[tohuwabohu]

I think it's time for our own thread!

''main page''

FAQs

past papers

past papers "Thinking Skills"

FAQ:

Q) What does TSA stand for?
A) TSA is an acronym for the Thinking Skills Assessment; which is used by several universities to help with their offer decisions.

Q) Who needs to do the TSAs?
A) In terms of Oxford applicants; students wishing to study PPE, Politics with Economics, Economics and Management, or Psychology and Philosophy will need to take the test.

Q) How much will it cost?
A) The TSA is free; however, you may be charged for some administrative costs if you take the test at an open centre.

Q) So what actually is the TSA?
A) The TSA is a 2 hour exam split into two parts; a 90 minute multiple choice paper, and a 30 minute written essay task.

Q) When is the TSA taken?
A) The test is taken on November 2nd, but you have to apply for the test by October 15th.

The website offers a suggested reading list for applicants which I have posted below. Feel free to suggest any further books that you have found useful in preparing for the TSAs in the past and I'll add them to the list.

Thinking Skills by Butterworth, John & Thwaites, Geoff
Critical Reasoning: A Practical Introduction by Thomson, Anne
Critical Thinking: A Concise Guide by Kemp, Gary & Bowell, Tracy
Critical Thinking for Students by Van Den Brink-Budgen, Roy
Thinking from A to Z (2nd Edition) by Warburton, Nigel
Critical Thinking: An Introduction by Fisher, Alec
Logic of Real Arguments (2nd Edition) by Fisher, Alec

[punctuation]

Yay!!!

I'll start the first question: for those of you who did past specimen papers, how were your scores?

And:

have you read any books to prepare (such as the ones on the suggested reading list)? Which ones, and did you find that they helped?

[Brand New Eyes]

Oh! yayeeee!

P.s. could someone upload a reading list for PPE?

or just suggestions for and/or Philosophy, Pol, Economics

Danke!

[punctuation]

(Original post by Phia7)
I think it's time for our own thread!

I'll just quote the last thread here, we can make our own list later on:

I've added the reading list from the old thread into my post, as the quote didn't go through.

[candide]

(Original post by Brand New Eyes)
Oh! yayeeee!

P.s. could someone upload a reading list for PPE?

or just suggestions for and/or Philosophy, Pol, Economics

Danke!

The problem with reading of a reading list is that everyone else will also read those books!

Trawl wikipedia for interesting thinkers and then trawl amazon for their books...

(I'd suggest Dan Denett)

You can find good politicians/economists in any newspapers, for the philosophers check out this website:

http://www.philosophersnet.com/

[punctuation]

(Original post by candide)
The problem with reading of a reading list is that everyone else will also read those books!

Trawl wikipedia for interesting thinkers and then trawl amazon for their books...

(I'd suggest Dan Denett)

You can find good politicians/economists in any newspapers, for the philosophers check out this website:

http://www.philosophersnet.com/

You can also start by looking at the tutors for your colleges of choice, reading what their interests are, and starting off from that. Try not to go overboard, as they'll realise you're just trying to suck up to them, but it's nice to have common interests... which would probably prove useful during an interview, too!

[Brand New Eyes]

(Original post by punctuation)
You can also start by looking at the tutors for your colleges of choice, reading what their interests are, and starting off from that. Try not to go overboard, as they'll realise you're just trying to suck up to them, but it's nice to have common interests... which would probably prove useful during an interview, too!

Just adding to our rep for stalking skills

facebook has trained me well...

Haha yeah, I know! that's why i find obscure ones that no-one knows its great

But seeing as we have to study them anyway... might aswell read the pop-texts

Suggestions! and thanks but I meant like PPE books, not TSA

[Brand New Eyes]

(Original post by candide)
The problem with reading of a reading list is that everyone else will also read those books!

Trawl wikipedia for interesting thinkers and then trawl amazon for their books...

(I'd suggest Dan Denett)

You can find good politicians/economists in any newspapers, for the philosophers check out this website:

http://www.philosophersnet.com/

Story of my life? Definitely NOT like wikipedia is my home page... Lol?

Thanks! so are you a PPE-er?

[candide]

(Original post by Brand New Eyes)
Story of my life? Definitely NOT like wikipedia is my home page... Lol?

Thanks! so are you a PPE-er?

Well, potential PPEist...

at the moment, I've been reading Denett on the philosophy of mind, its absolutely fascinating. Only problem is: after seeing the Cognitive Science course at Edinburgh Open Day, I seem to have discovered a new love! It combines Philosophy, Linguistics and Maths/Computers, which I all love; PPE combines Philosophy, Politics, and Maths/Econ which I also all love!

(ahhhh open day brainwashers!)

[MeeMee]

(Original post by Brand New Eyes)
Just adding to our rep for stalking skills

facebook has trained me well...

