Nayland Alumni Matthew Edmonds, Merlyn Barrer and Matthew Suter are three of only eleven students nationwide that have been allowed to go straight into 200 Level science subjects during their first year of university. This has primarily been because of their good results in scholarship and level 3. Matthew Edmonds was also granted the $6000 Lonsdale scholarship.

We caught up with Matthew Suter to find out how he is adjusting to university life as a first year student doing second year papers at Canterbury University.

What classes are you taking?

I’m currently taking PHYS205: Waves, Optics and Mechanics and CHEM211: Molecules. Physics has been covering a lot of astrophysics so far, and chemistry has done a really deep dive into the structure and nature of atoms and small molecules.

When did they decide to put you into 200 level classes and why?

We all received the offer to go into 200-level sciences over the summer holidays. I initially turned it down, but after my first week I spoke to the course co-ordinators  and changed into the 200 level papers. They offered me a place because I got an excellence endorsement in chemistry and physics. I also did very well in MATH199, (a first year university paper that I did during my final year at high school) and because I had applied for a modified intermediate year anyway (so I could take 200-level maths.) They extended the offer to chemistry and physics as well. I guess they know students who do well in level 3 will take to 200-level papers as well.

How has the jump been into 200 level classes? Has it taken a while to get your bearings?

The jump hasn’t been too bad, fortunately! For chemistry, I went through the PDF of revision material from 100-level in an afternoon, and physics didn’t need any revision! In saying that, while I’ve moved into the classes smoothly, CHEM211 is definitely my hardest class so it’s definitely a step up compared to 100-level courses.

How have your experiences at high school prepared you for tertiary study?

I’d give a lot of credit to the science competitions, a school culture that values academic success, and having a peer group that was also very good at science. As well as leveraging my competitive spirit to do well, having peers doing the same extension work as me made it a lot easier to bounce questions off people while learning, made scholarship tutorials possible, and overall increased my motivation. I wouldn’t have been able to stick to that stuff if it wasn’t for having friends working with me, as I didn’t realise how far those tutorials could take me! Tying it back to Nayland, I just think the way the school’s been able to attract really bright students multiplies the effect of an excellent science department.

I must give a Special shout out to Dr Cubanski for chemistry, because there were many times in the 100-level revision PDF and in my early lectures, where I came across a concept that should’ve been totally new in a 100-level class, but I already had a basic idea of it thanks to the in-depth tangents or explanations he gave me in class! On top of that, scholarship tutorials were very helpful. It pushed me to really understand why stuff worked, which has helped a lot moving into these higher-level classes. Again, massive thanks to Dr Cubanski, because his style of teaching helped get me in the door when I wasn’t in the mood for scholarship chemistry, and really helped me to get where I am now.