Curriculum X
Curriculum X is an eXciting eXtra course for students in their second year at EMS, it forms a core part of our eXtended curriculum, preparing students for studying at university and beyond. We are able to offer this thanks to the generous sponsorship of XTX Markets – you may be beginning to see where we got the name from!
Curriculum X is formed from multiple modular courses which together aim to:
- be both challenging and engaging
- provide you with a way to develop your knowledge, skills and understanding of the mathematical sciences that goes beyond the confines of A-Level syllabuses
- help prepare you for undergraduate study in the mathematical sciences.
- enable you to explore interesting topics beyond the normal A-level curriculum, feeding your curiosity and expanding your horizons
” Curriculum X definitely expands learning at EMS to cover so much that otherwise you wouldn’t get to experience. It also makes your lessons in Y13 much more flexible. You get to choose from lots of different subjects that wouldn’t normally be covered in the curriculum, and at the same time learn like you would at university.”
[Harriet, year 13]
Course Overview
There are courses in mathematics, physics and computer science, many of which have cross-curricular links.
Many courses in mathematics are chosen to help you develop an understanding of how mathematics develops at undergraduate level and beyond but will cover little of the material typically taught in undergraduate courses. The idea is more to expose you to the style of thinking that mathematics employs beyond A Level.
Other courses focus on mathematics which is useful or delights us; we want to share our enthusiasm with you. Some of these courses have an emphasis on the best material from the Further Maths modules we are not teaching, whilst others link to other subjects or are studying other topics not met at A-level.
The same mode of thought has been applied in physics and computer science.
Each course is taught by either an EMS teacher or a University of Exeter academic. The style of teaching will vary, but in general will include more university styled teaching, so for example courses may be broken up into lectures and problem classes. Typically, you will have a 45 minute lecture and a 90 minute problems class each week. In addition you will have problem sheets to complete so should typically allow an additional 2 hours of independent study time.
The 2020/21 Curriculum
Some of the courses will vary each year, whilst other remain core modules. The information below gives you a taste of the type of options on offer for each subject area. Students can elect to study up to eight modules (two per half term in the Autumn and Spring terms), selecting from the following.