Your Course Organiser

Nicholas d'Ambrumenil is in charge of all the teaching. Michael Pounds (PS102), the Director of Student Experience, is available to help with any issue which affects you.

Introduction

As you are no doubt aware the Physics and Business Studies programme is a 3-year one leading to the degree of BSc, there is no MPhys stream for this programme.

There is an alternative 4-year programme that you may wish to consider: Physics and Business Studies with Intercalated Year.

The Intercalated Year

Students who wish to spend some time gaining experience abroad, or in UK industry/research, can register for the Intercalated Year Scheme in which you spend your third year away from Warwick and take a total of four years to complete your degree programme.

The year will be spent in supervised research placement, either in Industry, Commerce, a Research Institute, a Higher Education Research Laboratory, or in the case of a year abroad could alternatively involve attending modules at an overseas university. This will give you valuable experience before continuing with the third year of the BSc Physics and Business Studies degree, and the words with intercalated year' will appear on your degree certificate. You must submit a satisfactory report of the intercalated year on your return to the Department, failing which you will revert to the Physics and Business Studies BSc degree course. The report will not, however, contribute to final degree credit.

In general, if you are interested in following this scheme, it will be necessary for you to make your own arrangements and submit an outline proposal to the Physics Department for approval. If we consider that the proposed programme abroad meets our requirements, then permission for an intercalated year will be granted. To satisfy the University's requirements you should seek approval early in the second year. In any case please discuss this with your tutor at the earliest opportunity.

Teaching

After a year at Warwick, you will be familiar with our teaching methods and the use of questionnaires to obtain feedback on the individual modules. You are reminded that if you feel that there are serious problems with a module that should be addressed immediately, you should discuss the matter with the person giving the module, with your Personal Tutor, with the Director of Studies, Dr Robinson, or raise it with one of your Staff Student Liaison Committee representatives.

Academic Tutorials

During the second year, your Tutor is in most cases the same person who served in that capacity during your first year. Again he/she acts both as Academic and Personal Tutor. You are required to meet your Tutor - preferably with the other members of your tutorial group - during the first week of the Autumn Term to arrange a mutually convenient time for weekly tutorials. As in your first year, the subject of the tutorials is largely a matter for your Tutor, based on your needs, but there will be some worksheets to do that contribute to the assessed work component of PX260 Mathematic Methods for Physicists I. Your tutor will probably spend much of the time providing back-up for the core modules.

Assessed Components of Core Modules

In the first year you were required to do weekly problems for credit in all lectured physics modules. This year all the lectured physics core modules have an assessed component that contributes 15% to the mark for that module (except for PX260 Mathematical Methods for Physicists I where it is 40% assessed). The lecturer will describe the particular form this assessment takes for their module.

Examples Sheets and Problems Classes

Example sheets are distributed as a complete set (comprising about 1 problem for every lecture) by the Lecturer at the beginning of a particular Module. The purpose of these examples is three-fold:

1. To facilitate the development of skill in problem solving in areas related to the modules
2. To assist in proper assimilation of the module material.
3. To provide valuable experience which will be of considerable help in the April and May/June Examinations.

For core modules there are classes at which the lecturer will discuss the problems, and their solutions. The lecturer will indicate which timetabled slots will be used for this. For modules not dealt with in these classes (i.e. Options), you should contact the lecturer directly if you have any queries concerning the weekly problems.

The Past Examination Questions will not, as a general rule, be discussed at the problems classes, since it is intended that they should be attempted only once the associated modules have finished and the subject matter has been appropriately digested. Your Personal Tutor will deal with these during your tutorials.

Complete sets of solutions to all the examples set for each module are available and will be distributed to pigeon holes by the Undergraduate Secretary, approximately two weeks after a module has finished.

The booklet containing examination papers for the last three years is available for purchase from the Undergraduate Office (Room 565) and the model answers to one year's examination papers are bound into this volume.

Reminders

Last year you were informed of the department's policy towards the late submission of assessed work and the University's regulations on cheating. These, of course apply equally this year, but note that the University wide penalty for late submission of assessed work is now 5% of the original total available credit off per day (or part day) late. You are also reminded that the marks you obtain this year count towards your final degree classification.

Option Choices

You will see from the course regulations that your course consists of a "core", of lectures and laboratory work, all of which you have to take, together with further modules, selected (according to the rules prescribed) from option lists. Enough modules should be taken to bring your total possible credit up to the normal load for your course, and your Tutor will give guidance on your choice. Where a student takes more than 120 CATS the year mark will be calculated as the greater of: (a) The arithmetic mean of the marks for all modules taken, weighted according to their credit weighting; (b) The arithmetic mean of the subset of whole modules, weighted according to their credit weighting, which minimally satisfies the course regulations and results in the highest mark. At various points in this handbook (and possibly in discussion with students in higher years) you will see reference to the Seymour Formula. This does NOT apply to students joining in 2013 or subsequent years.

It is recommended that you at least 'sample' more options than you are required to take before committing yourself and you may, if you wish, attend a complete module and not register for the examination.

In addition to the options listed, it is possible for students to take certain other modules, offered by other departments, as so-called 'Unusual Options'. In particular, if you are interested in foreign languages, you might like to know the The Language Centre offers modules in a wide range of languages. If you wish to avail yourself of this possibility you must consult Dr Robinson, in advance, in order to obtain the necessary permission (you will also need to obtain approval from the department offering the module). You will not be permitted to take more than one language module

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