Preparing for postgraduate study in chemistry | Chemistry

Welcome to the chemistry community at the University of Southampton. You’ll be supported, challenged and encouraged throughout your master’s programme to reach your full potential.

Before you enrol (subject to satisfying any conditions of your offer), here are some useful tips, advice, and guidance to help you prepare for your master’s degree.

If you have any questions at all before beginning your degree, we’re here to help. Please contact the MSc Admissions team at admissionspgt.eps@soton.ac.uk or you can email Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez, the MSc programmes director at n.garcia-araez@soton.ac.uk

Advice for international students

If English isn't your first language, you'll need to demonstrate that you possess at least a minimum standard of English Language proficiency. You'll need to achieve University of Southampton Band B: an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all components (reading, writing, listening and speaking). We also accept other English Language tests. Find out which other English language tests we accept.
If you don't currently possess the required standard of English Language proficiency, you may be able to enrol on a pre-sessional English course before joining the MSc programme. These short but intense sessions help you reach the required level and prepare you for your study.
Even if you have the necessary English qualification, you may need to improve your grasp of technical English as you will need to be familiar with chemical terminology in English. To improve you can read a chemistry textbook in English (see list below), read research articles in English, or read chemistry magazines in English such as CEN or Chemistry World.

Chemistry knowledge

The majority of our courses have prerequisites from core inorganic, organic and physical chemistry topics. If you have studied a degree not specifically focused on chemistry, e.g. chemical engineering or applied chemistry, you may need to improve your core chemistry knowledge. You should find the following textbooks useful:

For inorganic and materials chemistry

C. E. Housecroft and A. G. Sharpe, Inorganic Chemistry, 4th Edition, Pearson, 2012
S. E. Dann, Reactions and Characterisation of Solids, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2000

For organic chemistry

J. Clayden, N. Greeves and S. Warren Organic Chemistry OUP, 2012
D Williams, I. Flemming, Spectroscopic Methods in Organic Chemistry, 6th ed. McGraw-Hill, London 2008

For physical chemistry

Atkins and De Paula, Elements of Physical Chemistry, OUP, any edition
Atkins and De Paula, Atkins’ Physical Chemistry, OUP, any edition
D. O. Hayward, Quantum Mechanics for Chemists, RSC, 2002

Have a look at the course content of our BSc Chemistry course. This demonstrates the chemistry knowledge we expect you to have in inorganic, organic and physical chemistry.

Choice of courses

Our MSc programmes have compulsory and optional modules (courses). You will be automatically enrolled on all compulsory modules but you will need to enrol online (details on how to do this will be sent to you once you have completed your registration with the University of Southampton) for all optional modules. Here are some tips to help you to choose your optional modules:

Ensure you have chosen enough optional modules to meet the required number of credit points for the MSc programme (this will be shown on the enrolment portal).
Choose modules in the area of chemistry you want to specialise in but make sure you have the necessary background knowledge as mentioned in the previous section.
If you wish to improve your knowledge in core chemistry then make sure to include the following modules in your selection:

Electrochemistry research seminar

Watch this recording from an electrochemistry research seminar to hear about the kind of research happening here at Southampton. If you join us, these are the kinds of seminars you’ll attend.

Preparing to come to Southampton

Once you have accepted your offer and registered with the University of Southampton, you will receive additional information packs. In the meantime, take a look at the following webpages to get a feel for what it will be like to live and study here: