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oxbridge: interviews/general chit-chat

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Reply 400

Sammy

And they say knowledge is power
lol

Reply 401

lala

Alexander

Exams do enhance knowledge of the subject -- what is revision for but increasing your knowledge?

Being able to retain enough information for a short time in your brain to pass the exam. Even then you're still buggered if you dont write fast. Its not exams that enhance knowledge, its learning.

Reply 402

Unregistered

lala

Even then you're still buggered if you dont write fast.

Yes, this is why I think they should increase time limits on exams (and obviously not expect you to write more).

Reply 403

Aylia

Harry Potter

Yes, this is why I think they should increase time limits on exams (and obviously not expect you to write more).

I guess they're aiming for quality not quantity ( there goes my stategy of waffling my way to an A..)

Reply 404

Unregistered

Aylia

I guess they're aiming for quality not quantity ( there goes my stategy of waffling my way to an A..)

Reply 405

Aylia

Harry Potter

The time limit! I mean that we're supposed to plan a skilled and well planned answer cos in theory if you do that you shouldn't need hours to complete the essay - no matter how slow you write. If you had no time limit you'd spend pages and pages before actually getting to point.

You can also get extra time if your writing is that bad - someone at my school is allowed to take all his exams on a laptop.

Reply 406

Unregistered

Aylia

In english, if I take the time to think about what I'm saying I get penalised one or two grades for not writing enough. It's better for me to just write a load of rubbish that fills what they expect me to write than a good, well thought out answer that is even 2/3 average length. No matter how brilliant your answer is, you cannot get high marks unless it is "sustained".

In economics, I usually get nearly 100% on the questions I do, but I never finish the paper. I do not spend ages thinking about what I am going to say, I am just slow. Does this mean that I have less of an understanding of economics?

If people spend pages and pages writing about nothing, then it is a bad essay and they should lose marks accordingly.

Reply 407

hildabeast

Pencil Queen

Fraid not

The latest performance indicators show that both Oxford and Cambridge are well off their benchmarks (targets not quotas) for state school pupils, social classes IIIM, IV and V and low participation neighbourhoods...but by almost exactly the same amounts...

Specifically:

Cambridge's location adjusted benchmark for state school pupils is 65% and they only had 55%, the benchmark for low social classes is 13% and they got 9% (exactly the same as Oxford meaning that both contain 91% from the upper middle and upper classes) the benchmark for low participation neighbourhoods is 7% and they got 5%.

Oxford's benchmark for state school pupils is 66%, their actual numbers show they got 55% and their benchamrks and actual %ages for low social classes and low participation neighbourhoods are identical to Cambridge's.

Source: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/learning/perfind/2003/reports/default.asp?tab=1

Erm....no....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3501-408624,00.html

and

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3501-408641,00.html

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edders not back yet?

elpaw

edders not back yet?

greetings

ill start writing a summary post of the past 2 days right now. (thanks for the good luck btw, only just got it!)

Reply 410

hildabeast

edders

greetings

ill start writing a summary post of the past 2 days right now. (thanks for the good luck btw, only just got it!)

Oooooooooooooh, hope it went well!!!!!!! Best of luck with the outcome - waiting is the scariest part but try to immerse yourself in Christmas shopping or something!!! BTW what's the weather like in ox??? I'm going back briefly on Monday.

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Reply 411

Lucy

hildabeast

BTW what's the weather like in ox???

Absolutely freezing :eek:

!!

Welcome back edders :biggrin:

Reply 412

elpaw

edders

greetings

ill start writing a summary post of the past 2 days right now. (thanks for the good luck btw, only just got it!)

if you had stayed tonight you could have gone to filth.

Reply 413

hildabeast

elpaw

if you had stayed tonight you could have gone to filth.

Haha lol that wold have put him right off Oxford!!!! And there are no students around so it would be dead.

