Excel with ULIS: Empowering University Level Introduction Sessions at The NCS
Study the Physics and Maths you won't see until university with ULIS at The NCS.
ULIS (University Level Introduction Sessions) takes NCS Physics, Chemistry, and Maths students beyond the A-Level specification and into genuine first year undergraduate territory, including quantum mechanics, thermodynamics, and the proof based Mathematics every STEM degree is built on. Delivered as real lectures, by our own subject specialists, alongside the A-Level course.
What ULIS actually is
Not extension work. Undergraduate work.
A-Level lessons at The NCS will make sure you meet the exam board specification. ULIS goes beyond it.
Once a week, students have an additional lecture theatre style lesson where they spend an hour on material drawn directly from first and second year university courses. Students will see the same wave functions, the same proofs, the same problem sets that first-year undergraduates are given.
The aim? To prepare NCS students with the tools they’ll need to study STEM subjects at university and allow exploration of the Science and Maths disciplines to inspire appropriate undergraduate course selections in UCAS applications.
A running start on your degree, whichever way you're headed
Multiple Tracks. One Aim.
ULIS currently runs three parallel tracks for sixth formers. Each is aimed at the exact place university courses expect on day one.
Physics Track: From the photoelectric effect to the Schrödinger equation
A-Level Physics introduces wave particle duality and the outline of the quantum world. ULIS picks up exactly where the specification stops; the Mathematics of the wavefunction, the Schrödinger equation itself, and how to use it to find results A-Level Physics can only describe qualitatively. It’s the same ground covered in the opening weeks of a university Physics or Engineering degree.
Lectures will also cover topics including thermodynamics: the laws governing heat, work and entropy, taught with the calculus a university course expects and an A-Level one doesn’t. It’s core material for every physicist and engineer, by the time NCS students meet it at university, they’ll have seen it before.
Chemistry Track: From reaction mechanisms to three-dimensional molecular structure
A-Level Chemistry introduces organic reactions and named transformations. ULIS goes beyond memorising outcomes and into the mechanism dynamics that explain why those reactions happen; the principles governing how organic molecules actually react, and the three-dimensional structure, stereochemistry, optical isomerism and conformational analysis, that shapes every reaction pathway.
Lectures will also cover nucleophilic substitution in detail, comparing the SN1 and SN2 mechanisms, alongside carbonyl chemistry: one of the most reaction-rich functional groups in organic chemistry. Dedicated workshops put that thinking into practice on real problem sets. It’s core reaction chemistry for every chemist, biochemist and pharmacologist, precisely the mechanistic thinking a university Chemistry or Biochemistry course expects on day one.
Mathematics Track: Where A-Level asks for an answer, this asks for a proof
A-Level Maths is a subject of methods: learn the technique, apply it, get the mark. Almost none of it asks a student to prove a method is actually true and that’s precisely the skill every Mathematics, Physics or Engineering degree is built on. ULIS’s Mathematics track is a genuine introduction to real analysis.
Students learn to construct a proof, not just find an answer. The single biggest adjustment most students face in their first term of a Maths degree, and one NCS students will have already started making.
Why NCS Students Love ULIS
1. A genuine academic edge
Studying degree-level material not an extension worksheet provides real substance to a personal statement and real confidence walking into an admissions interview.
2. Taught by specialists, not textbooks
Every session is delivered by our own subject teachers, prepared from actual undergraduate material.
3. Built for competitive applications
For students aiming at Russell Group, Oxbridge, and Ivy League STEM courses, ULIS supplies exactly the super-curricular depth admissions tutors say they look for.
Five Years In The Making
ULIS has run successfully with our Physics students for five years, building a track record of strong engagement and helping our students develop a genuine enthusiasm for the subject beyond the classroom. This year, that same model launches a dedicated Mathematics track alongside it, part of a wider expansion of ULIS that also now includes Chemistry and Biology. It sits alongside our dedicated Elite University Preparation Programmes, which support students applying to the World’s most competitive courses and beyond.
Ivy League
Oxbridge
Russell Group
Recent destinations for our students, supported by our dedicated preparation programmes for these applications.