Pierre - Geography

Name: Pierre Hyde

Subject: Geography

Year: 2nd

A-levels taken: Geography, Economics, Maths, Further Maths, (General Studies)

What does your working week entail?

In the first year, there were about
ten hours of lectures each week, but in the second year this has fallen to
six or so. However, geography timetabling is quite flexible, which is both
good and bad - you might occasionally have an unexpected day off, but at
other times you might find yourself in the horrific situation of having
four lectures in one day!

Lectures really aren't the main thing at Cambridge though. Christ's
geographers have twelve supervisions per term in their first year and eight
per term in their second year. Lots of people who do other subjects have
supervisions in college but because Christ's doesn't have any geography
fellows I get to go to other colleges to be supervised, which is actually
really good as I see more of Cambridge. Each supervision requires a piece
of work, usually an essay, which will take up the majority of the time I
allocate to work each week. You're supposed to read up on lecture material
too but I find that impossible along with supervision work, so I leave that
to the start of exam term...

How easy was the transition from A-level to the first year of your degree?

I think the main difficulty for geographers is the essay focus. You really
need to be able to structure a good essay, and if you don't, you'll have to
learn quickly. Geography at school isn't really about essay-writing but at
Cambridge you stand and fall on your linguistic skills at times.

How easily can you fit social activities into your working week?

There is, yes, a lot of work, but as long as you don't let it overtake your life
you'll be fine. I go out a couple of times a week and also spend a lot of
time with my girlfriend or my friends, or watching TV in my room (tip:
download entire series of programmes you like before you get to Cambridge;
a quick episode of Family Guy is the best way to relax with a deadline
looming!).

What sort of things did you talk about in your interview?

I wasn't interviewed by Christ's as I applied to Downing and was pooled. Michael
Bravo asked me about carbon emissions in the UK and religious groups in
Iraq. Richard Smith showed me a book and told me it was a nice book.