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Original post by Real_jenn
From your anecdotal experience,How hard were the admissions tests you took?Did you prep quite a lot for it... Or was it a walk in a park?
It depends on which subject you are doing, and the test you are actually talking about, i.e. pre or post offer.
Original post by Real_jenn
From your anecdotal experience,How hard were the admissions tests you took?Did you prep quite a lot for it... Or was it a walk in a park?
I applied for straight Philosophy at Cambridge.
We had a multiple choice logic test, and then a 40-minute essay.
The logic test was really easy in some places, hard in others. For instance, one question was of the form: 'If bell X rings every 3 second, bell Y every 5 seconds, and bell Z every 6 seconds, how long till all bells ring together?', but then others were a lot more difficult.
The essay was pretty difficult, I'd say. It gave us a scenario, which was essentially 'X is driving along under A circumstances, she kills Y. If the circumstances had been the same, except Y had not died, would she be responsible for the death?'. I'd say that was a relatively easy question, but I think the only reason I did okay was because I'd prepared somewhat relevant essays before. So, in that way, I think preparation probably helped me a lot, though I don't know if intentional preparation would get you anywhere.
Original post by Andy1834
It depends on which subject you are doing, and the test you are actually talking about, i.e. pre or post offer.
I just meant,from your experience & sorry for not stating clearly,I also meant the admission test pre offer 😊
Original post by OGGUS
Did you have astonishing GCSEs basically A*s/As across the board.
I'm still in school lol (currently in year 10 but heading to year 11 in September) but for my mocks I got 10A*'s & 3A's
& I did quite of my few GCSE's early(RE,& triple science) of which I waiting for the results to be released on the 20th 😊
Original post by tomfailinghelp
I applied for straight Philosophy at Cambridge.
We had a multiple choice logic test, and then a 40-minute essay.
The logic test was really easy in some places, hard in others. For instance, one question was of the form: 'If bell X rings every 3 second, bell Y every 5 seconds, and bell Z every 6 seconds, how long till all bells ring together?', but then others were a lot more difficult.
The essay was pretty difficult, I'd say. It gave us a scenario, which was essentially 'X is driving along under A circumstances, she kills Y. If the circumstances had been the same, except Y had not died, would she be responsible for the death?'. I'd say that was a relatively easy question, but I think the only reason I did okay was because I'd prepared somewhat relevant essays before. So, in that way, I think preparation probably helped me a lot, though I don't know if intentional preparation would get you anywhere.
We had a multiple choice logic test, and then a 40-minute essay.
The logic test was really easy in some places, hard in others. For instance, one question was of the form: 'If bell X rings every 3 second, bell Y every 5 seconds, and bell Z every 6 seconds, how long till all bells ring together?', but then others were a lot more difficult.
The essay was pretty difficult, I'd say. It gave us a scenario, which was essentially 'X is driving along under A circumstances, she kills Y. If the circumstances had been the same, except Y had not died, would she be responsible for the death?'. I'd say that was a relatively easy question, but I think the only reason I did okay was because I'd prepared somewhat relevant essays before. So, in that way, I think preparation probably helped me a lot, though I don't know if intentional preparation would get you anywhere.
Thank you! Very informative! What type of preparation do you think is relevant?
Original post by Real_jenn
Thank you! Very informative! What type of preparation do you think is relevant?
That is very dependent on subject. For me both my AS Level and just generally reading around my subject were useful.
Original post by Real_jenn
Thank you! Very informative! What type of preparation do you think is relevant?
Sorry to interject but it's worth bearing in mind a lot of the tests are supposed to be difficult/impossible to prepare for. This is so that what the admissions tutor gets isn't a judgement on your ability to study, but a judgement on your future potential.
Of course this is more of the case in some subjects than others.
For Oxford I took the English Lit test (ELAT) and the only real preparation you can do is as someone said above, read around your subject as much as possible, if you can find some past questions that might give you an idea of what type of thing to expect, but don't rely on those too heavily.
Original post by bataille
Sorry to interject but it's worth bearing in mind a lot of the tests are supposed to be difficult/impossible to prepare for. This is so that what the admissions tutor gets isn't a judgement on your ability to study, but a judgement on your future potential.
Of course this is more of the case in some subjects than others.
Of course this is more of the case in some subjects than others.
I definitely agree with you! That would certainly make sense I just thought there might be something in particular they may be looking for.Thanks for your contribution! 😊
Original post by bataille
Sorry to interject but it's worth bearing in mind a lot of the tests are supposed to be difficult/impossible to prepare for. This is so that what the admissions tutor gets isn't a judgement on your ability to study, but a judgement on your future potential.
Of course this is more of the case in some subjects than others.
Of course this is more of the case in some subjects than others.
But of course if you ask everyone who's had an interview in the last 20 years or so what they were asked it will give you a flavour of the tests and you won't be thrown as much. When a relative said what they asked her first in her interview, ( philosophy), an old friend said that had been her essay question 50 years ago! ( Natural Sciences!)
Another trick seems to be, repeating the question again later in the interview , presumably to see if you can think more deeply about it.
There are sample interviews from Cambridge on the net btw.
The Cambridge Law Test was basically just an hour long (iirc) essay question (from a choice of 3).
I didn't do any prep for it beyond the prep I had already done for the LNAT essay section.
It's more about your ability to construct an argument and your thinking/essay writing skills so I didn't feel that substantive prep for it would have made much difference anyway.
I didn't do any prep for it beyond the prep I had already done for the LNAT essay section.
It's more about your ability to construct an argument and your thinking/essay writing skills so I didn't feel that substantive prep for it would have made much difference anyway.
Original post by Real_jenn
From your anecdotal experience,How hard were the admissions tests you took?Did you prep quite a lot for it... Or was it a walk in a park?
I had to sit the TSA (Thinking Skills Assessment) on my interview day.
It's kinda tough. I did a fair amount of prep for it. Definitely not a walk in the park.
Original post by Fanta4TheBanter
I had to sit the TSA (Thinking Skills Assessment) on my interview day.
It's kinda tough. I did a fair amount of prep for it. Definitely not a walk in the park.
It's kinda tough. I did a fair amount of prep for it. Definitely not a walk in the park.
What type of preparation do you think is the best?
Thank you
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Alice M.
Do the specimen on here and see if you can dig out some other questions (like old specimen papers etc.)
Original post by Fanta4TheBanter
Do the specimen on here and see if you can dig out some other questions (like old specimen papers etc.)
Thank you! Gonna try one tomorrow
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by Alice M.
Why? You haven't even applied yet?
Original post by Fanta4TheBanter
Why? You haven't even applied yet?
Well the deadline for Oxford is 15th October so there is still some time
Original post by Alice M.
Well the deadline for Oxford is 15th October so there is still some time
I know when the deadline is I was in your position last year!!
I wouldn't start doing TSA prep until you receive an interview, if you do get one obviously.
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