens people are in

those situations because of how intense

the course is no you only need to take

three exams to pass so there's a bit of

kind of Hope in that that even if you

are struggling hopefully you'll know

that the minimum that you need to do is

just sit three exams and pass those

three exams so how is it assessed I've

mentioned how the exam system works you

know you take those number of units if

you want to be in the in for a chance of

getting a distinction Merit or pass

that's what you take to exam you can

technically take all exams if you want

to you don't have to do an essay but

part three offers the chance to do some

research and for me I snapped that up

straight away I did very well in my

undergrad dissertation and I love

research I love reading I love writing

so yeah so I was like I'm gonna I'm

gonna do this essay and essentially you

get given a list of titles some will be

released at the end of Mick or Miss term

some at the start of Lent and you choose

a title they come with a supervisor and

then you will do some research on a

particular area area now it's worth

stressing that these essays don't have

to be your own research for me I picked

a topic where my supervisor was kind of

like there's no way you're going to be

able to do new research in this area so

I'm going to make you do a lit review

and I really enjoyed that like I got to

do some research into an area that was

on waiver tractors for those of you that

are interested mine was on fluid

dynamics kind of wave attractors in

rotating and stratified fluids I did

that with Professor Gordon or gilvey I

think I've pronounced his name correctly

who also previously ran the

astrophysical fluid dynamics lectures so

he's also a lecturer so my essay is on

my LinkedIn if you fancy checking it out

and I got 87 in my dissertation so I got

a distinction and I was very very happy

I worked so hard on that probably too

hard at times honestly like cried on

results day because I was so happy with

with that Mark

um so if you fancy giving that a read

then it's on my LinkedIn I'm also going

to do a video on this channel in this

series about how you write a math

dissertation what are the do's and

don'ts really because I learned a lot

doing this essay a heck of a lot so I'll

be doing a video on that on this channel

too but as an overview for the essay you

basically just get a title and then

you'll go Research into that particular

area and I think you get to meet with

your supervisor I think four times is

the maximum if you have any more then

they'll class that as you're getting too

much help and then may knock you knock

you down for those of you that may be

wondering do I do an essay or do I not

you get your results for your essay the

same time you get your exam results so

it's not like you know your your essay

result before so you can then relax I

thought I'd done quite well in my essay

so I did relax a bit and I think if you

are someone that does well in

dissertations and loves research

definitely do the essay and even if

you're not like you learn so much for

the job that I do now I do a lot of

research and honestly my research skills

are so much better than they used to be

because I did this essay so 100

recommend anybody to do the essay

because I really enjoyed it and I think

it helped you become a better

mathematician if you're somebody that

wants to do a PhD you need to learn how

to research so definitely recommend

doing the essay now something to mention

in this section because I'm talking

about how you get assessed you do have

example sheets but they do not count

towards anything the only coursework you

have is the essay everything else is

exam based if you take a module that is

assessed a hundred percent by an exam so

if you don't do the essay you're in

everything your entire grade is based on

exams and as a bit of an aside if you do

a three unit course you get four example

Sheets if you do a two unit course you

get three example sheets and it's worth

mentioning that some modules don't give

you full solutions to the example sheets

so make sure you're paying attention

when it comes to the example classes now

I'm going to move on to the requirements

for this course so again from the

website it says the Mast slash m math

now this is an aside if you are an

internal candidate and you've come up

and you've done your bachelor's at

Cambridge and you're doing part three at

Cambridge you get a masters that's known

as an M math if you come externally you

have an Mast which is a masters of

advanced study so the two are different

depending on whether you're internal or

external that's just a side note so the

website says the must slash m math is a

mathematically challenging and intensive

course for well-qualified students with

a high level of Independence and

self-motivation the minimum entry

requirement for non-cambridge graduates

is normally a UK first class honors

degree in mathematics physics

engineering or statistics or an

equivalent qualification now I would

like to emphasize that you may think

okay I've got a first class in my

bachelor's perfect I'm going to get into

part three I know people that have

applied with the first class and they

have still been rejected so I want

people to be aware that your academic CV

and your application has to stand out

you have to have done things other than

just get a first class there is actually

a video on my channel where I walk

through my entire CV that I I think sent

to Oxford and Cambridge I think I had to

apply I think both courses needed a CV

and there's a video on my channel where

I'd walk you through what I've done so

if you need some advice and maybe how to

structure your application then that

might be useful there are also some

other videos explaining the application

process and stuff like that now one

final thing that I wanted to mention was

that there was actually no interview for

this course that was something that

helped me a lot because like I performed

generally quite well within in

interviews but I was nervous and knowing

that I didn't have to interview for this

course helped a lot so there is no

interview just I want to add that in

here it was something that I've

highlighted on my notes I'm going to

move on to preparation uh and this was

something that I thought is definitely

worth mentioning because if you're

somebody that is going to study part

three you might need to hear this now

for me when I applied and I got my offer

I thought that the website was very

scary wherever you went it would say

something like is part three really for

you are you good enough for part three

if not then you might want to reconsider

your your decision and I understand why

they do it because they want people to

come in and get the best grades that

they can and they want people who are

generally going to thrive in the

environment so I think they put these

kind of Scare Tactics on the website so

that you're well prepared before you

join I remember seeing those and being

very scared I had a decision to choose

Fox block Cambridge my masters and I

almost didn't choose Cambridge for that

reason because of probably my imposter

syndrome at the time but I just kept

seeing everywhere you know it's part

three for you are you good enough for

part three and all this stuff and I I it

scared me I'll you know I'll be

completely honest there are lots of

sections on the website that give you

kind of places that you can prepare for

part three so if you know you're going

to go into continue mechanics as a

section that says you need to know these

things and for me luckily my undergrad

