The Student Room Group

Oxford TSA 2017 Applicants Thread (02.11.2016)

I haven't seen a thread about the Thinking Skills Assessment for this year yet, so I thought I create one :smile:
How is preparation going?

There's also a Facebook group for us:
Original post by Turtlebunny
I've created an Oxford 2017 applicants TSA prep group on facebook!https://www.facebook.com/groups/988924964567862/If people can join, and get others who are taking the test (or anything similar) to join, then we can assist each other by posting questions/solutions to TSA questions we come across. Since there are no solutions online, we can help each other to do as well as we can in the TSA.If the original poster in this thread sees, this, or an admin, could they add it to their post!?
(edited 7 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
preparation is nonexistent atm. thinking of starting soon as to have a solid month of prep. im concerned about the essay more than the reasoning part.
What kind of scores is everybody hitting?

I've read that you need to get above 60 to gain a place for interview under normal circumstances but obviously this varies year to year due to the Rasch statistical technique used
Reply 3
Original post by Gilo98
preparation is nonexistent atm. thinking of starting soon as to have a solid month of prep. im concerned about the essay more than the reasoning part.


I haven't really prepared too..
Me too actually, never really written an essay at school or anything (international applicant) - I just hope they take into account a bit that English isn't my first language, I think because it will be so rushed I will make mistakes :biggrin:
The essay section isn't generally reviewed till interview so as long as you compensate for it then you should be fine
Reply 5
Original post by scblx
I haven't really prepared too..
Me too actually, never really written an essay at school or anything (international applicant) - I just hope they take into account a bit that English isn't my first language, I think because it will be so rushed I will make mistakes :biggrin:


I'm sure they will consider that when reading your essay. My issue is that I just dont know how to structure it. You get so little space that you have to focus on being concise but still write something that is interesting and a bit different, or maybe im wrong and its more important to write a boring but structurally sound essay.
How do you calculate your score on TSA past papers? Do people just use percentages?
Reply 7
Hey, just jumping in here since I'll be taking the TSA this year :smile: did the Cambridge TSA last year but haven't done much prep for this year yet, starting to get a bit worried :s-smilie:
Reply 8
Original post by AspiringPPEr
How do you calculate your score on TSA past papers? Do people just use percentages?


You can find score conversion sheets online :smile:
Original post by scblx
You can find score conversion sheets online :smile:


Thanks :smile:
im cruddy at problem solving and i run out of time
:colondollar:
Doing TSA for chemistry (just section 1) hopefully they won't care too much about it since they've only just introduced this.
I'm aiming for 2 past papers every weekend which should cover it all by the time of the test.

I've read that people use books and stuff. I don't think prep using books and stuff will help me lol
It kinda sends me to sleep even reading the specimen answer explanations. :colondollar:

Managed 29/50 in the specimen. idk if this is okay for a first attempt lol. I feel like I won't improve by that much as well.
I was working right until the last minute too. :/
(edited 7 years ago)
Literally just finished the spec paper and got 38/50 (70.7 scaled)
Hopefully I can bring it up as it's my first paper xx
Reply 13
Are there any tests similar to TSA apart from the ones listed on the official website? I would like to practice some more, but I am afraid of using up all the past papers a couple weeks before the real test takes place and becoming rusty.
Reply 14
Original post by zzas
Are there any tests similar to TSA apart from the ones listed on the official website? I would like to practice some more, but I am afraid of using up all the past papers a couple weeks before the real test takes place and becoming rusty.


One section of the BMAT is sort of similar..
and of course, there are TSA preparation books which contain more practice questions/tests :smile:
Also preparing for the TSA, any advice how to prepare apart from doing past papers...? :biggrin:
Has anyone looked at the courses ran by Oxbridge Admissions or Uni Admissions?
Can't believe I have to do this utter ******** as a Chemistry applicant for the first time.

I tried the 2010 paper and got a score of 52, which for all the really competitive courses, is on the low end, and need it to be more like 65+.

How on earth do I get better?
Can someone explain question 30 from November 2010?
IMG_0440.jpgDoes that make sense? It helps if you visualise it - the top diagram just inputs the data in the passage. Start at a point and then work out what cancels what out. Then draw that in the second diagram and see which option satisfies it.

Quick Reply

Latest