Oxford or Cambridge for mathematics?

This is very difficult to answer, it's easier to get into Cambridge than it is Oxford, but harder to meet the offer. GCSEs don't matter (when it comes to mathematics) at either institution really, but the lack of an A* in mathematics might be a worry to them. Also, yes, your UMS are a bit on the low side for Cambridge, and you don't get any 'bonus points' because you sat them in year 11 unfortunately.

What do you think of the MAT and STEP? Have a look at some MAT papers here http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/specimen-tests

If you want to get into Oxford, you will have to do very well on that test.

Damn it! And I was only a mark off a* at gcse maths I didn't even do any work back then. I have looked at both MAT and step, the MAT looks okay in a few parts of the paper but the STEP obviously looks much harder to me right now but If i was to get an offer that would be great motivation to doing as well as I possibly can! But it depends where I think I am more likely to get an offer. I still have 4 maths exams this year to possibly redeem myself but I may just be running out of time, I havn't retaken any exams either think I maybe should have done. So if you were me cambridge or oxford? Or neither? I might actually apply to maths with physics so maybe my ums being 94% in physics might help? Not sure, thanks for the reply

It's very difficult to say, applying to Cambridge is a risk because of the less than ideal UMS scores, but on the other hand they give out a lot more offers than they have places for. At Oxford it's harder to get an offer for in the first place, and very dependent on how you do on the MAT. I think in this case it's going to have to boil down to which University you prefer, go to visit them.

Also, you should sit down and do an MAT paper, it looks easy/do-able when you briefly look at it, but generally it isn't. I wasn't sure whether to apply to Oxford or Cambridge, but given I was applying post A-Level I was leaning more towards Oxford (since I didn't really want to have to sit exams in the summer of my gap year) but I also liked the MAT papers, which swung it in Oxford's favour.

I forgot to mention I think I might be doing the MAT regardless since this is the admission test for Imperial, does that change your opinion on which is best for me? I don't have too much of a problem doing two tests but It might decrease my chances anywhere. I'll have a go at MAT though, do you think I should retake my 84 in S1 that I did in january also? Thanks again

I would say it hinges on how you perform in the MAT, not just that you're already sitting it. If you struggle to get 60% in the MAT, I would say that there's not much point applying to Oxford, you'd have to really impress in the interview to get in - this is also college dependent though, some colleges literally exclusively rely in the MAT (St. John's) while others don't.

In regards to the 84 in S1, if you think you have the time to recover the material etc. go for it!

Wow I was actually leaning towards cambridge, now I'm 50-50! So if say I applied to both universities even though its not possible, and I did quite well in the MAT, would I be more likely to get an offer at cambridge or oxford do you think? Without thinking about the STEP of course, but the thing that really bothers me is if i applied to cambridge but did amazing at the MAT i would have wished I applied to oxford. Yeah I'll see if my school lets me since its late to enter now thank you!

It's difficult to say, and a gamble either way really. Seriously though, if you sit down and do an MAT paper, work out what score you would've got, and do this for all of the papers on there (there's quite a lot of them) you will get an idea of how you'll do on the paper, and it's pretty invaluable information to have (and should help you choose).

So what percentage would you say is good for the MAT, can you give me a threshold to what i get in MAT past papers meaning if I achieve it I'll apply to oxford perhaps?

It differs paper to paper. If you look on the website it gives you the average score obtained by all people, and the average score obtained by those who got accepted. You should be aiming to get around about what those who got accepted got on the MAT. I would say if you get 85%+ when sitting the past papers you should definitely consider Oxford, because at some colleges you'd be practically guaranteed to get in with a score of 85%+.

Okay that sounds good, lastly can you give me the names of the colleges that consider the score of MAT above everything else? Or is this there a link for this? Thanks again for everything seems like I have a lot to do in the next few months

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A wild mathematics student appears...

Hello, I was just feeling a bit stuck on this question ...I would appreciate it if u could help me on it ... thanks!

There is this parametrics question : http://www.examsolutions.net/maths-r...tutorial-1.php

I did the following and just wanted to check with u if I have done it right:

x=2cost y=sin2t

dx/dt= -2sint

so integral sign (sin2t) (-2sint)

then [sin(3t) / (3) - sint ] and for the limits I got t= 90 degrees and 0 . I subbed them in but got -4/3....what do i do next? am i going the right way is this one of those questions where the limits will swap around because we surely cannot have a negative area!?
thanks laura

It used examsolutions link but it was not very effective...

Cambridge is way better, I thought before that Oxford is the best, but all the great students from my country at maths have gone to Cambridge, quite Trinity College I think. Also, the harder papers and good opinions are regarded to Cambridge. I am bit sorry I hadn't the time to apply also for Cambridge I hope I helped, and in my humbleness, I am a Gold winner Olympian at Maths in Romania, the first country in Europe at the International Olympiad.

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