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The route into physicist

Assembled backwards from the job: the degrees that lead there, the subjects those degrees require, the exams and when they are sat, and what the whole thing costs in years. Print it.

1. Subjects, chosen at fifteen or sixteen

Aggregated across every degree that leads here. Anything marked required closes the door if you skip it.

Saudi curriculum track

مسار علوم الحاسب والهندسة— Computer Science and Engineering · مسار الصحة والحياة— Health and Life Sciences

A-Level

  • Mathematicsrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Physicsrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Further Mathematicshelpsfor Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • Biologyhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Chemistryhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging

IB Diploma

  • Mathematics: Analysis and Approaches HLrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • Physics HLrequiredfor Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • Design Technologyhelpsfor Aerospace Engineering
  • Physics HL or SLhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Biology HL or SLhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • Mathematics SL or abovehelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging

Advanced Placement

  • AP Calculus BChelpsfor Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • AP Physics C: Mechanicshelpsfor Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Physics
  • AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetismhelpsfor Aerospace Engineering, Physics
  • AP Statisticshelpsfor Mathematics, Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • AP Computer Science Ahelpsfor Mathematics
  • AP Physics 1helpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging
  • AP Biologyhelpsfor Radiography and Medical Imaging

2. The degree

More than one route usually exists. They are not equivalent.

  • Aerospace Engineering

    For those who find the underlying fluid and structural physics more interesting than the aircraft.

    Four to five years. A master's is common and is close to expected for design roles.

  • Mathematics

    Theoretical physics is reachable from mathematics, usually through a master's.

    Three years in the UK, four in the Kingdom and the US; four-year integrated master's routes are common.

  • Physics

    The direct destination in research, medical physics or industry — usually requiring a doctorate.

    Three to four years, with four-year integrated master's routes standard in the UK for research-bound students.

  • Radiography and Medical Imaging

    Medical physics is the adjacent profession, reached with a physics-heavy master's, and it is where the dose and equipment expertise lives.

    Four years plus an internship year in the Saudi system; three to four years in the UK. Licensed practice follows immediately.

3. Exams, and when to sit them

Registration deadlines fall weeks or months before the exam. That is what people miss, not the exam.

  • ESAT or PATOctober

    Required at Cambridge, Imperial and Oxford for engineering; not required at most universities.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • Qudurat and TahsiliGrade 11 and 12

    The Saudi engineering composite.

    • Several periods across the yearQudurat (General Aptitude Test), open from Grade 11. Computer-based and paper sittings both run.
    • Final months of the school yearTahsili (Scholastic Achievement Test), sat near the end of Grade 12 once the syllabus is covered.
    • Spring and summer of Grade 12University applications through the unified admission portals and each university's own portal.
  • Security clearanceAt employment, not admission

    Much aerospace work is defence-related and gated on nationality and clearance rather than on qualifications. Worth knowing which employers that opens and closes.

  • TMUAOctober

    Required or advantageous at Cambridge, Imperial, Warwick, LSE and Durham — and now Oxford, which retired the MAT from 2026 entry.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • STEPJune, alongside A-Levels

    Usually an offer condition at Cambridge and Warwick rather than a shortlisting test. Genuinely hard; begin a year early.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • PATOctober

    Oxford's physics and engineering test.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • ESATOctober

    Cambridge and Imperial, for natural sciences and physics.

    • July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.
    • September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.
    • OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.
    • JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.
  • SCFHS classificationAfter the internship year

    The licence that lets you practise, and the thing that sets your scope and pay. The classification level follows your qualification, so the bachelor's versus diploma choice has consequences for the whole career.

  • IELTS or equivalentBefore enrolment or before working abroad

    Most Saudi health colleges teach in English, and registration in the UK, Australia or the Gulf requires an English score that is often higher than the university asked for.

    • Weekly, year-roundIELTS and TOEFL both run frequently at centres across the Kingdom; Duolingo and PTE can be sat at very short notice.
    • 3 to 13 days after the testResults, depending on the test. IELTS computer-delivered is among the fastest; paper-based is slower.
    • Autumn of Grade 12 at the latestWhen to have sat it by, leaving room for one repeat before offers are decided.

4. After the degree

Training, licensing and the years between graduating and practising independently.

United Kingdom

  1. schoolA-levels including maths and physics2 yr
  2. undergraduateBSc or MPhys Physics3–4 yrs
  3. postgraduatePhD3–4 yrs
  4. trainingPostdoctoral positions2–8 yrs
  5. practiceResearcher, in academia, national laboratory or industry0 yr

LicensingNone.

Saudi Arabia

  1. schoolSecondary school, science track (علمي)3 yr
  2. undergraduateBSc Physics4–5 yrs
  3. postgraduateMaster's and doctorate, commonly abroad on scholarship4–7 yrs
  4. practiceResearcher or academic0 yr

LicensingNone.

5. What the route costs

Not tuition — time. The years spent training are years not spent earning, and that is the largest cost of a long route by a wide margin.

United Kingdom

School-leaving to independent practice: 7–16 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is management consultant at 3 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 13 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of £27,000–35,000, that is roughly £351,000–455,000 of earnings deferred.

Saudi Arabia

School-leaving to independent practice: 8–12 years.

The shortest route needing no degree written up on this site is air traffic controller at 4 years. Someone taking that route has been earning for 8 years by the time this one starts. At their entry pay of SAR 140,000–220,000, that is roughly SAR 1,120,000–1,760,000 of earnings deferred.

How that figure was reached, and what it leaves out

It is arithmetic on the sourced figures elsewhere on this site — training years multiplied by the shortest route’s entry pay — not a measurement of anything. It ignores what trainees earn while training, which in medicine and several other routes is a real salary. It ignores the pay you reach afterwards, which for long routes is usually higher and can overtake the gap entirely. And it excludes tuition, deliberately: Saudi public universities charge nationals no tuition, and fees abroad vary so widely by country and university that any single figure would be misleading. Treat it as a sense of scale for the years, not as a calculation of whether a career is worth it.

Everything on this page is assembled from the career page, the majors that lead to it and the exams those majors require, so it cannot say something they do not. Entry requirements change every year — confirm on the course page for the year you apply.