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Oxford MAT 2013/2014

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Reply 100
Original post by alexmufc1995
Awesome :biggrin: that's given me some stats to worry over for the next couple of months :L

Hmmm not really any advice as such, just running through the outline of the course as described on the Oxford website :smile: I seem to remember receiving a hand out of sample Philosophy interview questions, which I'll find and post if either of us is lucky enough to get an interview :wink:


Yup, that sounds similar to my school - I think it's the 15th September for us. At the moment I think my PS is pretty close to completion, but selecting the rest of my uni choices is still a worry :frown:

17 out of 90 for Math/Phil...that's even more of a worry :L


From what I understand, there isn't a set number of places for Maths & Phil. They just interview all maths, maths + joint school and give offers to the ones who impress. So if the acceptance ratio is low for maths & phil it's because they were less impressive, not that they were forced to reject more because of limited places.
Original post by alexmufc1995
Awesome :biggrin: that's given me some stats to worry over for the next couple of months :L

Hmmm not really any advice as such, just running through the outline of the course as described on the Oxford website :smile: I seem to remember receiving a hand out of sample Philosophy interview questions, which I'll find and post if either of us is lucky enough to get an interview :wink:


Yup, that sounds similar to my school - I think it's the 15th September for us. At the moment I think my PS is pretty close to completion, but selecting the rest of my uni choices is still a worry :frown:

17 out of 90 for Math/Phil...that's even more of a worry :L


It's kind of nice as a target. The stats are also pretty useful to figure out which past papers are 'harder', just like normal grade boundaries I guess.

Oh okay, yeah that would be really useful. I'm kind of worried about the philosophy interview especially since I have very little knowledge of it so far :tongue:.

17/90 is actually reasonable. Assume we do well in the MAT, then that's only 17/51, then it's just your talking skills to finish it off :rolleyes:

At least it's not like medicine and PPE with like 1:10 offer:applicants ratio...
Reply 102
Original post by yl95
Great! Didn't know they actually cared about A*s much for Maths and now I feel like I'll be at a great disadvantage for having 4A* 6A.
Should have tried back then...


Only useful if you didn't do as well compared to other candidates in the MAT and even then, you still have to perform well at the interviews! I wouldn't get too worked up about it, do your best in the MAT first :smile:

Original post by CD315
What's the earliest MAT past paper available? I want to start with the earliest and make my way forwards.


Seeing C1/C2 was introduced around 2005 time (I think), try 2006 paper. But there are older papers around the internet if you look around. Are you applying to Oxford this year :biggrin:?

Original post by shamika
How much harder is the interview than MAT? How much harder / easier is the interview than STEP I?


Original post by Noble.
Hmm, I would say the interview is harder - but this is coming from someone who found the MAT pretty straightforward. My interviews definitely got more mathematically complex than the MAT and, added with the pressure of performing and wanting to impress a tutor, I would say interviews, overall, are harder than the MAT.

I didn't really do much STEP I, but I didn't really find it mathematically more difficult than the MAT, just more varied and requiring you to know more maths overall.


Going to offer a contrasting view - I actually found the interview easier than the MAT and STEP I
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 103
Reply 104
Some interesting questions! I'm not totally sure how applicable these are to the MAT but from what I can tell they're all C1/2 and some of them are pretty tricky. Given how few MAT past papers there are, I'd say it's probably worth doing these before you start on the past papers.

Original post by WinnerMachine12
Please could you send me those sheets as well. Thanks!


I'd love to go; it looks much different to the bog standard talks about admissions etc but I doubt my parents would allow me because a) it's on a school day and b) the train prices aren't cheap but I'll try my best to convince them. :P
Are you going?
Reply 106
Original post by yl95
I'd love to go; it looks much different to the bog standard talks about admissions etc but I doubt my parents would allow me because a) it's on a school day and b) the train prices aren't cheap but I'll try my best to convince them. :P
Are you going?


I started thinking about Oxford around July, it's my last chance to attend an open day.

@JosephML
Thank you

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Reply 107
Original post by Blazy

Seeing C1/C2 was introduced around 2005 time (I think), try 2006 paper. But there are older papers around the internet if you look around. Are you applying to Oxford this year :biggrin:?


No - Imperial are using it this year!
Reply 108
Original post by Blazy
Only useful if you didn't do as well compared to other candidates in the MAT and even then, you still have to perform well at the interviews! I wouldn't get too worked up about it, do your best in the MAT first :smile:



Seeing C1/C2 was introduced around 2005 time (I think), try 2006 paper. But there are older papers around the internet if you look around. Are you applying to Oxford this year :biggrin:?