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Reply 414

not1

my interview for physics and philosophy:

arrived at exeter college at noon sunday.

first interview 4.40pm sunday, physics.
two tutors, prof close and prof steane. asked questions: what are newtons 3 laws? why does this pen stay stationary on the table? what would happen if F = MV ? what are the forces acting on a plane in flight... derive an equation for the mass of air hitting the wings.

my verdict: ok, but could have done better. couldnt do f=mv question...(apparently all the planets would be attracted in a big crunch). took a while to do the last question (which actually isnt that hard). score myself 7/10

maths for physicists test, 9.30am monday
up bright and early for maths test... lasts one hour. quite managable; i estimate i got about 70-80% relative to other people complaining about how hard it was (despite their having done FM) feeling quite cheered up.

philosophy interview, 12.25pm monday.
supposed to have read an excerpt from philosophy article... failed to do so lol (missed the sign) and walked into interview without reading it. thankfully bloke explained it quickly and we got down to business. article was about a hypothetical lottery where healthy people are chosen at random to be painlessly executed to have their organs harvested... one persons organs might save 4 diseased people. philosophical discussion around obvious objections/implications. i enjoyed this a lot.
score myself 8 or 9/10

tuesday morning, 10am
go to a sample physics lecture on optics in clarendon lab... interesting.

12noon.
get told i have another 2 interviews at brasenose. feel ambivalent about it... have to unpack my suit doh.

philosophy interview, brasenose, 3.30pm
start off talking about book on my PS. tough (its a hard book) but enjoyable. then go through sheet of logical arguments looking for flaws... i remember this one as the last and hardest (might remember incorrectly though!)

"everything that is a unicorn has a horn
anything that has a horn is a unicorn
therefore all unicorns have horns
most (perhaps all) unicorns have horns
therefore at least one unicorn has a horn
therefore there is at least one unicorn"

we decided in the end it was the 'most...' line that was the problem. i enjoyed this a lot too, and the tutor was very friendly!

physics and maths interview, 5.20pm
beforehand watched end of american psycho 2. doesnt help to induce calm state of mind (chainsaw murder etc.)
told before i come into the room that im a borderline candidate and i might be admitted for either phys+phil or plain phys. makes me rather nervious.

2 tutors, one german woman and one english bloke. german asks me about wave-particle duality of light... examples of experiments to show both. i say youngs slits and photoelectric effect... she asks me to draw intensity graph of double slit... thats ok. then she asks me where id find a proton... i say the intensity graph is also a frequency density graph (got something right hurrah). bloke asks me some differentiation questions... got the first one alright, second one i couldnt do. and it was bloody easy (i will be kicking myself for it). it was basically dy/dx of ln (u). doh!! he then asks me integral of x^2 sinx between +-90 deg. i sketch graph, realise it comes to zero (although i should have seen that straight away.) then asks me what (sinx)/x equals as x --> 0. i say infinity... wrong. sketch circle... see that sinx apr. = x (though i knew that but forgot lol). realise =1. feel stupid. german asks me why when a car braking tilts towards the front. i muddle through to realise its because of a moment caused by the frictional force and the momentum. another pretty elementary question i should have spotted easily. end of interview... pathetically ask that i hope they take into consideration ive only done single maths. walk out feeling like ive failed really. score myself 5 or 6 /10

get onto train... got home about 11pm (not long ago!)

rate my chances of being accepeted... 50/50. was going quite well until last interview where i think i look quite stupid. hope they take my alevels, written work, gap year, maths test into account!!

decide on the train back that imperial will be just as good. being in oxford for the second time, the shine had kind of worn off. i realised its just another uni (albeit an excellent one) in lovely buildings. IC is probably where ill end up now, although ill know for sure by this sat/mon (hopefully).

Reply 415

elpaw

edders

ill know for sure by this sat/mon (hopefully).

more like next wednesday. (sorry to increase the wait for you). good luck.

Reply 416

hildabeast

Wow, you've really had a tough time!!! Don't worry too much about the interview that you think you messed up. I screwed up one of mine at St Peter's and I still got in; they'll balance it against your performance overall. Also don't panic about being sent to a second college. Its really common, and I ended up at my first choice anyway. BNC is really nice and really central as well so its not like you would be completely out in the sicks or anything. Why do you think you'll find out by Saturday?? I only got my letter on Christmas Eve and I was one of the very first people to be interviewed in the intial Arts interview week.

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Reply 417

not1

elpaw

more like next wednesday. (sorry to increase the wait for you). good luck.

they said they try to post letters this friday.

Reply 418

elpaw

edders

they said they try to post letters this friday.

you'll probably get them on tuesday then. (last year I got them on Christmas Eve, which was a tuesday).

Reply 419

hildabeast

What did you think of BNC???? I really like it - I went to formal hall there and I thought it was amazing. And so much less stuck up than a lot of other colleges I've been to.

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