MLAT 2020 Entry Official Thread!!!!!

Hello! I am Louisa.
Course: Spanish and Beginners Italian
College:Lincoln

I think I've done most papers now for LAT, some twice actually, as well as the majority of the Spanish. I find the Spanish ones considerably harder though and can always find something new to lose marks on!

Reply 2

Daisy02

15

Course: English and French
College: Pembroke, Oxford

Question 4 on the MLAT is especially difficult for me, but question 2 is my best. I've done 3 past papers and am using basically any grammar sheets and books I can find to revise! How is everyone else revising?

Reply 3

Original post by Daisy02

Course: English and French
College: Pembroke, Oxford

Question 4 on the MLAT is especially difficult for me, but question 2 is my best. I've done 3 past papers and am using basically any grammar sheets and books I can find to revise! How is everyone else revising?

I think it's good to do a few past papers to get a grasp of what the MLAT is all about but it's even better to practice what you struggle with in terms of grammat in isolation. I know for one I need to go over commands and identifying the imperfect subjunctive this week.

Maybe we could make an insta group chat if we all have it to discuss, could be useful if we get interviews too!

Reply 4

katie_nicole

7

Course: English and French
College: Balliol

So glad there's this thread, as I don't know anyone else taking the MLAT so it's nice to be able to talk about it with people!
I'm just trying to practice as much grammar as I can at the moment to prepare.....

Reply 5

Spanguist

OP

Original post by louisaharkness

I think it's good to do a few past papers to get a grasp of what the MLAT is all about but it's even better to practice what you struggle with in terms of grammat in isolation. I know for one I need to go over commands and identifying the imperfect subjunctive this week.

Maybe we could make an insta group chat if we all have it to discuss, could be useful if we get interviews too!

I need to work on exactly the same!

Reply 6

username3466480

Course: Spanish and Arabic
College: Somerville

I've found the OLAT pretty good so far, the MLAT is definitely more difficult tho. I need to study more grammar :smile:

Does anyone know what would be considered a good mark for either test?

Reply 7

Original post by lucymcg8

Course: Spanish and Arabic
College: Somerville

I've found the OLAT pretty good so far, the MLAT is definitely more difficult tho. I need to study more grammar :smile:

Does anyone know what would be considered a good mark for either test?

I've been told you only need about half Marks to get an interview

Reply 8

katie_nicole

7

Original post by lucymcg8

Course: Spanish and Arabic
College: Somerville

I've found the OLAT pretty good so far, the MLAT is definitely more difficult tho. I need to study more grammar :smile:

Does anyone know what would be considered a good mark for either test?

I was wondering the same...

Reply 9

qwertyuiop1993

Original post by lucymcg8

Course: Spanish and Arabic
College: Somerville

I've found the OLAT pretty good so far, the MLAT is definitely more difficult tho. I need to study more grammar :smile:

Does anyone know what would be considered a good mark for either test?

Hi, I did French at Oxford for undergrad and my masters. I was also an interviewer for undergrad admissions during my masters so if anyone needs any advice for French or just for Modern Languages admissions in general I'd be happy to help.

As for your question about what counts as a good MLAT, my former supervisor told me that offer holders for French tend to have scored 70+ so if you're getting around that then you should be in good shape. (Of course there might be some variation from language to language)

Might be jumping the gun as your priority should be the entrance tests, but here are a few general topics to get you thinking about the themes that often come up at interview.

•

What is the point of translation? (Think about what goal you want to achieve, what, linguistically speaking that might entail? To what extent must you take into account who you are translating for or what you are translating from?)

•

Are there any genres that are particularly hard to translate? What does that tell us about the nature of those types of work? Is every translation a 'betrayal' of the original?

•

What is the difference between poetry and prose?

•

What is the difference between literature and non-literature? (Does our attitude to language change when dealing with literature? Or when dealing with poetry in particular?)

•

What makes a work of art political?

•

To what extent does language shape or even dictate our world view? (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis)

•

When reading a literary work from the past, should one always try imagine what a reader of the time would have understood?

•

Is there objective meaning in literature?

•

How does one's response to a poem differ from one's response to a painting?

•

What is the difference between a novel and a short story?

•

Studying literature is about uncovering what the author intended to say. To what extent do you agree with this?

•

Reading a play is always inferior to watching it on stage. Do you agree?

Reply 10

Fleuryildirim

9

Helllooo,

What language(s) you want to study: French
The specific Oxford college: Christ Church
General opinions on MLAT (e.g. past papers you've done, how you are finding it etc.): pretty doable, but annoying that there are only marking schemes for the past three years. I find the papers pretty easy, but sometimes prepositions bit tricky
How have you been preparing?: doing as much past papers as possible, going over them with teachers and revising grammar books.

Maybe we can make a gc on insta for all the ML applicants?

Reply 11

Fleuryildirim

9

I made a gc, drop your @ if you want to be added :smile:

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 12

username3466480

Original post by Fleuryildirim

I made a gc, drop your @ if you want to be added :smile:

i've personal messaged u my @ :smile:

Reply 13

username3466480

Original post by qwertyuiop1993

Hi, I did French at Oxford for undergrad and my masters. I was also an interviewer for undergrad admissions during my masters so if anyone needs any advice for French or just for Modern Languages admissions in general I'd be happy to help.

As for your question about what counts as a good MLAT, my former supervisor told me that offer holders for French tend to have scored 70+ so if you're getting around that then you should be in good shape. (Of course there might be some variation from language to language)

Might be jumping the gun as your priority should be the entrance tests, but here are a few general topics to get you thinking about the themes that often come up at interview.

•

What is the point of translation? (Think about what goal you want to achieve, what, linguistically speaking that might entail? To what extent must you take into account who you are translating for or what you are translating from?)

•

Are there any genres that are particularly hard to translate? What does that tell us about the nature of those types of work? Is every translation a 'betrayal' of the original?

•

What is the difference between poetry and prose?

•

What is the difference between literature and non-literature? (Does our attitude to language change when dealing with literature? Or when dealing with poetry in particular?)

•

What makes a work of art political?

•

To what extent does language shape or even dictate our world view? (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis)

•

When reading a literary work from the past, should one always try imagine what a reader of the time would have understood?

•

Is there objective meaning in literature?

•

How does one's response to a poem differ from one's response to a painting?

•

What is the difference between a novel and a short story?

•

Studying literature is about uncovering what the author intended to say. To what extent do you agree with this?

•

Reading a play is always inferior to watching it on stage. Do you agree?

thank u so much! thats really helpful

Reply 14

katie_nicole

7

Original post by qwertyuiop1993

Hi, I did French at Oxford for undergrad and my masters. I was also an interviewer for undergrad admissions during my masters so if anyone needs any advice for French or just for Modern Languages admissions in general I'd be happy to help.

As for your question about what counts as a good MLAT, my former supervisor told me that offer holders for French tend to have scored 70+ so if you're getting around that then you should be in good shape. (Of course there might be some variation from language to language)

Might be jumping the gun as your priority should be the entrance tests, but here are a few general topics to get you thinking about the themes that often come up at interview.

•

What is the point of translation? (Think about what goal you want to achieve, what, linguistically speaking that might entail? To what extent must you take into account who you are translating for or what you are translating from?)

•

Are there any genres that are particularly hard to translate? What does that tell us about the nature of those types of work? Is every translation a 'betrayal' of the original?

•

What is the difference between poetry and prose?

•

What is the difference between literature and non-literature? (Does our attitude to language change when dealing with literature? Or when dealing with poetry in particular?)

•

What makes a work of art political?

•

To what extent does language shape or even dictate our world view? (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis)

•

When reading a literary work from the past, should one always try imagine what a reader of the time would have understood?

•

Is there objective meaning in literature?

•

How does one's response to a poem differ from one's response to a painting?

•

What is the difference between a novel and a short story?

•

Studying literature is about uncovering what the author intended to say. To what extent do you agree with this?

•

Reading a play is always inferior to watching it on stage. Do you agree?

Thank you, I'm applying for English and French so that's so useful! Did you have to analyse a French poem as part of your interview?

Reply 15

qwertyuiop1993

Original post by katie_nicole

Thank you, I'm applying for English and French so that's so useful! Did you have to analyse a French poem as part of your interview?

Hi, yes it's common for the interviewed to give you a poem or extract from a larger work to analyse in the target language. Sometimes, you'll get something in English. It varies from college to college and getting something in English mostly happens for people applying to a language ab initio.

Reply 16

pingbean

4

Original post by louisaharkness

Hello! I am Louisa.
Course: Spanish and Beginners Italian
College:Lincoln

I think I've done most papers now for LAT, some twice actually, as well as the majority of the Spanish. I find the Spanish ones considerably harder though and can always find something new to lose marks on!

I'm glad someone else finds the Spanish MLAT hard - I generally don't know how I'm going to pass any of it.

Reply 17

Original post by Fleuryildirim

I made a gc, drop your @ if you want to be added :smile:

my username is louisaroseharkness

Reply 18