Going to offer a contrasting view - I actually found the interview easier than the MAT and STEP I


That's interesting, given that part of the point of the interview is to push you way beyond what you're capable of. The last ten minutes of one of my interviews the interviewer (now tutor) was trying to get me to solve something mathematicians are yet to solve :lol:
Reply 109
Original post by JosephML
Some interesting questions! I'm not totally sure how applicable these are to the MAT but from what I can tell they're all C1/2 and some of them are pretty tricky. Given how few MAT past papers there are, I'd say it's probably worth doing these before you start on the past papers.


these are great! added them to the OP as well. thanks!
Original post by BankOfPigs
I found the information on https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/mathsgroup_feedback_2012.pdf. It's the feedback for 2012, kind of like an examiners report, just without actually referring to questions.

I went to oxford but didn't actually listen to the Maths and Philosophy talk (The trip was mostly about seeing colleges as opposed to open day with talks). How did you find it? Did they give any specific advice?

I haven't planned any more open days, but I've been generally browsing uni's that do the course. I haven't actually looked at York and Manchester as they are also quite far, but if I really can't anywhere else then I'll apply anyway. Theres only a few weeks left till everything is sent off, I'm a bit worried :frown:. Our school asks for oxbridge applicants to finish off their UCAS application by the 16th of september which gives me 16 days to really decide on Uni's and finish my PS :X



Original post by alexmufc1995
Awesome :biggrin: that's given me some stats to worry over for the next couple of months :L

Hmmm not really any advice as such, just running through the outline of the course as described on the Oxford website :smile: I seem to remember receiving a hand out of sample Philosophy interview questions, which I'll find and post if either of us is lucky enough to get an interview :wink:


Yup, that sounds similar to my school - I think it's the 15th September for us. At the moment I think my PS is pretty close to completion, but selecting the rest of my uni choices is still a worry :frown:

17 out of 90 for Math/Phil...that's even more of a worry :L


You don't have to put all of your choices down to start with. You can submit your UCAS form with, say, 3 universities, and then fill in the others later.
Original post by BankOfPigs
It's kind of nice as a target. The stats are also pretty useful to figure out which past papers are 'harder', just like normal grade boundaries I guess.

Oh okay, yeah that would be really useful. I'm kind of worried about the philosophy interview especially since I have very little knowledge of it so far :tongue:.

17/90 is actually reasonable. Assume we do well in the MAT, then that's only 17/51, then it's just your talking skills to finish it off :rolleyes:

At least it's not like medicine and PPE with like 1:10 offer:applicants ratio...


Wow really? 1:10? I wasn't aware that it was that competitive :colondollar:


The whole thing is beginning to get real for me now :s-smilie: I can't believe that I'm going back to college on Weds - before I could always think to myself: "At least I have all that time over the summer holidays to start preparing" :L

I found some of the questions 'from past examinations in Philosophy subjects', which the lecturer suggested may be the style of interview questions for Math/Phil:
"When, if ever, should citizens disobey the law?"
"If I can remember the thoughts and experiences of Jones, does that mean that Jones and I are one and the same person?"
"In what sense is the problem of other minds a philosophical problem as opposed to a scientific problem?"

I think the interview questions will be more simple, more like the 1st example, but this gives you an idea of how general they are. I'm sure they won't ask you to name all of Descartes' publications, or remember the birth year of Plato etc :tongue:
Reply 112
Original post by alexmufc1995
Wow really? 1:10? I wasn't aware that it was that competitive :colondollar:


The whole thing is beginning to get real for me now :s-smilie: I can't believe that I'm going back to college on Weds - before I could always think to myself: "At least I have all that time over the summer holidays to start preparing" :L

I found some of the questions 'from past examinations in Philosophy subjects', which the lecturer suggested may be the style of interview questions for Math/Phil:
"When, if ever, should citizens disobey the law?"
"If I can remember the thoughts and experiences of Jones, does that mean that Jones and I are one and the same person?"
"In what sense is the problem of other minds a philosophical problem as opposed to a scientific problem?"

I think the interview questions will be more simple, more like the 1st example, but this gives you an idea of how general they are. I'm sure they won't ask you to name all of Descartes' publications, or remember the birth year of Plato etc :tongue:


Of course they won't ask you things like "name publications..." or "what is their DOB" because they're simply regurgitation exercises which you either know or don't (and knowing them doesn't really say anything about intelligence). Your questions above:

"When, if ever, should citizens disobey the law?"
"If I can remember the thoughts and experiences of Jones, does that mean that Jones and I are one and the same person?"
"In what sense is the problem of other minds a philosophical problem as opposed to a scientific problem?"

Sound exactly like the kind of things they'd ask in an interview - wanting to see your thought process etc.
Original post by alexmufc1995
Wow really? 1:10? I wasn't aware that it was that competitive :colondollar:


The whole thing is beginning to get real for me now :s-smilie: I can't believe that I'm going back to college on Weds - before I could always think to myself: "At least I have all that time over the summer holidays to start preparing" :L

I found some of the questions 'from past examinations in Philosophy subjects', which the lecturer suggested may be the style of interview questions for Math/Phil:
"When, if ever, should citizens disobey the law?"
"If I can remember the thoughts and experiences of Jones, does that mean that Jones and I are one and the same person?"
"In what sense is the problem of other minds a philosophical problem as opposed to a scientific problem?"

