Hi,

Yes, you will have to study Mathematics in the first year. Those who had mathematics earlier will have some advantage but if you attend all the classes and are sincere enough, you can still do pretty well. The fact is Mathematics taught in NISER in the first year (different mathematical definitions, introduction to real analysis, the concept of spaces, infinity, etc.) is very different from what is usually taught in +2. So even if one had mathematics, they have to work hard and from scratch again to learn and unlearn a lot of concepts. It is one’s first introduction to fundamental mathematics than application-based mathematics that we usually see in high school. Who knows, if you are able to understand the subject well, you might like it the most. The teachers of the Mathematics department at NISER are amazing and some of the best teachers of the institute and the country.

If you are up for learning a new subject/concept (which you will regularly do if you get into a career in research), learning mathematics irrespective of your earlier experience won’t trouble you in NISER. You will have to actually invest time in it though. You can not escape by just taking the class notes from someone else.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.