Is COMPOS for you?

COMPOS students are in Year 10 or 11 studying double or triple GCSE science, and in Year 12 and 13 studying physics and maths A Level. One point to note, to register as a Year 13, you need to have completed the Year 12 COMPOS programme. We do not accept new-to-the-programme Year 13 students.

COMPOS is available to any UK student regardless of gender or background. It is free to students in comprehensive state secondary schools and offered for a small fee to UK students in private schools or overseas. 

We strongly support applicants who have faced difficulties breaking into STEM fields or accessing enrichment opportunities due to their location, ethnicity, gender or family background. We have a target of at least 30% of students to be female or non-binary and 40% to live in under resourced areas of the UK or have received some form of financial support through the pupil premium, free school meals or an educational maintenance allowance.

We hope to enrol as many eligible students as possible, but if the programme is oversubscribed, we prioritise students from historically underrepresented groups. 

In addition, we do have a cap on the number of students we enrol from any one school.

Our programme includes weekly tutorials, weekly webinars and assignments set every 3-4 weeks. If you are offered a place, you will be expected to attend regularly and submit the assignments.

The programmes for Years 11 and 13 run from October to the spring term, finishing early so you can revise. The programmes for Years 10 and 12 run from October through to July.

We take a break at Christmas and Easter, otherwise tutorials run each week at the same time. You can also be excused from tutorials for other religious holidays. In addition, we recognise that you may have an occasional conflict with another activity or you may need to miss a tutorial because you are ill. Notify your tutor and your absence will be excused. 

COMPOS is online, so all your interactions are through video calls, our online learning platform, forums, webinars and our YouTube channel. You can communicate with our staff by email and via our forums.

The basic technology requirements include a stable internet connection and a device to connect to the tutorials and complete assignments. Your tutor will teach on a shared online whiteboard and the whole group can write on it at the same time. You can use a stylus-enabled tablet however, there are inexpensive alternatives such as stylus pads or you can type on the shared whiteboards. You can also contribute to discussions in group chats, verbally or by using your phone or laptop camera.

COMPOS is free of charge to state school students in the UK. The costs are covered by philanthropic donations, including from Purposeful Ventures which provide a full bursary for the cost of the programme.

Select spots are available for a small fee to UK private-school students and UK students who currently live overseas. The fee covers the costs to run the programme, currently £25 per week. The application process is the same.

Last year we gave places to 40% of students who submitted work for the first assignment. There is an application to acceptance ratio of about 2.5 : 1. Acceptance is based on how much of the first assignment you complete and submit. Last year a score of over 50% in the physics assignment earned you a place. 

We have a fixed numbers of places each year, and more initial applications than places, so not everyone gets in. We have planned for 1,000 places in the 2026-27 programme year, which we hope will allow us to accommodate every deserving candidate.

If I'm accepted, what happens next?

If you are offered a place and accept, we'll ask you to complete a more detailed registration form and tell us what days and times you are available for your weekly tutorial. We will assign you a tutor along with a small group of about 8-10 students in your year. Your tutor will contact you to introduce themselves and send a link for your first online tutorial. Tutorials will be scheduled after school or at weekends and run about 90 minutes long.

Tutorials follow a three-week pattern--one for reviewing the previous assignment, one for the current physics topic and one for the current maths topic. You submit your work for the assignment and repeat the process. Your tutor will mark your work and give you written feedback via the learning platform.

There will be multiple groups with different tutors on different days, so we will find a group that fits with your schedule. We try to be as flexible as possible.

What if I'm not accepted?

If you are not accepted into the programme, but would still like to take part, you can request to join our free follow-along course for your year group. The assignments and solutions are issued via an email list along with links to watch the webinars. The difference between the follow-along course and the main programme is you don't have a tutor or individual feedback, nor can you access our learning platforms or forums. The follow-along course is available for anyone who doesn't get a place on the main programme, or those who want to attempt the assignments independently without fixed submission deadlines. 

All students must submit their own work first for the entrance assignments and for subsequent assignments throughout the programme. No use of AI is tolerated. Students are free to read around the topics included in the assignments. However, no forums, study sites or other persons are to assist with completing the problems within the assignments, including help from school teachers and classmates. Anyone suspected of cheating will not be offered a place.

One of the goals of the programme is to teach students how to tackle harder problems in maths and physics. If you are not doing the work yourself, you will not be learning or challenging yourself in new ways. The work is meant to be difficult and our students score an average of 67% across all assignments so there is no expectation for perfection. Instead the expectation is for you to do the work and improve.