Oxford History Students and Applicants

Reply 980

LycurgusLAD

I've just got my invitation to interview for History and Politics at Keble :biggrin:

anyone else heard back?

Reply 981

Parami93

Original post by LycurgusLAD

I've just got my invitation to interview for History and Politics at Keble :biggrin:

anyone else heard back?

Yes, today! History and Politics at St Edmund Hall. Congratulations! :biggrin:

Reply 982

LycurgusLAD

Original post by Parami93

Yes, today! History and Politics at St Edmund Hall. Congratulations! :biggrin:

Congratulations to you too! :biggrin:

did you get it by post?
Teddy hall is so nice!

Reply 983

Parami93

Original post by LycurgusLAD

Congratulations to you too! :biggrin:

did you get it by post?
Teddy hall is so nice!

Thanks! I got an email, actually. I'd been checking my inbox literally every 20 minutes for the last week, so this is such a relief.

I have to fly in all the way from Sri Lanka, so travel plans were getting a little tight! :tongue:

Reply 984

LycurgusLAD

Original post by Parami93

Thanks! I got an email, actually. I'd been checking my inbox literally every 20 minutes for the last week, so this is such a relief.

I have to fly in all the way from Sri Lanka, so travel plans were getting a little tight! :tongue:

Sri Lanka?! Wow, international competition indeed! Yeah I've been the same with my inbox, I always expected an email but I'm not complaining which ever way I get it :P

Reply 985

Parami93

Original post by LycurgusLAD

Sri Lanka?! Wow, international competition indeed! Yeah I've been the same with my inbox, I always expected an email but I'm not complaining which ever way I get it :P

If I waited for the mail I'd probably have missed the interview altogether. :P

Reply 986

cb111

Hi all,

Are there any history graduates here? I need to know when I should expect my History finals to end. The provisional start date is set as Monday 20 May but does anyone know when the end date would be? Would it all end on Friday 24 May?

Thank you everyone.

Reply 987

cb111

Hi all,

I need to know when I should expect my History finals to end. The provisional start date is set as Monday 20 May but does anyone know when the end date would be? Would it all end on Friday 24 May?

Thank you everyone.

Reply 988

shoshin

10

Original post by cb111

Hi all,

I need to know when I should expect my History finals to end. The provisional start date is set as Monday 20 May but does anyone know when the end date would be? Would it all end on Friday 24 May?

Thank you everyone.

I thought (and sincerely hope!) that the five exams are spread out over two weeks rather than one, but not sure. I s'pose you could get an idea by checking Weblearn for the dates on the 2012 past papers that you will be sitting in 2013?

Impressed you're looking ahead, I can't see any further than Special Subject toil over Christmas :smile:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 989

razvimir

Hello,

May I please ask a quick question.

I hear that one of the Oxford interviews (for history) comprises of one source based discussion. Does anyone know how long this source normally is? (Is it like a para or a page or a full fledged article?) How long is this interview? 15 mins?

Thanks in advance.

Reply 990

HistoryNick123

Original post by razvimir

Hello,

May I please ask a quick question.

I hear that one of the Oxford interviews (for history) comprises of one source based discussion. Does anyone know how long this source normally is? (Is it like a para or a page or a full fledged article?) How long is this interview? 15 mins?

Thanks in advance.

My understanding of it is that the source is roughly the same length as the one used for question 2 in the HAT. So not too long!

The text will be given to you prior to your first interview and it'll be used to form part of the discussion!

Hope that helps!

Reply 991

shoshin

10

Interview methods prob'ly vary across the colleges. I was given a source for my second interview. I didn't have it in advance unfortunately; it was face down on the seat when I walked into the interview room and I was told to read it and then tell the tutors when I felt ready. It was around half the length of a HAT question 2. The source discussion didn't take all of the interview, maybe two thirds of it.

Reply 992

Hal.E.Lujah

19

Original post by razvimir

I hear that one of the Oxford interviews (for history) comprises of one source based discussion. Does anyone know how long this source normally is? (Is it like a para or a page or a full fledged article?) How long is this interview? 15 mins?

Original post by shoshin

Interview methods prob'ly vary across the colleges. I was given a source for my second interview. I didn't have it in advance unfortunately; it was face down on the seat when I walked into the interview room and I was told to read it and then tell the tutors when I felt ready. It was around half the length of a HAT question 2. The source discussion didn't take all of the interview, maybe two thirds of it.

As said, methods vary. Just going to say it though, you're lucky.