I think the interview questions will be more simple, more like the 1st example, but this gives you an idea of how general they are. I'm sure they won't ask you to name all of Descartes' publications, or remember the birth year of Plato etc :tongue:


It's weird that it's september tommorrow :X Yeah I'm going back on wednesday as well, it makes all these deadlines seem a lot closer.

Some interesting questions there, although I imagine tackling them in the interview room would be a lot harder, as you'd have rather limited amount of time to think and just the atmosphere would be kind of nervewracking:eek:

Yeah I think they are just asking it to figure your general thought process and if you have any real consideration towards philosophy, since they have no other information.

Do you know if it's just the interview / MAT, or if theres anything else? I was reading a thread earlier about requiring written work, which is slightly worrying as the best I'd be able to produce is my english CW.
Original post by BankOfPigs
It's weird that it's september tommorrow :X Yeah I'm going back on wednesday as well, it makes all these deadlines seem a lot closer.

Some interesting questions there, although I imagine tackling them in the interview room would be a lot harder, as you'd have rather limited amount of time to think and just the atmosphere would be kind of nervewracking:eek:

Yeah I think they are just asking it to figure your general thought process and if you have any real consideration towards philosophy, since they have no other information.

Do you know if it's just the interview / MAT, or if theres anything else? I was reading a thread earlier about requiring written work, which is slightly worrying as the best I'd be able to produce is my english CW.


To be honest, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about the Philosophy interview. The lecturer seemed to emphasise that the MAT was much more important, and that the same standard of mathematical capability is required for the joint courses as the single course.

I also seem to remember him saying that the Philosophy interview was more just checking you can think and express your opinions etc, so as long as you don't completely lock up, you'll be fine :biggrin:


As far as I'm aware, they stopped asking for written work a couple of years ago. I think the lecturer said that the work that ended up being submitted had become so doctored by teachers/parents that it wasn't a true reflection of the candidates ability. However, if I happen to be remembering a different discussion (so many uni talks!!) and we do have to submit written work, you can feel safe in the knowledge that I'll be submitting my English CW too :tongue: I hope they like the Great Gatsby if that's the case :L
Original post by seohyun
I started thinking about Oxford around July, it's my last chance to attend an open day.

@JosephML
Thank you

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 4


Ooh, were you thinking of Camb before or were you not interested in Oxbridge before? Looks like I will be attending the open day with my dad, heh. He seems keen on going so hopefully I see you there!
Reply 116
Original post by yl95
Ooh, were you thinking of Camb before or were you not interested in Oxbridge before? Looks like I will be attending the open day with my dad, heh. He seems keen on going so hopefully I see you there!


Didn't even think about universities before July. I'll be coming with my sister. I might see you there (I'm not a very sociable person in real life :rolleyes:)

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Original post by alexmufc1995
To be honest, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about the Philosophy interview. The lecturer seemed to emphasise that the MAT was much more important, and that the same standard of mathematical capability is required for the joint courses as the single course.

I also seem to remember him saying that the Philosophy interview was more just checking you can think and express your opinions etc, so as long as you don't completely lock up, you'll be fine :biggrin:


As far as I'm aware, they stopped asking for written work a couple of years ago. I think the lecturer said that the work that ended up being submitted had become so doctored by teachers/parents that it wasn't a true reflection of the candidates ability. However, if I happen to be remembering a different discussion (so many uni talks!!) and we do have to submit written work, you can feel safe in the knowledge that I'll be submitting my English CW too :tongue: I hope they like the Great Gatsby if that's the case :L


Yeah that makes a lot of sense I guess.

Nearly finished my PS, although I havent' referenced any philosophy books yet, which is a bit awkward. Need to start reading asap :smile: How is yours going? Do you reckon we should put a greater emphasis on Maths, or around 50 50?

Are you taking English for next year as well? I'm meant to have finished my first draft before we get back... I'm doing it on flatland though, which is nice since i referenced it in my statement :rolleyes:
Hi guys, I've just done the MAT 2009 past paper and marked it. I got question 1, part I wrong. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction (not give me the answer) as I just don't know where to start with it. I've tried taking out a factor of x^2 - 1 but that didn't seem to work, I've also tried taking out just x^2, but again that didn't seem too helpful.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! :P Thanks :biggrin:
Reply 119
Original post by so it goes
Hi guys, I've just done the MAT 2009 past paper and marked it. I got question 1, part I wrong. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction (not give me the answer) as I just don't know where to start with it. I've tried taking out a factor of x^2 - 1 but that didn't seem to work, I've also tried taking out just x^2, but again that didn't seem too helpful.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! :P Thanks :biggrin:


Try working out p(1) and p(-1).

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