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Undergraduate

Studying Mathematics at Royal Holloway is not just about collecting skills and information for a future career (though of course that is important). It is about developing a feel for the subject in many different, often small, ways, and becoming part of a community of people who care about the subject. We aim to provide an environment in which it is a pleasure for you to study and which will encourage you to follow your strengths and interests in order to achieve the best possible degree.

Our compact size helps promote a friendly and inspiring atmosphere where students are known as individuals. Staff are always ready to give help and advice, and a member of staff is also assigned to you as a Personal Adviser. Your Personal Adviser will help you with any queries or difficulties (academic or otherwise) and guide you in your choice of courses. Typically, your Adviser will be the person who writes your job reference in your final year.

Teaching and assessment
Applying
Entry requirements

In a typical week, students will attend 12-15 hours of formal teaching, lectures, tutorials, workshops and computer classes. Outside of this time, you’re expected to work on worksheets, which help you practice your Maths skills, revise for exams and prepare projects.

We employ a variety of teaching methods, with first year courses being taught through a combination of lectures, problem-solving workshops and tutorials in groups of four or five students. In the second year, we concentrate on lectures and workshops while the third and fourth year (MSci students) comprises mostly lectures.

You’ll also get the chance to work on your own Mathematical projects boosting your employability skills in the process. In your second year, you’ll work in a small group to prepare a report and oral presentation on a Mathematical topic of your choice. In the third year two courses (Mathematics in the Classroom and one Mathematics Project course) are assessed entirely by project work. A supervised project forms a quarter of the work in the final year of the MSci.

As well as the projects mentioned, all courses are assessed by written exams in the Summer term.

Check out our Teaching and Learning page to find out more.

We admit about 150 new students each year. Applicants to Royal Holloway come from a diverse range of backgrounds and students are admitted on the basis of attainment at A-level or equivalent qualifications.

Applications for undergraduate admission should be made through UCAS in the usual way: our UCAS code is RHUL R72. You need not apply for more than one course involving mathematics: put down the one you’re most interested in.

Offers are made based on predicted grades and standard entry requirements.

For BSc Mathematics and BSc Mathematics with Statistics degrees: Students should have 3 A-Levels or AAB, including a grade A in Mathematics.

For MSci Mathematics: Students should have 3 A-Levels or AAA, including a grade A in Mathematics.

For students taking an A-level in Further Mathematics, 3 A-Levels or ABB. For BSc Mathematics and BSc Mathematics with Statistics degrees, 3 A-Levels or AAB for MSci Mathematics. For combined courses, this may vary.

Applications from mature students are very welcome as people of any age can study Mathematics with enjoyment and success. We also accept many alternatives to traditional A-Levels so long as the qualifications are sufficiently rigorous and cover the core material needed to begin a degree in Mathematics.

We also welcome applications from those who wish to take a year’s break between school and university known as deferred entry.