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Thinking Skills Assessment

Any advice how to prepare for the TSA?
Will be applying for Human Sciences at Oxford but didn't do any humanities subjects at A level so have had little essay practice.

Thanks!
There should be some recommended books.

Otherwise critical thinking A-level is pretty similar, so along with past TSA exams use past A-level papers to practice

Not sure what to recommend for the essay section, sorry!
Original post by dogdogdog
Any advice how to prepare for the TSA?
Will be applying for Human Sciences at Oxford but didn't do any humanities subjects at A level so have had little essay practice.

Thanks!


Applied to Oxford for Human Sciences last year, got an interview. Umm the TAS was honestly not that hard, I didn't really study for it. There are some practice tests on the Admissions testing service website. Do those and you should be in a good place. In terms of the essay, the questions are mostly quite general, sometimes a bit philosophical but it will be phrased so that you can add a lot of insight into the topic. In my opinion, making insightful comments on the topic is more important than sophisticated writing so in terms of not having humanities subjects in A2, I wouldn't worry too much :smile:

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Original post by wolfmoon88
Applied to Oxford for Human Sciences last year, got an interview. Umm the TAS was honestly not that hard, I didn't really study for it. There are some practice tests on the Admissions testing service website. Do those and you should be in a good place. In terms of the essay, the questions are mostly quite general, sometimes a bit philosophical but it will be phrased so that you can add a lot of insight into the topic. In my opinion, making insightful comments on the topic is more important than sophisticated writing so in terms of not having humanities subjects in A2, I wouldn't worry too much :smile:

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Thank you! Could I ask what you ended up studying and if you didn't get into Oxford, did they give you feedback on your application? Compared to other subjects they don't seem to have a (public) strict selection criteria so am curious as to how they judge applicants.
Original post by dogdogdog
Thank you! Could I ask what you ended up studying and if you didn't get into Oxford, did they give you feedback on your application? Compared to other subjects they don't seem to have a (public) strict selection criteria so am curious as to how they judge applicants.


I firmed University of St Andrews for BSc Sustainable Development. Probably going to defer that offer and take a gap year though if I can. Yes they gave me feedback on my application. From what I gather, the interview is one of the most important criteria they focus on as that's what let me down. If you meet the entry requirements, and do well on the TSA, the interview will be an important factor in determining whether one gets admitted. (There's only like one/two/three places to read this subject per college after all)

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