Oxford TSA 2017 Applicants Thread (02.11.2016)

Hiii, just done the 2008 TSA and think I did ok (score was 67.8). However, I just simply don't understand q49, could anyone please explain me how it can possibly be May and not February. Maybe I didn't understand the question due to the fact that I am not English, but maybe it's no vocabulary problem but I'm just a blockhead haha
cheeers

I just tried to but they have some sort of encryption that prevents it from being downloaded. Sorry. Its available on amazon for about £15. Its worth it if you are struggling on the critical thinking section but not the problem solving part.

Hey, anyone know how much paper we get for the essay question of the TSA? I know we only have half and hour but the paper we get is limited, I want to practice my timings but obviously I could be writing way over or way too little haha! Any help appreciated!!

Its a relevant selection question I think. So you add the cost of Gas, Electricity, and Logs for Fire for each month and see which is the highest. Its D, May, with a cost of 180 (140+40), rather than Febuary which is 160

I know this is a bit of a dumb question but does anyone know how 'important' (for want of a better word) section 2 is? Everything I've heard seems to be at least implying that section 1 is the big one and section 2 only really comes into it if you get to interview, and they just want to see that you can structure an argument decently. Or should I try to find ways to link whatever essay back to my subject?

Of course I'm not going to completely disregard the essay but at the moment I've been focusing mostly on section 1, is this a bad choice? In an ideal world I'd do loads of practice of both parts but time is limited, and section 2 looks like it requires less preparation.

I'm applying for E&M if relevant, though it'd be interesting to hear views for the test in general

Does anyone know why the TSA score conversions are getting inflated over the last few years (same raw score gets a higher converted score)? I'm defs not complaining but just curious if there's a reason/tests are getting harder

Yeah I've been thinking the same, or do people just get worse at the test? haha

Can anyone explain Q44 in the 2010 paper? I've been looking at it for ages and I can't figure out why the answer is 2, thank you!!

I'm definitely focusing more on the section 1, as you said there isn't much prep you can do for section 2- all im doing is going through the past questions with my form tutor and talking through how i would structure my answers for a better idea of what to do in the test and I'l probably write a couple to practice timing.I'm doing geography, and if possible im going to choose a question I can link back to my subject but only to make life easier for me, its definitely not necessary!I would say it looks like section 1 is more heavily weighted too, at the oxford open days ive been to there has never really been any mention of the section 2, so I can only assume that it is less important- unless to people get the same score on section 1 and section 2 is what distinguishes them I guess. Anyway, that's my plan anyway.

Haven't actually looked at the question myself so sorry if this is no use, but thought I'd post it so you could have a look

Ah thanks so much! Which book is that? Looks like something I need haha 😂

Here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Past-Paper-Worked-Solutions-UniAdmissions/dp/0993231152

Could it be to do with the increased number of people applying?