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CSAT For Computer Science Undergrad Admissions 2016 Entry

I want to give hope to some people, I had a pretty average interview, came out feeling crap. Sat the CSAT and totally messed it up... I got pooled (avg. UMS of 97 came in handy) and landed an offer at Murray Edwards! It wasn't my first choice, but hey it's gonna be great. Dreams do come true!!

Reply 261

Monkey XD Luffy

Can anyone tell me what are the questions in the exam? I think it's ok to share the questions now since all the colleges would have applicants take the test already.

Reply 262

Doones

21

Original post by Monkey XD Luffy

Can anyone tell me what are the questions in the exam? I think it's ok to share the questions now since all the colleges would have applicants take the test already.

Nope. Not until the end of the admissions cycle.

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(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 263

username1162972

18

Original post by Monkey XD Luffy

Can anyone tell me what are the questions in the exam? I think it's ok to share the questions now since all the colleges would have applicants take the test already.

Differentiate x^2 16 times, comment on when you started wasting your time in this process. This was a 59 marker.

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Reply 264

sweeneyrod

15

Original post by Monkey XD Luffy

Can anyone tell me what are the questions in the exam? I think it's ok to share the questions now since all the colleges would have applicants take the test already.

No, sorry. Some applicants for mature colleges might take the test as late as March, IIRC. I imagine the questions will be put online when they no longer need to be secret.

Reply 265

bogdan.roman

4

Original post by sweeneyrod

Some applicants for mature colleges might take the test as late as March, IIRC.

That is correct.

Reply 266

Shekabi08

Now that the admissions cycle has finished can people who sat the test give me an idea of questions you were asked. The sample paper is very minimal so I'd like all the material I can get. Thanks

Reply 267

Doones

21

Original post by Shekabi08

Now that the admissions cycle has finished can people who sat the test give me an idea of questions you were asked. The sample paper is very minimal so I'd like all the material I can get. Thanks

No - it hasn't finished.

Cycle ends in August.

Reply 268

Doones

21

Original post by Shekabi08

aw man...sorry about that. I thought the deadline for mature students had passed and thats what we were all waiting for.

They haven't had their interviews yet. But eitherway applicants sign up to a confidentiality clause that finishes in Aug.

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Reply 269

bogdan.roman

4

The CSAT webpage suggests preparatory material (updated recently): http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/csat/#faq-prepare

We'll add more example questions in due course but that should not be your main preparation and you shouldn't wait for it.

Those interested can look at the UKMT website: you can start with the Maclaurin IMOK and Senior Kangaroo, then work your way up from there. Note that STEP and MAT have different questions, i.e. they develop, and are usually more elaborate, covering extra material not popular in UKMT, e.g. integration and differentiation. The STEP Correspondence Course also has some nifty questions in the "Warm down" section of each online assignment.

This is a better workout and preparation than solving a few questions from last year's CSAT. You can trust me on that.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 270

fuzzball909

6

I went to the Cambridge Open Day yesterday. At the Computer Science course presentation, Dr Roman presented us with two CSAT questions, apparently from the 2015 exam. I've attached them below:

Indeed these were the first two questions in the real paper.

Shame that the rest of the questions from 2015 have still not been published. That might give a fairer indication of the difficulty of the real test than what's currently on the website.

Reply 272

TiernanW

15

Original post by fuzzball909

I went to the Cambridge Open Day yesterday. At the Computer Science course presentation, Dr Roman presented us with two CSAT questions, apparently from the 2015 exam. I've attached them below:

Sorry to bump the thread. Is the answer to Q1 on that PowerPoint equal to 3?

Also, I don't know if anyone else posted a solution to this problem. But I was working on this, and checked it against Visual Studio. Visual Studio and I both got 670:

My logic was that, there will be a certain number of times it goes through the function doing the else if and else, before it goes to the first if. So I went through the function into the else, and then into the else if, leaving the number at 1333 and the summation currently at 2. So there is a certain number of times this will repeat before going into the first if. You take 4 from 1337 to get 1333, and each time you do that another 2 is added to the summation. So divide 1337 by 4, and you get 334.25. This is how many times it will go through the else and else if, but the .25 must mean it doesn't go through fully on the last time, i.e. it just goes to one of the else or else if. So if the number is was 1336 you would get 668, as it goes through 334 times exactly, and then add 1 from the if statement leaving the output as 669. Since the number is 1337 however, take 1336 from it and you're left with 1 meaning if you put 1 into the function you get 2 returned, so 668 + 2 = 670.

