In this piece, BILT Student Fellow Elliot Green interviews Manny Punter, a first year undergraduate Mathematics student at the University of Bristol.
What’s your background?
I went to secondary school in Robert Bridge Community College, did alright in GCSEs, moved to Bexill College, which is a sixth form, and also did good in A-levels. Then I came to Bristol to do maths, because I’d done that a lot before. I just thought I was alright at maths, I could never really do essays, and tried drama, but wasn’t great at it. I checked the rankings for maths, and it seemed pretty high for Bristol.
At secondary school, I didn’t have the best experience because I felt a little different and weird compared to other kids. I didn’t like that I didn’t fit in very well. I was already kinda nerdy and a bit of a teacher’s pet, and I started trying to distance myself from those things, so I started trying less hard during my A-Levels.
At college, I had so much fun, I met new people and tried drama for the first time, it was so much better than being in secondary, especially being in secondary during the COVID pandemic. This experience influenced my decision to choose Bristol, since I knew it would have the best social life, and that’s what I really needed.
Do you have a particularly memorable learning experience?
The first week of term was definitely the most memorable for me. It was a big change to what I was used to, and to be honest I was slightly overwhelmed at all the new stuff going on and the work I needed to do. I even considered skipping some lectures. But I realised that, even when it got a lot, I still wanted to go in to see my friends in lectures, but also just to be around other people in general, even if it’s just using one of the many libraries or study spaces to do work. So that’s what I did, and I’m very glad I did that in the end.
Do you feel a sense of belonging in your degree?
Absolutely. I put it down mostly to societies, and that’s how I found people. It wasn’t hard meeting people in my course, but it was easier meeting people who have the same hobbies as me. The barriers on my course, studying maths, is that maths is not seen a social subject, and a lot of the societies are focused on maths itself and not really getting to know people. Some of my friends are course reps, and that has really helped me meet people on my course. Through going to societies for personal interest, I met a lot of people who happened to be on my course. I think it happens through you trying rather than the methods that the university itself has laid out. I wish that aside from tutorials, there were more ways to get to know people on your course.
My lectures are 2 hours long, and its mostly me trying to keep up with notes, which can be quite heavy. It doesn’t really allow much time for discussing topics. The only chance I get to talk to people on my course is during our 10 minute break. For my first term, we had a lot more discussion and questions on the whiteboard for groupwork, and we were also given a module called ‘mathematical investigation’ which was focused around groupwork. I enjoyed these styles of learning more, although I don’t necessarily enjoy group assessments (haha). One of my lecturers puts up polls on the board, and we get to discuss problems in groups, which really helps me understand better. Usually in a lecture, I might get behind on my notes, but with this style we can help each other and reassure each other if we are in a similar situation, which really helps.
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