- Natural Sciences (Durham)
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Natural Sciences (or NatSci) is one of the most popular degree programmes offered by the University of Durham offering either BSc (3 years) or MSci (4 year undergraduate) Natural Sciences degrees or a 'named route'/joint honours degree.
The Natural Sciences programme is operated as a full-time undergraduate degree programme at the main campus in Durham, open to all undergraduate students of Durham's colleges. The structure of the Natural Sciences programme encourages flexibility, academic achievement and depth of study, reflected in its typical UCAS admission offer of A*AA at A-level.
Contents
Modules
All undergraduate degree programmes at Durham follow a modular structure whereby differing subjects are split into a number of smaller units, each unit containing material of a similar nature. Students normally take 6 modules per academic year.
NatSci students are free to choose modules from any subjects in the NatSci programme, subject to timetable constraints and satisfying any module pre-requisites. However, the choice of modules can often determine the type of degree with which the student will graduate, both in terms of exact title and marks achieved, whilst additionally placing constraints on module choice in future academic years.
Subject to the above constraints, all NatSci students may take any modules within the NatSci programme, regardless of A-levels held etc without having to decide or state a preference on the UCAS form. For example, a student applying to read Natural Sciences need not specify the subjects he or she intends studying. One exception to this is Chemistry where, due to lab-space limitations, all NatSci students intending to take Chemistry modules are required to state in advance on their UCAS form.
Natural Sciences degrees
It is commonplace for students to study modules from more than two subjects in their first year. Where students opt to continue to study modules from more than two subjects for the remainder of their academic years, students will graduate with a degree titled 'Natural Sciences', either a BSc for a 3 year degree or MSci for a four year degree.
Named route/Joint Honours degrees
Students wishing to study for a joint honours degree in the sciences at Durham University take the named route in Natural Sciences whereby their degree is administered by the Natural Sciences programme (through the sub-dean of science) but the student will graduate with a subject-named joint honours degree, for example BSc Mathematics & Physics. A student in the example course would obtain a degree titled BSc Honours within the Natural Sciences programme in Mathematics and Physics.
Students are free to study more than two subjects in their first year, or to concentrate solely on their two chosen subjects in their first year. However, in subsequent years, joint honours students will study modules only from their chosen two subjects.
Grading
Students' marks are composed of the average marks achieved in all modules in their non-fresher years (i.e. the first year marks do not count toward the overall degree grading.) However, students are required to achieve a pass (i.e. above 40%) in all modules they undertake. Grading is also scaled to place greater emphasis on modules taken from the higher academic years. For a 3-year degree the scaling is 2:3 and for a 4-year degree the scaling is 2:3:4.
This means that if a student's average from the six modules in each academic year on a 3-year degree were 60%, 65% and 67%, the student would get an overall mark of 66%, leading to the award of a BSc (Hons.) 2:1 (upper second) degree. This is calculated by taking the marks from the second and third years in the ratio 2:3 (0.4×65 + 0.6×67).
Prior study
Natural Sciences is a demanding degree, whether opting for the pure NatSci degree or a joint honours route. Whilst some subjects within the NatSci programme may be considered easier than others (eg some would assert that Psychology is considerably easier than Mathematics or Physics), because students often study a range of subjects all at degree level, in effect they must demonstrate the ability to perform to the highest standards across a range of academic disciplines.
With this in mind, a typical offer for entry to the NatSci programme at Durham is A*AA (all at A-level, excluding General Studies), with many students achieving considerably higher than this (2010 Natural Sciences undergraduate entrants had an average of 568.3 UCAS Tariff score). Whilst no specific subjects are required, admissions tutors will generally look for an indication of all-round science ability, and A-levels in Mathematics and the Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) are popular as well as related fields, such as Economics and Computing.
Subjects offered
- Anthropology
- Archaeology
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Business
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Earth Sciences
- Economics
- Geography
- Mathematics
- Philosophy
- Physics
- Psychology
- Statistics
See also
- Natural Sciences (Cambridge) - the Natural Sciences Tripos offered by the University of Cambridge
External links
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