2017 Oxford Prospective Students

I did Russia at higher and Hated it so much lol. We're doing Germany this year but we've barely done anything apart from the German Revolution. I don't know enough about the Weimar Republic to write an essay on it so I'm pretty much stuck with one topic rip me. I've been going over stuff I've done at higher which included the suffrage movement and the Liberal Reforms, however I only really know the higher content and I'm not sure if they're looking for AH breadth and depth or if higher will be sufficient

I definitely reckon your time would be better spent going through passages you knew nothing about, and seeing what you can figure out from them.

They're testing your ability to analyse stuff you don't know.

I definitely reckon your time would be better spent going through passages you knew nothing about, and seeing what you can figure out from them.

They're testing your ability to analyse stuff you don't know.

I would say that your thought process is rather simplistic (no offense). The passage and question from HAT are actually uncannily similar to studies that conclude that prior knowledge is imperative to cognition. In 1978, E.D. Hirsch asked groups of students to read two passages of equal difficulty in terms of vocabulary and syntax. One was about friendship, and one was about Grant and Lee and the end of the Civil War. University students understood both passages equally well. Poorer students at the community college did just as well on the passage about friendship but struggled on the one about the Civil War. Hirsch theorised that their weakness on this second passage was down to their lack of knowledge about the Civil War, not any lack of some innate ‘passage comprehension’ ability. Therefore, I would urge you to think again.

I would say that your thought process is rather simplistic (no offense). The passage and question from HAT are actually uncannily similar to studies that conclude that prior knowledge is imperative to cognition. In 1978, E.D. Hirsch asked groups of students to read two passages of equal difficulty in terms of vocabulary and syntax. One was about friendship, and one was about Grant and Lee and the end of the Civil War. University students understood both passages equally well. Poorer students at the community college did just as well on the passage about friendship but struggled on the one about the Civil War. Hirsch theorised that their weakness on this second passage was down to their lack of knowledge about the Civil War, not any lack of some innate ‘passage comprehension’ ability. Therefore, I would urge you to think again.

You taking about the first question then, not the third?

Even so, the study you mention just shows that if you've already covered what the passage is about, then it'll help you. But the chances of something you've already covered coming up are so slim, you're times still spent preparing in other ways, like practicing all the past papers, going over stuff for the essay question, and doing what I mentioned for question 3 (which is what I though you were taking about before).

Mahbe what I'm saying is simplistic, but the HAT actually tests how well you do the 'simple' fundamentals, which are mainly nothing to do with prior knowledge. It's testing the stuff you need to do every day on the course, when you're studying things you have no prior knowledge about pretty much non-stop.

My apologies for the misunderstanding, you have a point, stick to the fundamental skills and do all the past papers and this will increase your mark. My approach is my attempt to break the plateau of the 80% mark, I'm struggling to get any higher.

You're getting around 80?😳😳 that's amazing!!! I thought getting in the 60s was good going

You're getting around 80?😳😳 that's amazing!!! I thought getting in the 60s was good going

My apologies for the misunderstanding, you have a point, stick to the fundamental skills and do all the past papers and this will increase your mark. My approach is my attempt to break the plateau of the 80% mark, I'm struggling to get any higher.

Is written work anywhere nearly as important as the other things like the ps? Essays are by far my strongest and I've heard that they don't really look at them very much :/

Is written work anywhere nearly as important as the other things like the ps? Essays are by far my strongest and I've heard that they don't really look at them very much :/

They can interview you on the essay, so yeah it's important what college have you applied for by the way?

Univ! You? Also I know for the essay they say 1.5-3 sides.. But I have ridiculously enormous hand writing like 3 words on a line big it's how I write so much so quickly. Apart from the 15 lines question, do you think they'll penalize for how much you write I'll write a good 10 sides for the essay question in 40 minutes

Lincoln & yeah that should be fine it's only a suggestion

Thanks! I'm really panicking as I'm finding it super hard to group conclusions I've found in question 3 together into themes.... I love that question so much but always seem to find away to completely interpret stuff wrong or miss out its importance completely!

I applied for Law at Brasenose but switched to Christ Church at the very last second! Why did you go for Brasenose?

my teacher said you don't really need an intro or a conclusion for the sources, usually it just asks what it says about society nothing to weigh

Hello, I am applying for History and Politics. I was reading the conversation and I got the feeling that we are expected to choose a syllabus topic for the essay question. Are we expected to do so?

Think it's just a topic that you know enough about to be able to write an essay at A level or equivalent level of knowledge/analysis etc. I've never been formally taught about the reformation in Europe but could almost do an essay on it if pushed