The Difference of the Fourth Year in Nat-Sci Pt.2

So if you read my previous blog “The Difference of the Fourth Year in Nat-Sci Pt. 1” you’ll know that I am referring to the final year of the Natural Science MSci course, where students have a large research project which is worth half of the year, as well as 3 compulsory modules. The structure alone is very different from the previous years but another major difference is the lack of exams in the fourth year! I assume after going through several exams in years 1-3, the course realises that you know how to do them and instead shifts focus on how good a scientist you can be. This would also explain why the research project is worth 50% of your fourth year grade and the fact that the research project spans nearly the whole academic year. Being able to undergo research for such a long period of time was challenging but it was really valuable because I was tasked with managing my time in the lab and planning my own experiments (which looks great on a PhD application). Furthermore, to accommodate the research project my weekly time table had a lot of “free” space. I use the word free cautiously here because this is time that could and often should be spent on your project; however, depending on how well you manage your time you can take advantage of this free time for other things. Personally I managed to complete the Leicester Award Gold this year because of organising my experiments around that activity and this can be done for any other interests or hobbies you have. So I guess the biggest difference of the fourth year to the other years on the Natural Science course is… Freedom.