The Student Room Group

Oxford MAT Test - 5th Nov 2014

With about 2 months to go thought it was a good time to start this thread.

This is for discussion of the Oxford MAT used for admissions to the university, for those taking it in November 2014.

So what you guys all applying for and how's your preparation going? Personally I haven't started yet and was wondering which techniques people were planning on using? Just working through the past papers and worked solutions? (Found here btw: https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/how-apply/mat)

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Reply 2
Hello there! I started preparing for the MAT during the last week of summer, and so far I've been going over C1/C2 stuff as well as doing the Maths section from the Oxford physics papers and some UKMT challenge problems- both of which are probably a lot easier than the MAT itself, but I don't want to do a MAT paper too early and fail so I'm "warming up" :wink:- and past paper resources are not exactly vast!
I'm plan to apply for straight Maths Oxford- what about you? I believe Imperial also use the MAT now
Reply 3
Original post by Meriadoc
Hello there! I started preparing for the MAT during the last week of summer, and so far I've been going over C1/C2 stuff as well as doing the Maths section from the Oxford physics papers and some UKMT challenge problems- both of which are probably a lot easier than the MAT itself, but I don't want to do a MAT paper too early and fail so I'm "warming up" :wink:- and past paper resources are not exactly vast!
I'm plan to apply for straight Maths Oxford- what about you? I believe Imperial also use the MAT now


Hi there I'm also planning to apply for straight maths at Oxford! :smile:

Seems like a solid preparation you've got going on there. So far I've just looked at a couple of past papers. I've achieved 8 and 9 out of 10 on each of the multiple choice sections, however this took me about 2.5 hours each time which is way too slow, and also I've so far struggled with questions 2-5.. So I've got a lot of practice to do before November :/
Reply 4
If anyone would like to talk me through either of these questions from the 2011 paper then it would be much appreciated. Even with the worked solutions I couldn't quite make out how they should be solved:




Thanks
Reply 5
E is basically just sine rule.

G is harder - but just note -1<x^2-1<0 when -1<x<1, and what f does on the interval -1 to 0.
Reply 6
Original post by RichE
E is basically just sine rule.

G is harder - but just note -1<x^2-1<0 when -1<x<1, and what f does on the interval -1 to 0.


Cheers Rich. With a second read though the worked solution E was fairly straight forward. However please could you explain what you mean by this:

note -1<x^2-1<0 when -1<x<1

Thanks a lot!
Reply 7
Original post by EconFan_73

note -1<x^2-1<0 when -1<x<1


Well presumably you agree with that, and f just adds 1 to its argument in that range.

Have you thought about what f(x^2-1) equals when -1<x<1?
Reply 8
Original post by RichE
Well presumably you agree with that, and f just adds 1 to its argument in that range.

Have you thought about what f(x^2-1) equals when -1<x<1?


Just had a click moment, all makes sense now, was being a but dumb before. Thanks for your help :smile:
Good luck everyone.

I sat this last year and was successful, so if anyone wants any help just tag me in a post (particularly Math/Phils!) :smile:
Reply 10
Is the style of questions similar to the UKMT Maths Challenge? Every year I've been getting bronze or silver in it, so I'd rather that it wasn't :biggrin:
Reply 11
Original post by alexmufc1995
Good luck everyone.

I sat this last year and was successful, so if anyone wants any help just tag me in a post (particularly Math/Phils!) :smile:


Congrats Alex on your success, what's the best advice you could give in preparing for the test?

Original post by Karoel
Is the style of questions similar to the UKMT Maths Challenge? Every year I've been getting bronze or silver in it, so I'd rather that it wasn't :biggrin:


Hi Karoel, the first question has 10 multiple choice parts, worth 4 marks each, which is a similar style to UKMT. However questions 2-5 are worth 15 marks each and are very different in style to UKMT. You should have a look at some past papers: https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/how-apply/mat
Original post by EconFan_73
Congrats Alex on your success, what's the best advice you could give in preparing for the test?


Probably finding the balance between:
persevering on a question, trying as many different methods as possible, thinking outside the box etc.

and

knowing when to move on, time management, consider the other questions etc.

This obviously comes down to personal preference, so go through all of the papers before the exam to strike this balance.

Few/no candidates will get full marks. Don't worry if you have to leave a question/guess.
Reply 13
Original post by alexmufc1995
Probably finding the balance between:
persevering on a question, trying as many different methods as possible, thinking outside the box etc.

and

knowing when to move on, time management, consider the other questions etc.

This obviously comes down to personal preference, so go through all of the papers before the exam to strike this balance.

Few/no candidates will get full marks. Don't worry if you have to leave a question/guess.


Yeah time seems to be my biggest problem at the minute so that seems like useful advice, cheers!
Reply 14
Hello, I did MAT last year, and wanted to give you some tips;

Original post by alexmufc1995
Probably finding the balance between:
persevering on a question, trying as many different methods as possible, thinking outside the box etc.

and

knowing when to move on, time management, consider the other questions etc.

This obviously comes down to personal preference, so go through all of the papers before the exam to strike this balance.

Few/no candidates will get full marks. Don't worry if you have to leave a question/guess.


This is great advice.

To this, I would like to add that you must be able to express yourself correctly, mathematically speaking. It doesn't matter if you know the answer if you don't know how to write it (At least for the later parts). You can practice this by doing some UKMT questions, or other Olympiad-type questions, writing the full solution. Of course, writing is useless if you can't solve the questions, but sometimes writing what you think can help you find the answer.

Also, I personally like to read all the questions before beginning the test, but that may be a preference rather than a tip.

Good luck!
Reply 15
Cheers agecaf, useful advice!
Reply 16
I'm doing the MAT this year. Most people will already know this but for those who don't, the number of multiple choice options will increase from 4 to 5 this year
Original post by Gome44
I'm doing the MAT this year. Most people will already know this but for those who don't, the number of multiple choice options will increase from 4 to 5 this year


Really? Source?
Original post by alexmufc1995
Really? Source?


It's on the Oxford MAT Website. See here.
Original post by ThatPerson
It's on the Oxford MAT Website. See here.


Ah, thanks. Got through on the last year with four then :rolleyes:

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