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TSA Oxford test

how do I prep I have a month basically & i thought i could revise a couple hours for it but it looks like its just general knowledge stuff so practise questions are the best but is a whole month a bit long to be doing this for? and is there enuf content for me to use
yeah it's a little bit of everything.
how's your maths?
Original post by wizkid44
yeah it's a little bit of everything.
how's your maths?

good , i did alevel maths i like it
Reply 3
Avatar for AMG.123
AMG.123
2
Original post by wizkid44
yeah it's a little bit of everything.
how's your maths?

Do you know if i could get into Cambridge (HSPS) or Oxford (PPE) with ABBBBBCCCD in GCSE’s.
Original post by AMG.123
Do you know if i could get into Cambridge (HSPS) or Oxford (PPE) with ABBBBBCCCD in GCSE’s.

I'm not 100% sure about oxford admissions but I know that Cambridge will look at your GCSEs contextually (i.e. looking at the average grade profile in your school, looking at what percentile you finished in in your cohort (year), looking at the area your school was based in and things like that)

If your predicted grades meet the minimum entry requirements and you either submit good quality essays (for the colleges that ask for HSPS) then you should have a chance

(my info is based on camb though because I've been to their admission talks/programmes)
Original post by AMG.123
Do you know if i could get into Cambridge (HSPS) or Oxford (PPE) with ABBBBBCCCD in GCSE’s.


PPE might be very unlikely with those GCSE grades... unless you have extenuating circumstances or you could perform exceptionally on the TSA. Oxford also looks at your GCSEs contextually.
Original post by lostcatinthewild
how do I prep I have a month basically & i thought i could revise a couple hours for it but it looks like its just general knowledge stuff so practise questions are the best but is a whole month a bit long to be doing this for? and is there enuf content for me to use

last year I did tsa section 1 and prepped for it in one month. I did every past paper, I could only find them back to 2008 (https://www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/thinking-skills-assessment/tsa-oxford/preparing-for-tsa-oxford/). the first one I did it took like 2-3 hours cos I wasn't doing it in timed conditions and wanted to understand the questions as I wasn't familiar with them. personally I struggled to finish in time, it's around 1 min 50 secs per question, so if you don't know the answer then it's best to guess as you might end up with 1 minute left at the end and like 7 questions to do if you spend too long on some questions. I also read Think You Can Think which explains how to do well in tsa and it had 3 practice papers with explained answers.
A score of around 60+ is ideal to get an interview, though it might be slightly higher for more competitive courses like E&M, but candidates are still shortlisted for interview with a score below 60 (you can find the distribution of scores per year https://www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/thinking-skills-assessment/tsa-oxford/scoring-and-results/) . generally you don't improve a whole lot in tsa, as it is mainly based on logic, but you can familiarise yourself with the questions, and how to distinguish between the answers. I didn't need to do the section 2 essay soo
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by i_love_dogs
last year I did tsa section 1 and prepped for it in one month. I did every past paper, I could only find them back to 2008 (https://www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/thinking-skills-assessment/tsa-oxford/preparing-for-tsa-oxford/). the first one I did it took like 2-3 hours cos I wasn't doing it in timed conditions and wanted to understand the questions as I wasn't familiar with them. personally I struggled to finish in time, it's around 1 min 50 secs per question, so if you don't know the answer then it's best to guess as you might end up with 1 minute left at the end and like 7 questions to do if you spend too long on some questions. I also read Think You Can Think which explains how to do well in tsa and it had 3 practice papers with explained answers.
A score of around 60+ is ideal to get an interview, though it might be slightly higher for more competitive courses like E&M, but candidates are still shortlisted for interview with a score below 60 (you can find the distribution of scores per year https://www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/thinking-skills-assessment/tsa-oxford/scoring-and-results/) . generally you don't improve a whole lot in tsa, as it is mainly based on logic, but you can familiarise yourself with the questions, and how to distinguish between the answers. I didn't need to do the section 2 essay soo

thank you! how did you revise other than doing practise questions and reading that book? (im currently reading through the offical assessment guide taking notes for each type of question they present, concise ones to remember how to navigate each question. when you did those mocks did you manage to calculate your score? like 60 or 65 (example). im aiming for 70 which i know is in the upper part of what people get but because i read in the admissions statements of some colleges they value it as equally alongside contextual gcses. thank u for helping again
Original post by lostcatinthewild
thank you! how did you revise other than doing practise questions and reading that book? (im currently reading through the offical assessment guide taking notes for each type of question they present, concise ones to remember how to navigate each question. when you did those mocks did you manage to calculate your score? like 60 or 65 (example). im aiming for 70 which i know is in the upper part of what people get but because i read in the admissions statements of some colleges they value it as equally alongside contextual gcses. thank u for helping again

tbh I only did past papers and read the book. the book explained stuff like how to identify conclusions, spotting flaws in arguments etc. and the maths questions aren't beyond gcse, but they are sometimes tricky to understand. there isn't really content to revise, but just get used to the style of the questions and how to answer them quickly.
Each year there is a score conversion from raw marks to the actual score which you can find on the website. 70 is a good score to aim for. the admissions test is only one part of the application process so you don't have to do amazingly in it. some courses, like chemistry eg, place more weighting on interview.
Reply 9
Avatar for mflach
mflach
12
has anyone been able to find extra tsa papers for free online? find it a bit rubbish that there's only like 10 available to practice
Original post by mflach
has anyone been able to find extra tsa papers for free online? find it a bit rubbish that there's only like 10 available to practice

not really. thats why im buying the book someone talked about on here
I collected my tips for the TSA here: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6980997&p=94645638#post94645638

Great preparation book: "Think you can think? Cracking the Thinking Skills Assessment"
Places to get questions: BMAT section 2, old Critical Thinking A Level

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