Haha yeah, I know! that's why i find obscure ones that no-one knows its great

But seeing as we have to study them anyway... might aswell read the pop-texts

Suggestions! and thanks but I meant like PPE books, not TSA

In regard to books, what I did very recently was to just walk into a bookstore, look for the economics/politics/social sciences section and just pick a book pretty much at random. (Not quite but I definitely wasn't going for a specific book) I just kind of knew I wanted something on China as I'm currently really interested in China and then picked up one of the few books they had. It's really good too and I'm very glad I bought it. Plus I felt like if I buy just a random book, chances are that it's not going to be one of those Freakonomics type books that really basically everyone has read (I haven't yet to be honest, but I will this summer. The undercover economist, too. Those are books that I will not mention in my PS either)

[Brand New Eyes]

(Original post by candide)
Well, potential PPEist...

at the moment, I've been reading Denett on the philosophy of mind, its absolutely fascinating. Only problem is: after seeing the Cognitive Science course at Edinburgh Open Day, I seem to have discovered a new love! It combines Philosophy, Linguistics and Maths/Computers, which I all love; PPE combines Philosophy, Politics, and Maths/Econ which I also all love!

(ahhhh open day brainwashers!)

Me too! I love CompSci... but

I haven't done F. Maths
I wanna do Econ
So if someone could make CompSci with Econ that'd be great... oh and in england.

p.s. i looked on the spreadsheet afterwards... you're down as biological sciences? O-o mistake.com?

[punctuation]

(Original post by candide)
The problem with reading of a reading list is that everyone else will also read those books!

Trawl wikipedia for interesting thinkers and then trawl amazon for their books...

(I'd suggest Dan Denett)

You can find good politicians/economists in any newspapers, for the philosophers check out this website:

http://www.philosophersnet.com/

On the subject of Dan Denett: I had a look at the wikipedia article and I realised I already read about him.

Not to go totally off topic, but who are your favorite philosophers (contemporary or otherwise)?

[candide]

(Original post by Brand New Eyes)
Me too! I love CompSci... but

I haven't done F. Maths
I wanna do Econ
So if someone could make CompSci with Econ that'd be great... oh and in england.

p.s. i looked on the spreadsheet afterwards... you're down as biological sciences? O-o mistake.com?

I said I was considering (considering, mind you) Bio when I put my name down as a PPEist at the start of the thread. (random, I know!!!)

Where is the link to this spreadsheet? I'll change mine to PPE.

I have a huge problem with getting obsessed with whatever (nonfiction) book I'm reading, googling and wikipediaing everything about the topic, talking about it nonstop, and then once I'm finished, getting bored and moving onto something else.

[candide]

(Original post by punctuation)
On the subject of Dan Denett: I had a look at the wikipedia article and I realised I already read about him.

Not to go totally off topic, but who are your favorite philosophers (contemporary or otherwise)?

Hmmm,

I tend to prefer more scientifically-inclined philosophers. I once read a Slajov Zizek book - 600 pages of pure unadulterated toss!

Popper (obviously) and Turing - I haven't read them in the original though.

Ehm, David Deutsch, even if he's a physicist, he's a philospher at heart.

Daniel Denett, Jerry Fodor, Hilary Putnam and friends.

Schopenhauer (random)...

John Gray because his rants amuse me.

Bertie Russel because a History of Western Philosophy is awesome.

Adam Smith and David Hume because they are Scottish.

August Compte because Positivism is fascinating.

And, finally, St Thomas Aquinas because I am a Catholic and do not wish to be excommunicated!

[punctuation]

(Original post by candide)
I said I was considering (considering, mind you) Bio when I put my name down as a PPEist at the start of the thread. (random, I know!!!)

Where is the link to this spreadsheet? I'll change mine to PPE.

I have a huge problem with getting obsessed with whatever (nonfiction) book I'm reading, googling and wikipediaing everything about the topic, talking about it nonstop, and then once I'm finished, getting bored and moving onto something else.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spre...CMTUkYUO#gid=0

That sounds like me, haha. I have to restrain myself from referencing theoretical physics in my psychology personal statement, even though it would be relevant, if slightly tangential...

[punctuation]

Getting back on topic:

For those of you practicing your essays - how long did it take you to reach a satisfiable length? How many words were your essays?

Finally: did you write it out or type it?

I did a 'sample' topic from a random question I found in my law textbook just to practice writing in a short time period...except I accidentally typed it. I did it in 10 minutes, with about 360 words. I'm usually quite good at essays, and I enjoy it (such a nerd, I know!), but 30 minutes is really short. D:

[tohuwabohu]

I'm practising essays. And I'm not yet at the point where I can say : " Ah, this is a very nicely written and structured essay which is not too long (/boring) and not too short!"...
I also love essays but as you said, 30 minutes is not enough time! It's really hard to ignore the "inner perfectionist".

(Original post by punctuation)
Getting back on topic:

For those of you practicing your essays - how long did it take you to reach a satisfiable length? How many words were your essays?

Finally: did you write it out or type it?

I did a 'sample' topic from a random question I found in my law textbook just to practice writing in a short time period...except I accidentally typed it. I did it in 10 minutes, with about 360 words. I'm usually quite good at essays, and I enjoy it (such a nerd, I know!), but 30 minutes is really short. D:

[punctuation]

Indeed...

So should the essays be structured? e.g.

Introduction paragraph with thesis statement
Body paragraphs supporting thesis statement
Conclusion

Or just answering the question and making paragraphs when possible? I know that introduction and conclusion is always necessary, but should it adhere to a certain template or be more free flow?

thanks

[punctuation]

Just came across this on the website:

Decisions on invitation to interview are based on predicted A-level grades, achieved GCSE grades, personal statement and reference, and crucially, for many subjects, performance on pre-interview subject-specific aptitude tests.

[larainea]

I wondered if i had any chance to access E&M without taking a-level economics.....