Anyone else got an easier method of arriving at this answer?

Reply 273

Forecast

16

Original post by TiernanW

Sorry to bump the thread. Is the answer to Q1 on that PowerPoint equal to 3?

Also, I don't know if anyone else posted a solution to this problem. But I was working on this, and checked it against Visual Studio. Visual Studio and I both got 670:

My logic was that, there will be a certain number of times it goes through the function doing the else if and else, before it goes to the first if. So I went through the function into the else, and then into the else if, leaving the number at 1333 and the summation currently at 2. So there is a certain number of times this will repeat before going into the first if. You take 4 from 1337 to get 1333, and each time you do that another 2 is added to the summation. So divide 1337 by 4, and you get 334.25. This is how many times it will go through the else and else if, but the .25 must mean it doesn't go through fully on the last time, i.e. it just goes to one of the else or else if. So if the number is was 1336 you would get 668, as it goes through 334 times exactly, and then add 1 from the if statement leaving the output as 669. Since the number is 1337 however, take 1336 from it and you're left with 1 meaning if you put 1 into the function you get 2 returned, so 668 + 2 = 670.

Anyone else got an easier method of arriving at this answer?

Your method for that question is correct. However the answer to Q1 from the 2015 test (on the PowerPoint) is not 3.

Advice: if you're not feeling 100% confident about the CSAT at the moment, apply to Oxford instead. I sat the real test back in December; I can't get into the details (confidentiality clause applies until A2 results are out) but I thought it was a lot, lot harder than the bare-bones "sample paper" on the website. By the looks of things the 2015 test is not going to be published (perhaps it will be reused this year? Bad idea…), and there has been zero transparency about the average scores obtained by applicants and offer-holders - in fact, there is not even an indication as to how the CSAT is marked. In contrast, with Oxford you have many past MAT papers available, all with official model answers and statistics for each paper. So, at least then you've got a good idea of what you're up against.

Reply 274

sweeneyrod

15

Original post by Forecast

I thought it was a lot, lot harder than the bare-bones "sample paper" on the website.

Agreed.

Original post by Forecast

Advice: if you're not feeling 100% confident about the CSAT at the moment, apply to Oxford instead.

Not so sure about that! I think generally most people would probably do about equally well on the MAT and the CSAT (relative to other applicants).

Reply 275

TiernanW

15

Original post by Forecast

Your method for that question is correct. However the answer to Q1 from the 2015 test (on the PowerPoint) is not 3.

Advice: if you're not feeling 100% confident about the CSAT at the moment, apply to Oxford instead. I sat the real test back in December; I can't get into the details (confidentiality clause applies until A2 results are out) but I thought it was a lot, lot harder than the bare-bones "sample paper" on the website. By the looks of things the 2015 test is not going to be published (perhaps it will be reused this year? Bad idea…), and there has been zero transparency about the average scores obtained by applicants and offer-holders - in fact, there is not even an indication as to how the CSAT is marked. In contrast, with Oxford you have many past MAT papers available, all with official model answers and statistics for each paper. So, at least then you've got a good idea of what you're up against.

Sorry I made a really stupid mistake - actually embarrassing, because this is C1 (for CCEA anyway). I got 128 now.

Got the formula for the volume after the pieces were cut, then got the derivative. There was x = 6 or x = 2, so then just got second derivative to figure out which was minimum and maximum, etc...

Reply 276

Shekabi08

Can we not begin discussing the contents of the CSAT until the 18th then?

Reply 277

pl1999

Yeah, can someone who did the CSAT this year please say what the questions were like. what topics were they on?

Reply 278

ComputerMaths97

17

I sat the CSAT last year, and had no previous papers to study, yet I was still able to answer loads. Just improve your mathematics skills, they're never going to repeat questions from last years paper anyway