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I understand that it is crucial to read around the subject, particularly if I am aspiring to apply at Oxford (I am currently in Year 12). For this reason, I am going to subscribe to one of the following magazines: New Statesman, The Economist or Private Eye. From experience, which magazine do you think is best, both in terms of content/quality as well as suitability (for my understanding)? If you have any other suggestions or tips on how I can best prepare myself for the course, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you.
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#3
Prospect
The Salisbury Review
The Economist is good. Haven't read NS. Not sure if Private Eye would be suitable.
The Salisbury Review
The Economist is good. Haven't read NS. Not sure if Private Eye would be suitable.
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#4
The traditional answer would be The Economist, which is still a good mag, but not what it once was. It's got a lot less in it now and it costs a lot more - £5 a time if you buy it in a shop. It does have a fair bit of pretty comprehensive reportage on key economic issues, but it's also very political and it leans right of centre most of the time, sometimes with poor relevance, which can make it irritating to read. It's best on America, the US staff have a very solid understanding of what goes on in the US economy and what matters.
I would suggest the Financial Times to OP. It really has strong, accurate reporting on a host of economic and business topics and buying it once a week or so will be a lot cheaper than the Economist.
New Statesman is worth a plug, it has good political coverage. Private Eye tends to be one of those things that's just worth reading for itself more than for being some sort of objective source, although to be fair, it is often way ahead of the rest of the press on key topics. The City section at the back is hard going for people not intimately familiar with the complexities and organisations that function in the City and also has a strong focus on corruption cases, which are interesting, but not particularly for their economic study dimension.
Oxford will expect you to have a wide knowledge of contemporary political and international issues, so just read as widely as you can, for example, major news sites like the Guardian, Telegraph, Washington Post (requires a subscription, but the cheapest of the major ones), Times (more expensive) and New York Times. (even more) Stay in touch with serious news programmes, I can recommend Radio 4 (From Our Own Correspondent, Tonight (10pm), Politics Show (Saturday mornings) and various documentary shows, particularly File on Four when they run it. On TV, the best shows are Dateline London (Saturday mornings, News Channel), This Week (late Thursday nights, BBC1) and the Daily Politics (BBC2, lunchtimes). Those shows all have a lot of high quality debate and discussion on them, which is the kind of mindset to get into for a PPE interview.
I would suggest the Financial Times to OP. It really has strong, accurate reporting on a host of economic and business topics and buying it once a week or so will be a lot cheaper than the Economist.
New Statesman is worth a plug, it has good political coverage. Private Eye tends to be one of those things that's just worth reading for itself more than for being some sort of objective source, although to be fair, it is often way ahead of the rest of the press on key topics. The City section at the back is hard going for people not intimately familiar with the complexities and organisations that function in the City and also has a strong focus on corruption cases, which are interesting, but not particularly for their economic study dimension.
Oxford will expect you to have a wide knowledge of contemporary political and international issues, so just read as widely as you can, for example, major news sites like the Guardian, Telegraph, Washington Post (requires a subscription, but the cheapest of the major ones), Times (more expensive) and New York Times. (even more) Stay in touch with serious news programmes, I can recommend Radio 4 (From Our Own Correspondent, Tonight (10pm), Politics Show (Saturday mornings) and various documentary shows, particularly File on Four when they run it. On TV, the best shows are Dateline London (Saturday mornings, News Channel), This Week (late Thursday nights, BBC1) and the Daily Politics (BBC2, lunchtimes). Those shows all have a lot of high quality debate and discussion on them, which is the kind of mindset to get into for a PPE interview.
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(Original post by Fullofsurprises)
The traditional answer would be The Economist, which is still a good mag, but now what it once was. It's got a lot less in it now and it costs a lot more - £5 a time if you buy it in a shop. It does have a fair bit of pretty comprehensive reportage on key economic issues, but it's also very political and it leans right of centre most of the time, sometimes with poor relevance, which can make it irritating to read. It's best on America, the US staff have a very solid understanding of what goes on in the US economy and what matters.
I would suggest the Financial Times to OP. It really has strong, accurate reporting on a host of economic and business topics and buying it once a week or so will be a lot cheaper than the Economist.
New Statesman is worth a plug, it has good political coverage. Private Eye tends to be one of those things that's just worth reading for itself more than for being some sort of objective source, although to be fair, it is often way ahead of the rest of the press on key topics. The City section at the back is hard going for people not intimately familiar with the complexities and organisations that function in the City and also has a strong focus on corruption cases, which are interesting, but not particularly for their economic study dimension.