My 'Source' was a coin. A coin goddamit. They opened with the question 'What is Money' and before I knew it I had dug a hole into de facto currencies.

Reply 993

Savy G

who's doing History? i want to find out how difficult the HAT test was :s-smilie:

Reply 994

shoshin

10

Original post by Savy G

who's doing History? i want to find out how difficult the HAT test was :s-smilie:

It's designed to be pretty challenging. Prob'ly best to check out the past papers, see what you think. They can be downloaded here:

http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/prospective/undergraduate/applying/the-history-aptitude-test.html

Reply 995

Winterharpy

8

These questions are for Oxford History Undergraduates...
Which options would you recommend to study in the first year (especially in terms of British and General History)? Is it better to work chronologically in British history and to study periods consecutively?
How difficult are the foreign texts if you have an A-level in the language?

Thanks in advance!

Reply 996

Niki_girl

15

Original post by Winterharpy

These questions are for Oxford History Undergraduates...
Which options would you recommend to study in the first year (especially in terms of British and General History)? Is it better to work chronologically in British history and to study periods consecutively?
How difficult are the foreign texts if you have an A-level in the language?

Thanks in advance!

Hi, I'm a first-year historian at Worcester :smile:

I can't answer about the foreign text option - I do historiography :P

Do you know that you definitely get the choice of British History/ General History papers? I didn't get to choose, but I did have the choice between doing either British History 1 (300-1086) or General History 1 (Early Medieval Europe). I then had a choice of doing either General History 4 (1815-1914) or British History 5 or 6 or something (it was around the 1600s).

My college (not sure if this is a rule?) wanted people to cover a broad choice of papers in the first year, (e.g., my massive contrast between the year 300 in BH1 and 1914 in GH4!) so that we could start thinking about what to choose next year, when our options count towards our final exams.

I guess you could work chronologically (so take BH1 in the first year, then BH2 the next year, if possible) but I think it really depends on what's available and what you prefer. However, I'd advise trying to take a range in your first year, because the difference in source materials (and therefore the shape of the entire modules) depends very much on the evidence left to study, which depends on how far back you're going!

In summary; don't worry too much about it, and if possible choose things which you haven't studied at school, and go in with an open mind. I asked the same thing to people at Oxford, and there seems to be no real "strategy" concerning choice of papers - and you'll be surprised by the difference between what you thought a paper was going to be like, and what it was actually like!

So far, I think I prefer GH4, but that might just be because it's approximately an 8th of the size of BH1! However, BH1 allowed me to do source reports and look at Anglo-Saxon poetry, so it's a tough choice :rolleyes:

As for Historiography (where you study the study of history through time) it depends on which authors you get to study. I've really enjoyed studying Machiavelli and St. Augustine...but Weber and Gibbon, not so much :redface:

if I was at a different college thoug (still taking this paper!) I would study different authors, e.g Ranke, Tacitus! For history, the variation in options is almost infinite! (I realised that this last comment doesn't help to answer the question much, but just ask if you have any more questions :colondollar:

)

Reply 997

shoshin

10

Original post by Winterharpy

Which options would you recommend to study in the first year..How difficult are the foreign texts if you have an A-level in the language?

During your three years you have to do at least one General or (not and) British module from each of the three main periods (Medieval/Early Modern/Modern). Some students like to get their least favourite period 'out of the way' asap, because first year exam marks do not count towards the final grade. However, others would say that it's unwise to make early assumptions regarding which periods will suit you best.

My own college likes at least one of the first year choices to be taught by a tutor in that college, which narrows things down a little because you are restricted to their areas of expertise.

I didn't do Foreign Texts for Prelims but have done a roughly comparable module as a Special Subject. Yes, A level standard should be OK. You could check out an example to make sure you would be fairly comfortable with it. In French you would be working with something like Tocqueville's L'Ancien Regime et la Revolution. I can give you a similar idea in other languages if you would like to post the one you have in mind.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 998

Lumos

13

ello ello. I don't have anything particularly interesting to say or any questions for that matter, just wanted to say hi. I'm starting in september at SPC :smile:

the tutors there seem so nice! (for now at least)

Reply 999

Savy G

Original post by Lumos

ello ello. I don't have anything particularly interesting to say or any questions for that matter, just wanted to say hi. I'm starting in september at SPC :smile:

the tutors there seem so nice! (for now at least)

Hi! you're really lucky to have gotten in! :smile:

what did you take into account when choosing a college for studying History? Like successful applicant statistics,...accommodation for all 3 years,... cheaper rent?
Thanks :smile:

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