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The Oxford TSA thread - 2015 applicants - 5th Nov 2014

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Original post by Askaud
Where did you find the 2007 test?

Is 'Think You Can Think' the only book with more practice papers in it? I'm not interested in the theory of it all, I just want to practice more. So far I've only done 2008 and 2009, got 44/50 on both of them which I think is decent enough. I'm really focusing on TSA as my GCSEs are below average for PPE and I'm a post a level applicant so got nothing else to do:biggrin:


Both v. good scores - any tips? Timing is killing me. Do you think the 'Think you Can Think' book helps for the problem solving?
4. An incredibly bored admissions tutor decides to liven up his job. He has three decision
letters intended for three Oxbridge candidates: an offer, a rejection, and a pooled response.
He decides to send each candidate a letter intended for someone else to mess with the
system.
In how many different ways can he send the letters?
A 2
B 4
C 6
D 8
E 11

Can anyone solve this question? I keep getting the same answer and I cannot possibly see how the correct one is true. I shall post the correct answer after a few of you attempt it. Thank you for your help!
Reply 142
Original post by philerus
4. An incredibly bored admissions tutor decides to liven up his job. He has three decision
letters intended for three Oxbridge candidates: an offer, a rejection, and a pooled response.
He decides to send each candidate a letter intended for someone else to mess with the
system.
In how many different ways can he send the letters?
A 2
B 4
C 6
D 8
E 11

Can anyone solve this question? I keep getting the same answer and I cannot possibly see how the correct one is true. I shall post the correct answer after a few of you attempt it. Thank you for your help!


I got 2
Original post by Askaud
I got 2


Thats the answer I kept getting myself time after time, but its not the answer given. Lets hear one or two more answers before I post it, since I think it would be helpful if someone gets the actual answer without knowing it beforehand (unless the answer the paper gives is wrong, considering that its not an official past paper).
Reply 144
Original post by philerus
Thats the answer I kept getting myself time after time, but its not the answer given. Lets hear one or two more answers before I post it, since I think it would be helpful if someone gets the actual answer without knowing it beforehand (unless the answer the paper gives is wrong, considering that its not an official past paper).


Well with the way that the question is worded, I don't see how it can't be two. If it was worded differently then it could be 8. If its not that then I haven't a clue
Reply 145
Original post by PolarBearSlayer
Both v. good scores - any tips? Timing is killing me. Do you think the 'Think you Can Think' book helps for the problem solving?


I think the problem solving is a difficult thing to improve, it's one of those that some people can just do and others struggle with. I can't get my head around a lot of the visualisation ones, like the net diagrams and side views. I get some right with educated guesses but it can be a struggle. I've kind of accepted any marks on this is a bonus.
The critical thinking part can definitely be helped though. For all those questions I normally read the passage, then look at the answers and read it over again to cross out the ones that think are definitely wrong(normally 3). Then it seems to become apparent which one of the remaining 2 is right.

Tbh I can't really think of any tips, next time I do a paper, I'll see if I can think of any. I normally finish with 5-10 minutes to go so pushing it for time but still ok. The only thing I would add is reading the TSA specification, in fact I've found it is probably the most useful thing I've seen so far. http://www.admissionstestingservice.org/images/47832-tsa-test-specification.pdf
Original post by philerus
4. An incredibly bored admissions tutor decides to liven up his job. He has three decision
letters intended for three Oxbridge candidates: an offer, a rejection, and a pooled response.
He decides to send each candidate a letter intended for someone else to mess with the
system.
In how many different ways can he send the letters?
A 2
B 4
C 6
D 8
E 11

Can anyone solve this question? I keep getting the same answer and I cannot possibly see how the correct one is true. I shall post the correct answer after a few of you attempt it. Thank you for your help!


Person A B C letter 1 2 3

A1 b2 c3
A1 b3 c2
A2 b1 c3
A2 b3 c1
A3 b1 c2
A3 b2 c1

I think this is right- so it's 6
Original post by philerus
Thats the answer I kept getting myself time after time, but its not the answer given. Lets hear one or two more answers before I post it, since I think it would be helpful if someone gets the actual answer without knowing it beforehand (unless the answer the paper gives is wrong, considering that its not an official past paper).

I got C - 6. cba to explain my working but it works (i think).
Is this the right answer>
Original post by philerus
Thats the answer I kept getting myself time after time, but its not the answer given. Lets hear one or two more answers before I post it, since I think it would be helpful if someone gets the actual answer without knowing it beforehand (unless the answer the paper gives is wrong, considering that its not an official past paper).


I got 2 too. The question is not clear. He decides to send each candidate a letter intended for someone else to mess with the system. I guess what is in bold is confusing us. There are only 2 instances where this is the case.

Say A has been rejected (r) , B has been pooled (p) , and C has been given an offer (o) - and this is what has actually happened (ie before letters have been sent). Then for what is in bold to be fulfilled, there are only 2 combinations: (Ap, Bo, Cr) and (Ao,Br, Cp). Any other combinations necessitate that at least one of the candidates is given the correct letter. This would not seem to comply with '
He decides to send each candidate a letter intended for someone else'.

