Oxford Biology (Biological Sciences) Students and Applicants

Did you perhaps get an offer from york already ??

Did you perhaps get an offer from york already ??

I got one last week, ABB and a B in AS chem.

What were the questions of interview before? Were they closely related to what we learned in A-level or mostly some tricky questions we never heard of? Can anyone give some examples? Thx

I seriously need to add a section on this to the wiki

Okay, the regular format is one data based question and one props question. Depending on the interviewer you may or may not be lead in by some simple "what's the thing interesting you most in biology at the moment?" or "tell us about the most recent article / book you read?" or something like that. Data based will be something like 'can you describe the population fluctuations demonstrated by this data' or 'can you interpret this graph of TB cases in the UK and interpret the results' or 'can you explain the distribution of finches in this tree'. Prop based question will be something like 'How would you go about investigating whether these two feathers came from the same bird?' or 'Describe what you think this is [a flower - trust me, it wasn't that obvious] and how do you think it might be pollinated?'
The key isn't right answers - it's talking through your thought process out loud. If you tell them you think a wind pollinated flower is bird pollinated then that's fine as long as the reason is that you think it's more important that it's red than that it has long dangly anthers!

To actually answer your question, it will have little to nothing to do with your A-level syllabus, but that's the POINT. They're not expecting factual recall - they're addressing your problem solving and communication skills.

then maybe we ll be together ^^

my offer is 14/20 overall (i have 8 subjects -technically 10 because we have history and geography together and physics and chemistry together too ^^) ) 14 /20 biology and 20/20 in chemistry (this is near impossible ... most teachers won t put over 18 even if it s a perfect copy so.... i suppose i ll call them but i m waiting to see what my other offers are )

but im way more into oxford (you too i suupose ^^) the open day was AWESOME !!! But since nothing is sure i don t want to get my hopes too high ^^

maybe interview then ??

Wow thank you SO much Bekaboo, SO helpful - quite excited and terrifed in equal measure!
Anyone here applying to Brasenose???

Best book I can recommend HartLou is 'Life on Earth' by David Attenborough. Covers it all, pretty much, with loads of stuff about evolution, some amazing pictures and is all written in Mr. Attenborough's wonderful friendly narration. (I went to see him in May! it was AMAZING!!)

Thank you for your recommendation, I can not wait to start reading it, hopefully i can finish it before interview

Great, but i'm unsure about my ability on that kind of questions, is there any methods i can be tested or any answers to these questions you have mentioned. Much thx

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Hi,Bekaboo, I have applied to ucl, kings and warwick for biomedical sciences. I got prediction grades A*A*AA and AS results 4A, but i don't do BMAT as they don't require it. But i have not have even one offer yet. Is there any problems or BMAT is very important or it's normal for biomedical sciences to make decision late? I'm so panic...
Give me some advice, thx

so, guessing...
i) the mouse population increases directly proportionally to the square of time (? )

ii) at A the rate of the mouse population's increase slows

at B the population of mice begins to decrease

iii) this might be because a limiting factor has been reached, for example food or space, or predator populations have increased. the population might fluctuate around the optimum due to environmental pressures

just a guess, but is it something to do with k-strategists (and the other one which i can't remember!!!) i should know what it's called at B but i can't think...