Oxford MAT 2013/2014

Ahh nice to find someone else ^^

Im doing OCR, planning to do Fp2-3, s23 m123 c34 next year which should be fun.

What other subjects do you do, and how did you do in them?

I do English Eco Maths FM and did Chinese AS, got 4As and a B.

Computer Science applicant reporting in. Can STEP I be used as preparation for the MAT?

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I did Maths, FM, English Lit and Chemistry at AS Level and got 4 As


Next year I'll be dropping Chemistry though - can't stand it! So just Maths FM and English at A2. Also will be doing an EPQ I hope Have you had any experience of Philosophy at school? I've just been reading a few books in my own time


Have you been to Oxford and had a look at any of the colleges? I have to admit, although I've penciled 'Merton College' into the UCAS form, they all look very good!

Nice one.
The Engilsh lit exam messed me up though, did you also have that case where there were 4 exams in one day? I got a B in it, but I still quite enjoy the subject so I don't think I'll drop it, and it might be useful in terms of offers I think.

I went to a few philosophy lessons in my free period, but I found the teacher pretty mediocre. She also never replied to my emails about what books to read... I've since then borrowed the text books from my friend, but I haven't really read much else. What books have you read, and are you going to write about them for your personal statement?

Yeah I went to oxford as some sort of school trip. We only really looked at around 7 colleges, so I'm not all too sure which ones I really want to go for. I think I prefer a college that is around medium sized. Not too small that theres no one to talk to (or doing my subject), not too big that I have to be too social

I can't really comment on the English Lit - my school teaches the WJEC curriculum, which I think is one of the rarer exam boards to do Lit with (irony here because WJEC are welsh ). As for the exam, I only had one in January, so I think that was lucky I'd definitely continue with Lit - I think that will certainly enter their consideration for the Philosophy side of the course.

As for the philosophy itself, I haven't been in a formal philosophy lesson as such. I started with 'Sophie's World' by Jostein Gaarder as a very basic introduction, and since then I've been reading sections of Bertrand Russell's books which provide a pretty concise summary of the history of Philosophy. I think I'll mention them fleetingly in my statement, but I won't make a big deal about them - I don't want them to expect too much!

Sounds like you've got your college criteria sorted! I can't even begin to think about what it would be like at Oxford - there just seems like so many hurdles! MAT, maths interviews, philosophy interviews...not to mention actually getting the A Level grades at the end of it all!

Can AEA be used to prepare for MAT?

Can AEA be used to prepare for MAT?

I did STEP I 2007 yesterday (it was a really nice paper actually) and I'm pretty sure Q4, Q6, Q8 and Q13 didn't require any C3/C4 knowledge (no complex differentiation or integration).

Edit: Below I have attached the questions;

Q6



Q8



Q13

Yeah English lit was actually my best subject in terms of UMS at GCSE, how things change..

Yeah I think i'll take a look at those books. I'm worried about putting anything actually concrete about philosophy in the personal statement, just in case they actually ask me about it! I mean I love the idea, and I'm pretty opinionated about this, but I dont knwo that many facts.

I think the grades are really the least of the worries, personally. A* Maths and FM doesn't sound that hard and an A in another subject should be okay. Just getting an offer is what I think is really scary, having to go through all these interviews and talking to all those professors :X

I've got a fair bit of pressure to get into oxford though. my sister went to cambridge so high stakes... :L

I did STEP I 2007 yesterday (it was a really nice paper actually) and I'm pretty sure Q4, Q6, Q8 and Q13 didn't require any C3/C4 knowledge (no complex differentiation or integration).

Hey, I'm just trying Q4, I'm stuck on the first part of the second paragraph, the one about k and the two quadratic equations with roots of k. Just want to make sure it doesn't require anything above C1 and C2. It feels like it's straight forward but for some reason I keep hitting a dead end.
Thanks

I got stumped at this stage for a short while, however, I saw that in the next part they were asking us to determine a similar expression involving k^2. So my thought process was 'how did they remove the k^2 (y^2, as k is a root) from the two original equations'. They must have made them somewhat similar.

I don't want to say any more as you definitely will figure it out as it is pretty simple.

STEP is more challenging than MAT so is a good place to start. I'd recommend looking at STEP 2002 Q1. It's fairly straight forward and should only require C1/2

The problem which begins 'State the Orbit-Stabilizer Theorem for a finite group G acting on a set X.'?
I haven't done groups in maths.. I come from the Scottish qualification system.

Are you sure you're looking at the right exam? Orbit-Stabilizer is ( advanced) first/ second year uni stuff!

EDIT: you looked at the Tripos exam, STEP is a lot more understandable than that

The problem which begins 'State the Orbit-Stabilizer Theorem for a finite group G acting on a set X.'?
I haven't done groups in maths.. I come from the Scottish qualification system.

Advanced first/second year stuff - but pretty easy really