I'd learn all those things so it wasn't

too much of a stress there is a big

difference between those that are

internal candidates who have studied

Kate mats at Cambridge for three years

and those who were external so I would

make sure that you know you look at the

courses online that have the kind of you

need you know you need these things to

do these courses and just check that you

can do them something that I would

recommend that I think is really

important is if you know what courses

you're going to do and you know they're

running try and find lecture notes for

them I did that for astrophysical fluid

dynamics there's a set of lecture notes

a lot a lot of lecture notes when I

studied that course it only took touched

upon a few chapters but there's an

entire set of lecture notes and you can

read them you know you can learn them

before you come to come to Cambridge so

I think it's important to know that

you've got the prerequisite material but

also if you're interested in a

particular module you're going to study

try from the lecture notes and try and

learn that now one of the most important

things I would say is to make sure you

give yourself a good enough break before

you come to Cambridge because it's

intense eight-week terms are intense you

you kind of you come to Cambridge and

then everything is for me it was like it

was just crazy I had the I had

matriculation I had these incredible

kind of formals and everything you know

I was surrounded by this just incredible

environment that it was just so

fast-paced then terms started and then

you trying to meet new friends and it

was just very like it was just fast and

the best thing I did was give myself a

break before I joined and I think that's

important to anybody that does join make

sure you're giving yourself enough time

before you start because when you start

there's no stopping it is this kind of

Relentless example she after example she

let her after lecture and it gets tiring

at times and as a side note some

lecturers are held on Saturdays so for

some of you you will be you will have

lectures maybe every day and have one

day off so it can get very intense so

the best advice is give yourself a break

now I'm going to talk about the support

that I received generally at part three

this entire video is specific to part

three I'll be making a separate video

about my Cambridge experience which was

incredible but that will be in a

separate video this is just for part

three personally for me my first year of

uni and my undergrad was very guided we

learned how to do you know how to be

accountable for our own problem sheets

and stuff like that so that by Third

yeah I was very independent you know I

barely asked for help just got on with

it and did it that way so when I moved

and did part three it was it was fine

for me I didn't need that much support

whereas some other people I understand

their education their previous education

may be very very guided lots of support

and I just wanted to kind of Warn and

warn anyone that part three is not

always the same so the only support you

get from a given module is from the

lecture who typically is a researcher in

that area who most often than not are

very busy and if you have a big class

size obviously there's more students

wanting to ask questions so they have

less time now luckily for me all of my

lecturers were incredibly approachable

and would answer my emails straight away

if not then I would just go see them and

we talk about stuff so I was very

fortunate in that sense that my

lecturers were very supportive you also

have your example she teaches they they

go through the example sheet normally

that is just your lecturer so it's the

same person again some of my modules I

had different teachers for my example

sheets so you can also ask them but in

terms of the material you you generally

just have your lecture and your example

sheet teacher and normally those are the

same person so you have one person per

module typically one or two people now

if you are struggling a lot with a

module there are external people that

can help but typically aside from

students you know aside from like

working together with students you only

really have one or two people per module

as I said every lecture I had that I

spoke to was very helpful so I'm hoping

that that will be the same for you if if

you are choosing to do part three now

aside from the actual lecture content

yourself you also get support from your

college and you also have a Department

departmental contact in your college you

have a college tutor and a director of

studies a college tutor generally

overlooks everything so your well-being

whereas a director of studies is

specific to the course that you're

studying and both of mine in my college

were incredible really and then you have

a departmental contact which is within

the department itself so mine was within

the department of Applied Mathematics

and theoretical physics I had a Trinity

fellow I believe has my departmental

contact and he was great spoke to him

kind of I think you have a catch up each

term and he was lovely just generally

talked about loving the maths and loving

the astrophysics and kind of my progress

so those are the only people you have

typically for the math side of things if

you're obviously well-being is you know

you're struggling mentally or physically

then you have other people inside your

college that help with that so a quick

overview of what lectures are like as I

said you have a three unit course and

you have a two unit course those are the

kind of courses that you can take three

unit courses have three lectures every

week and they have an example class

every other week then the two unit

course has two hours every week or two

lectures and an example class almost

every other week so you have three

example sheets for two units and four

example sheets for three units now

lectures are typically 50 minutes long

they start at five past and finish at

five two so that people can get to their

other lectures in time and most rooms

have full lecture recording capability

not all lecturers choose to record their

lectures so it's important to remember

that not all of your lectures are

recorded So going to the lectures is is

very important and yeah lecturers

themselves are people who are world

leaders in their research having

conversations with some of these people

at Cambridge was just like incredible to

me I kind of it was like I was like

fangirling or something I was like oh my

gosh you're incredible I get to speak to

you I get you know I just might honestly

crazy the lectures themselves I really

enjoyed and I think that's because you

have someone who is an incredible

researcher telling you about their own

research and they're passionate about it

like they love it that's something that

I noticed a lot at Cambridge and it was

nice nice and refreshing really now that

is kind of an overview of part three

I've gone into how many courses you can

take how it's structured just generally

an overview of part three if you have

any more questions comment them down

below if you have any more video

suggestion ideas comment down below just

because I realize that I've gone into

certain detail on certain areas in part

three but might have missed out some

other bits so comment as many comments

as you want and and I'll answer them

thank you so much for watching and thank

you to everyone who has supported this

channel 2023 I'm coming in with a lot of

videos so I hope you enjoy thank you for

watching watching and I'll see you all

in the next one