Oxford will expect you to have a wide knowledge of contemporary political and international issues, so just read as widely as you can, for example, major news sites like the Guardian, Telegraph, Washington Post (requires a subscription, but the cheapest of the major ones), Times (more expensive) and New York Times. (even more) Stay in touch with serious news programmes, I can recommend Radio 4 (From Our Own Correspondent, Tonight (10pm), Politics Show (Saturday mornings) and various documentary shows, particularly File on Four when they run it. On TV, the best shows are Dateline London (Saturday mornings, News Channel), This Week (late Thursday nights, BBC1) and the Daily Politics (BBC2, lunchtimes). Those shows all have a lot of high quality debate and discussion on them, which is the kind of mindset to get into for a PPE interview.
The traditional answer would be The Economist, which is still a good mag, but now what it once was. It's got a lot less in it now and it costs a lot more - £5 a time if you buy it in a shop. It does have a fair bit of pretty comprehensive reportage on key economic issues, but it's also very political and it leans right of centre most of the time, sometimes with poor relevance, which can make it irritating to read. It's best on America, the US staff have a very solid understanding of what goes on in the US economy and what matters.
I would suggest the Financial Times to OP. It really has strong, accurate reporting on a host of economic and business topics and buying it once a week or so will be a lot cheaper than the Economist.
New Statesman is worth a plug, it has good political coverage. Private Eye tends to be one of those things that's just worth reading for itself more than for being some sort of objective source, although to be fair, it is often way ahead of the rest of the press on key topics. The City section at the back is hard going for people not intimately familiar with the complexities and organisations that function in the City and also has a strong focus on corruption cases, which are interesting, but not particularly for their economic study dimension.
Oxford will expect you to have a wide knowledge of contemporary political and international issues, so just read as widely as you can, for example, major news sites like the Guardian, Telegraph, Washington Post (requires a subscription, but the cheapest of the major ones), Times (more expensive) and New York Times. (even more) Stay in touch with serious news programmes, I can recommend Radio 4 (From Our Own Correspondent, Tonight (10pm), Politics Show (Saturday mornings) and various documentary shows, particularly File on Four when they run it. On TV, the best shows are Dateline London (Saturday mornings, News Channel), This Week (late Thursday nights, BBC1) and the Daily Politics (BBC2, lunchtimes). Those shows all have a lot of high quality debate and discussion on them, which is the kind of mindset to get into for a PPE interview.
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#6
(Original post by asd.987)
Wow...I can't thank you enough. That was an extremely helpful reply. Thank you!
Wow...I can't thank you enough. That was an extremely helpful reply. Thank you!
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(Original post by Fullofsurprises)
Good luck with your app. Which As are you doing?
Good luck with your app. Which As are you doing?
Well, I don't do A-levels, rather the IB.
Bio HL, Chem HL, Econ HL, Maths SL, English A Lang Lit SL, Spanish B SL.
I just noticed from your profile that you read PPE at Oxford - that's amazing! May I ask what kinds of extracurricular helped you in doing so?
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#8
(Original post by asd.987)
Thank you.
Well, I don't do A-levels, rather the IB.
Bio HL, Chem HL, Econ HL, Maths SL, English A Lang Lit SL, Spanish B SL.
I just noticed from your profile that you read PPE at Oxford - that's amazing! May I ask what kinds of extracurricular helped you in doing so?
Thank you.
Well, I don't do A-levels, rather the IB.
Bio HL, Chem HL, Econ HL, Maths SL, English A Lang Lit SL, Spanish B SL.
I just noticed from your profile that you read PPE at Oxford - that's amazing! May I ask what kinds of extracurricular helped you in doing so?
Tbh I don't really think that anything extra curricular really made much difference. I think the most useful thing for me was having long arguments with my mum and dad and my aunts, uncles and cousins about politics and reading around the subject we were arguing to try to gain an advantage or just hold my own and not appear too stupid.
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(Original post by Fullofsurprises)
Oh I see, OK, good luck and work hard!
Tbh I don't really think that anything extra curricular really made much difference. I think the most useful thing for me was having long arguments with my mum and dad and my aunts, uncles and cousins about politics and reading around the subject we were arguing to try to gain an advantage or just hold my own and not appear too stupid.
Oh I see, OK, good luck and work hard!
Tbh I don't really think that anything extra curricular really made much difference. I think the most useful thing for me was having long arguments with my mum and dad and my aunts, uncles and cousins about politics and reading around the subject we were arguing to try to gain an advantage or just hold my own and not appear too stupid.
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#10
(Original post by asd.987)
Well, what about the Philosophy and Economics part of the course?
Well, what about the Philosophy and Economics part of the course?
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