Year 1
How to build your degree, including optional courses from within the School of Mathematics and elsewhere.
To choose your courses you should:
1. Establish what your compulsory core courses are.
You can do this by using the University's Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study (DRPS)
2. Calculate how many optional course credits you have to take.
You should complete 120 credits per year. Consider how many credits you have available. Please note your semesters should be balanced; we advise taking 60 credits in each semester, which is three 20 credit courses. Please check the "Getting Started" Learn page for the Handbook for more details.
3. Browse your course options on PATH
Log into PATH using your student ID. For year 1 undergraduate students, you should select courses at level 7 or 8 (from limited schools).
Alternatively, you can look on the Degree Programme Table. You can find courses in the ‘Level 7 and 8 courses in Schedules A to Q, S, T, W and Y’ section.
4. Input your selected combination of courses on PATH
Look out for timetable clashes; be aware that the timetable may be revised before the beginning of semester, so there may be changes to the timetable before week 1.
Look out for the PATH colour coding system:
- Subjects in blue are available for you to choose
- Subjects in red are unavailable for you to choose
- Subjects in green are courses that you have selected and that meet your programme requirements
5. If you need further academic advice, come to our course selection sessions in Welcome week
These will be on Monday 11th September. You can find more details on our events page. Alternatively, if you have any questions on course choices, you can email UGCourses@maths.ed.ac.uk
6. Once you have made your selection in PATH, send this selection to your Student Adviser
Your student adviser will process your enrolment and will be in touch if there are any issues with your course choices.
Sometimes, courses in other Schools may be full. If there are courses you are interested in from other Schools, you may want to note any alternative choices in the comments box before your submission.
- Video: Course Selection Guidance - School of Mathematics 2022/23
- Your Year 1 Student Advisers discuss course enrolments for the upcoming academic year. This video is for new incoming students to the School of Mathematics.
Compulsory Maths Courses
On most Mathematics degree programmes, you must take these courses in Year 1:
Introduction to Linear Algebra (Path course lisitng)
Calculus and its Applications (Path course listing)
Proofs and Problem Solving (Path course listing)
On combined degree programmes you will have compulsory courses in the other subject too.
Optional Maths Courses
Introduction to Data Science
Introduction to Data Science (Path course listing)
This is an introductory course in data science and statistical thinking where you will learn to explore, visualize, and analyze data to understand natural phenomena, investigate patterns, model outcomes, and make predictions, and do so in a reproducible and shareable manner. Gain experience in data wrangling and munging, exploratory data analysis, predictive modeling, and data visualization, and effective communication of results. Work on problems and case studies inspired by and based on real-world questions and data. And do it all with R!
Fundamentals of Algebra and Calculus (FAC)
This is an introductory course in University Mathematics covering topics not covered in the previous education of many incoming undergraduates on degrees involving Mathematics. Please check the details below to find out if you can take this course.
Fundamentals of Algebra and Calculus (Path course listing)
Is FAC suitable for me?
What entry qualifications do you have?
If you have SQA Highers/Advanced Highers:
- We strongly recommend you take this course if you do not have Advanced Higher Mathematics or you have Grade C or below;
- You may take this course if you have Advanced Higher Mathematics Grade B;
- You may not take this course if you have Advanced Higher Mathematics at Grade A.
If you have A-Levels:
- We strongly recommend you take this course if you have A-Level Mathematics at Grade A and you do not have A-Level Further Mathematics or you have Grade B or below in it;
- You may take this course if you have A-Level Mathematics at Grade A and an A-Level Further Mathematics at Grade A;
- You may not take this course if you have A-Level Mathematics at Grade A*.
If you have IB:
- We strongly recommend you take this course if you do not have Higher Mathematics at Grade 5 or better;
- You may take this course if you have Higher Mathematics at Grade 5;
- You may not take this course if you have Higher Mathematics at Grade 6 or above.
If you have other qualifications, you should discuss this option with your Personal Tutor, guided by your diagnostic test result.
What is your diagnostic test score?
The diagnostic test that you take on entry can also help to inform decisions on taking FAC.
If you have taken Scottish examinations, A-levels or IB your decision should be based primarily on your results as above, but attention should be paid to the Diagnostic test to help you decide if you are in the “may take the course” category.
Analysis of students’ performance in the test and in Year 1 mathematics has led us to recommend as follows.
- Score greater than 70%. You probably should not take the course.
- Score between 50 and 70%. Taking the course is likely to improve your Year 1 maths performance. For scores in the range 50-59% particularly, taking the course is recommended to help you perform as well as you can in the compulsory Year 1 maths courses.
- Score less than 50%. We strongly recommended you take the course.
Outside courses
When thinking about your outside courses:
- You may want to choose courses that are close to mathematics, such as physics, logic or computer science.
- You may want to choose courses aligned with a particular career, such as business.
- You may want to develop new skills, or build on your new strengths and abilities.
- You may want to keep your options open for transferring to a different degree. For example, if you had trouble deciding between Maths and Physics for your degree, then doing Physics courses would keep the possibility of a Physics degree open.
- You may just be really interested in learning a particular subject; something you liked at school, or something you have never done before
Search for Year 1 courses on Path
Popular courses
We’ve listed popular outside courses in Path under Year 1 Mathematics courses.