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Philosophy Entrance Exam

I know that most colleges give you an exam/test when you go up for interview... they say you don't need any preperation for this. What kind of questions get asked? Are they genuine when they say that a student with no history of philosophy will be in with the same chance as someone who has done A Levels and GCSE in it?

What questions have people here been asked?

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Reply 1
Avatar for johnrambo
johnrambo
2
Well I can't really advise you whether a GCSE is much help, but working on the assumption it wouldn't be anymore useful than an A-Level I'd say it's unlikely to be that much use in the test. There are two sides to this story, however. While the specific knowledge you gain from an A-Level isn't of great use with the question you might get, you would probably do well to acquaint yourself with the most common 'philosophical problems', because from my experience that is what the more open ended questions seem to revolve around.

A-Level would go some way to preparing you for this, but on the day there should be no difference between someone who has done A-Level and someone who has read and thought about a book as basic as 'The Philosophy Gym'. I actually got a question on something closely related to what I was studying in philosophy of mind at A-Level, but I made a conscious effort to not cite, or even imply, any of this knowledge. I assumed they were looking for natural ability rather than learned facts, so showing huge background knowledge would be a waste of time and ink.
i don't think it's necessary, or particularly possible, to prepare for the test - i don;t feel i'd have done any better with preparation - as long as you're capable of thinking and exploring a subject you'll be fine - maybe practice some logic questions before, if you want to, but i really wouldn't worry about it.
Mine were lots of logic questions (and a knowledge of philosophy won't help with this- you either think that way or you don't) and an essay on aesthetics. I doubt aesthetics features a great deal on any A-level exam board, so I don't think anybody had a headstart with that bit of the exam. So no, you genuinely can't really prepare for them. They want a logical mind and a clear argument, not an in-depth knowledge of the history of philosophy.
Reply 4
Avatar for hustler
hustler
1
hi- i failed to get into cambridge last year for philosophy and am now about to start in Edinburgh......... is it possible for me to re-apply this year, or do i HAVE to drop out of Edinburgh if I want to do this?
I think you're supposed to drop out.

Give Edinburgh a chance though, is it worth dropping out of somewhere and risk rejection?
Well, I ditched a good Warwick offer to re-apply...

aesthetics... I assume that is about "cosmetic" philosophy, why we find things attractive etc? My problem is, if they use a philsophical term like "metaphysics", "aesthetics" etc, I am screwed. I have a basic idea of what these are, but certianly don't throw the terms around like water. Will they expect one to know the lingo, or is it all carefuly done so that anyone could understand it, as long as they had a good grasp of decent English?
Schmokie Dragon
Well, I ditched a good Warwick offer to re-apply...

aesthetics... I assume that is about "cosmetic" philosophy, why we find things attractive etc? My problem is, if they use a philsophical term like "metaphysics", "aesthetics" etc, I am screwed. I have a basic idea of what these are, but certianly don't throw the terms around like water. Will they expect one to know the lingo, or is it all carefuly done so that anyone could understand it, as long as they had a good grasp of decent English?


Yeah you're right, aesthetics is that. They didn't use that term though, the essay was about art and beauty- the question was straight forward with no philosophical terms. Sorry I didn't make that clear, I just categorised it as being an essay on 'aesthetics'. So as you say, anyone can understand the questions (at least they could for the King's test, but I'm sure it will be the same everywhere).
phew! Had me worried there :p:
Reply 9
Avatar for FadedJade
FadedJade
15
To be honest, I know you're wanting to find out as much information as possible but at the end of the day its your ability and your ideas they are interested in. The test and what goes on is a surprise for most people, and having a fixed idea of what to expect isn't necessarily going to help you when they decide to change everything completely. You said you gave up a good offer to reapply, if thats the case then surely you already know some of what to expect? Or is it the second UCAS application but first Cambridge one? There's a reason they don't make these tests available (which they said quite clearly just before we took it) so telling you the layout and the questions isn't really fair.
Reply 10
Avatar for Ozymandias
Ozymandias
Personally, I'm suspicious of any test that claims to be impossible to prepare for. The multiple choice bit of the test I took was pretty similar to part of Critical Thinking AS, and I'm sure that made it easier for me.
Ozymandias
Personally, I'm suspicious of any test that claims to be impossible to prepare for. The multiple choice bit of the test I took was pretty similar to part of Critical Thinking AS, and I'm sure that made it easier for me.


I've never taken Critical thinking, but from what my friends have said about it, it does sound like the multiple choice of my test too. However, I would say (if I am right in thinking CT is like this) that you either think in that way or you don't. People I know didn't prepare for critical thinking and some got outstanding marks and some did awfully...I always gathered that it was to do with your natural ability to think logically. Many schools don't even offer lessons for CT for this reason. So I don't think I was at a disadvantage as such just because I haven't done CT A-level: rather, the questions were new to me but I still managed to do most of them because I think like that. (At least I hope so...otherwise I don't know how I got in).
Reply 12
Avatar for Ozymandias
Ozymandias
That's true to an extent, but I think like anything you get better the more of them you do.
I think it's fair to say it's not impossible to prepare for it, but it's certainly not necessary, and really not something to get hung up on...
Thanks guys. As long as anyone with a decent brain and some writing ability will have a chance, I am fine. I was just terrified that by "no prep needed" they meant "but make sure you have read lots of philosophy and done lots of research"... I'm used to education authorities/centres being very deceptive and having higher expectations than they imply.
tbh, i found, when i applied, that it paid to pretty much believ what they say, because generally it's both true and helpful... it's not in their best inteersts to lie to you...
To be honest, I think the most any preparation could do would be to familiarise you with the sort of questions you might get asked so you don't panic when you see them. I did philosophy A Level and ended up actually ignoring everything I'd covered and everything I'd read and just concentrated on getting a reasoned, logical and precise argument, which is, I think what they were really looking for in the end. It wasn't so much testing what you knew or how prepared you were so much as how you thought and reasoned things through, and I reckon actually too much preparation could distract you from doing that.
random bringing up thread! Although while its been done, are ther any philosophy applicants out there?
Awesome! I'm a current Philosopher at King's. :biggrin:
Speaking from experience (I also only did RS A-level, no Philosophy as such), people who do A-level are not at much of an advantage in the interview or admissions test. I'm staying at King's an extra week to help out over the interview period so will probably see you about. PM me with who you have for interview, what day etc- I'm intrigued!
(edited 4 years ago)
Edit: Double post...

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