I presume the actual answer given is c- 6, but frankly that does not seem right to me. Maybe someone could correct me?
Original post by Askaud
I think the problem solving is a difficult thing to improve, it's one of those that some people can just do and others struggle with. I can't get my head around a lot of the visualisation ones, like the net diagrams and side views. I get some right with educated guesses but it can be a struggle. I've kind of accepted any marks on this is a bonus.
The critical thinking part can definitely be helped though. For all those questions I normally read the passage, then look at the answers and read it over again to cross out the ones that think are definitely wrong(normally 3). Then it seems to become apparent which one of the remaining 2 is right.

Tbh I can't really think of any tips, next time I do a paper, I'll see if I can think of any. I normally finish with 5-10 minutes to go so pushing it for time but still ok. The only thing I would add is reading the TSA specification, in fact I've found it is probably the most useful thing I've seen so far. http://www.admissionstestingservice.org/images/47832-tsa-test-specification.pdf



Thanks for the link - looks useful. I find I warm up mentally a bit as papers progress. I'll see what happens! I too find it normally comes down to two similar questions; your strategy looks interesting I'll try it out :smile:
Original post by philerus
4. An incredibly bored admissions tutor decides to liven up his job. He has three decision
letters intended for three Oxbridge candidates: an offer, a rejection, and a pooled response.
He decides to send each candidate a letter intended for someone else to mess with the
system.
In how many different ways can he send the letters?
A 2
B 4
C 6
D 8
E 11

Can anyone solve this question? I keep getting the same answer and I cannot possibly see how the correct one is true. I shall post the correct answer after a few of you attempt it. Thank you for your help!


I got 6 - every one letter has an extra possibility attached because the remaining two could be in one of two orders, hence we multiply the number of letters by two.

Not taking TSA, but I'll have to do a similar one for Cambridge - anyone got the right answer?
Reply 151
Original post by muzzatruzza1
Person A B C letter 1 2 3

A1 b2 c3
A1 b3 c2
A2 b1 c3
A2 b3 c1
A3 b1 c2
A3 b2 c1

I think this is right- so it's 6


Actually I get it now I think. Although I think it's a bit of a bad question personally but there we go
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 152
Isn't it similar to this one from 2010? The answer scheme says the answer is 2 for this one.

24 A secretary is in a bad mood with her boss and has to write three letters intended for
three different people. She makes sure that each of the recipients of the letters will
receive one written to someone else.
In how many different ways can she send three different letters to achieve this?
A 1
B 2
C 3
D 5
E 6
Original post by Askaud
Actually I get it now I think. Although I think it's a bit of a bad question personally but there we go


Some of those are wrong as 'send each candidate a letter intended for someone else'

Thus, answers such as including A1, B2 & C3 must be discounted.
Original post by PaulKrugman
Some of those are wrong as 'send each candidate a letter intended for someone else'

Thus, answers such as including A1, B2 & C3 must be discounted.


+1 the other should be 2.
Reply 155
Original post by PaulKrugman
Some of those are wrong as 'send each candidate a letter intended for someone else'

Thus, answers such as including A1, B2 & C3 must be discounted.

Yeah I though that but if the answer isn't 2 then I don't see what it can be bar 6 or possibly.
I'm confused cos I'm pretty sure it's the same question as 24 from 2010 which was 2
Original post by Askaud
Yeah I though that but if the answer isn't 2 then I don't see what it can be bar 6 or possibly.
I'm confused cos I'm pretty sure it's the same question as 24 from 2010 which was 2


It is semantically the same question. It's poorly worded so I'd be inclined to believe they've forgotten a nuanced word that'd change the outcome.
Original post by Askaud
Yeah I though that but if the answer isn't 2 then I don't see what it can be bar 6 or possibly.
I'm confused cos I'm pretty sure it's the same question as 24 from 2010 which was 2



2010 paper is right - where did you get the question from? Is it from the think you can think book or..?

You original thought process is right. The answer should be 2.
Original post by muzzatruzza1
Person A B C letter 1 2 3

A1 b2 c3
A1 b3 c2
A2 b1 c3
A2 b3 c1
A3 b1 c2
A3 b2 c1

I think this is right- so it's 6


So everyone who got 6 got it right,according to the answer scheme for this specific paper.

However, since each candidate should receive a letter intended for someone else, I do not see how that can possibly be the right answer. After, as man of you pointed out, if we assume any one of those combinations shown above is indeed right, any other combination which contains the same letter for at least one person as the original correct combination shouldbe discarded. To use the above notation, if A1B2C3 is right, then A1B3C2, A2B1C3 and A3B2C1 should be dicarded. Furthermore, the correct variation, ie A1B2C3, should also be discarded, since it is stated that the admissions officer will not send the correct letters to the correct people. So, by this logic, which makes perfect sense to me, 2 is the only correct answer.

Original post by Askaud
Yeah I though that but if the answer isn't 2 then I don't see what it can be bar 6 or possibly.
I'm confused cos I'm pretty sure it's the same question as 24 from 2010 which was 2


So if an identical authentic past paper question gave 2 as an answer, then it must be correct. The people who made the paper I found probably made a mistake then.
Has anyone done practice paper 2 from Think You Can Think? It's the first timed paper I've done and since there's no score conversion I'm not sure whether my score is sufficient seeing I didn't do that well but did think it was a hard paper.. Anyone think it was particularly more difficult than the other (actual) TSA papers? Or am I just trying to make myself feel better haha :frown:


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