Admissions

Our tutors are looking for students with excellent mathematical skills and well-focused scientific curiosity.

Three students (a male in the foreground and two fem ales in the background) listen during a tutorial.
Two female students use a spectrometer.

Course Details

The syllabus for both the three-year BA in Physics and the four-year MPhys course is the same at every College. The University Department of Physics organises lectures and lab-based practicals; the College organises the small-group teaching (tutorials or classes), so your College tutors play a key role in your course. Tutorials are a special part of your Oxford undergraduate studies. In Physics at Trinity these are usually groups of three students working with the tutor.

A physics lecture from behind, with a panel of 9 blackboards showing equations and writing.
There are quite a lot of contact hours, with a day or two of labs a week, a few hours of lectures a day and on average two tutorials a week- which I really like because it motivates me to stay on track and means I always feel like there is lots of support if I get stuck.
Natalie

Teaching Structure

For the first three years, teaching of Physics at Trinity is mainly provided by the College tutors. First-year students can expect to spend roughly equal amounts of time on Physics and Mathematics, and tutors generally provide one tutorial and one problem class per week to complement the lecture courses organised by the University. In the fourth year, most teaching is focused on a research project and optional courses organised by the Department, but College tutors still provide academic supervision. Practice exams are set at the beginning of most terms to allow students to consolidate their learning and to prepare for university examinations.

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Trinity and the Department of Physics

Career Prospects

A good number of our graduates go on to further study and research in physics. The skills you develop during the degree – the ability to analyse and present technical information and to solve high-level problems – are also highly valued by employers in other areas, including industry, consultancy, teaching and business.

Two male students stand in front of a table in a marquee displaying their physics projects.
Our physics students achieve excellent results: over the last five years, more than 50% have graduated with a first-class degree.