Chemistry oxford interviews
Hey hello, well I am here to ask for advice from anyone who has gone through this same process for advice.
So my school will probably be closed all summer and not sure what will happen for the next academic year so am not able to consult my teachers for advice. For this reason I am here.
I wanted to know if anybody had any advice on what to do in preparation for the Chemistry Oxford interview. What did you do and what worked best? I feel a bit lost. But have so much time now because of this lockdown. I have the time but not sure what to do. E.g should I finish the syllabus before my school finished it?
Any advice is highly highly appreciated! Thank you to anyone who will reply 🥺❤️
So my school will probably be closed all summer and not sure what will happen for the next academic year so am not able to consult my teachers for advice. For this reason I am here.
I wanted to know if anybody had any advice on what to do in preparation for the Chemistry Oxford interview. What did you do and what worked best? I feel a bit lost. But have so much time now because of this lockdown. I have the time but not sure what to do. E.g should I finish the syllabus before my school finished it?
Any advice is highly highly appreciated! Thank you to anyone who will reply 🥺❤️
@SkyRunner61 Can you help with this?
Universities accept students with half an eye on their own research expectations. Find out what is current in the University Research labs, their main focus and interests.
Read up on contemporary chemistry advancements and uses.
Be aware of legal issues in research, data protection, patents etc.
Take an interest in a specific area of contemporary chemistry and be able to discuss it in depth (if you are superficial it will stand out a mile).
Have a look at the course content for first-year students and see how it follows on from the A level course.
Read up on contemporary chemistry advancements and uses.
Be aware of legal issues in research, data protection, patents etc.
Take an interest in a specific area of contemporary chemistry and be able to discuss it in depth (if you are superficial it will stand out a mile).
Have a look at the course content for first-year students and see how it follows on from the A level course.
Hi there!
Learning the rest of the syllabus might not be a good idea. It’s worth bearing in mind that not everyone at interview will have covered all of the topics (so questions might be tailored according to what you know rather than being set questions) and that it might mean you’re bored during your lessons
I also don’t agree with much of what the above poster said. The department covers a wide range of topics within chemistry, and you aren’t tied to your college for your fourth year research project supervisor - they can’t look to their own research expectations either since it’s that far in advance! Knowledge of legal issues is much less important than your ability to think through chemical problems in interview. And the interviews are academic, so while you should definitely be able to talk about whatever you’ve written about your personal statement in depth, doing this in and of itself as a separate thing isn’t something that would be helpful in an interview scenario
Instead, maybe try looking into things that extend beyond the syllabus? The C3L6 and Chemistry Olympiad questions are fun, and often start with something related to content you know and then move beyond that. The format is very different to an Oxford interview, but they have that in common. The C3L6 papers are for Year 12s, so may be more appropriate at this stage. The NRICH website for maths also has a chemistry section, which has related mathematical problems, and the royal society of chemistry has resources called ‘chemistry for the gifted and talented’ which are quite fun and look at topics and models in more depth
Hopefully that’s given you some things to do, and if you work through them then I’m happy to recommend other things as well!
Learning the rest of the syllabus might not be a good idea. It’s worth bearing in mind that not everyone at interview will have covered all of the topics (so questions might be tailored according to what you know rather than being set questions) and that it might mean you’re bored during your lessons
I also don’t agree with much of what the above poster said. The department covers a wide range of topics within chemistry, and you aren’t tied to your college for your fourth year research project supervisor - they can’t look to their own research expectations either since it’s that far in advance! Knowledge of legal issues is much less important than your ability to think through chemical problems in interview. And the interviews are academic, so while you should definitely be able to talk about whatever you’ve written about your personal statement in depth, doing this in and of itself as a separate thing isn’t something that would be helpful in an interview scenario
Instead, maybe try looking into things that extend beyond the syllabus? The C3L6 and Chemistry Olympiad questions are fun, and often start with something related to content you know and then move beyond that. The format is very different to an Oxford interview, but they have that in common. The C3L6 papers are for Year 12s, so may be more appropriate at this stage. The NRICH website for maths also has a chemistry section, which has related mathematical problems, and the royal society of chemistry has resources called ‘chemistry for the gifted and talented’ which are quite fun and look at topics and models in more depth
Hopefully that’s given you some things to do, and if you work through them then I’m happy to recommend other things as well!
Original post by SkyRunner61
Hi there!
Learning the rest of the syllabus might not be a good idea. It’s worth bearing in mind that not everyone at interview will have covered all of the topics (so questions might be tailored according to what you know rather than being set questions) and that it might mean you’re bored during your lessons
I also don’t agree with much of what the above poster said. The department covers a wide range of topics within chemistry, and you aren’t tied to your college for your fourth year research project supervisor - they can’t look to their own research expectations either since it’s that far in advance! Knowledge of legal issues is much less important than your ability to think through chemical problems in interview. And the interviews are academic, so while you should definitely be able to talk about whatever you’ve written about your personal statement in depth, doing this in and of itself as a separate thing isn’t something that would be helpful in an interview scenario
Instead, maybe try looking into things that extend beyond the syllabus? The C3L6 and Chemistry Olympiad questions are fun, and often start with something related to content you know and then move beyond that. The format is very different to an Oxford interview, but they have that in common. The C3L6 papers are for Year 12s, so may be more appropriate at this stage. The NRICH website for maths also has a chemistry section, which has related mathematical problems, and the royal society of chemistry has resources called ‘chemistry for the gifted and talented’ which are quite fun and look at topics and models in more depth
Hopefully that’s given you some things to do, and if you work through them then I’m happy to recommend other things as well!
Learning the rest of the syllabus might not be a good idea. It’s worth bearing in mind that not everyone at interview will have covered all of the topics (so questions might be tailored according to what you know rather than being set questions) and that it might mean you’re bored during your lessons
I also don’t agree with much of what the above poster said. The department covers a wide range of topics within chemistry, and you aren’t tied to your college for your fourth year research project supervisor - they can’t look to their own research expectations either since it’s that far in advance! Knowledge of legal issues is much less important than your ability to think through chemical problems in interview. And the interviews are academic, so while you should definitely be able to talk about whatever you’ve written about your personal statement in depth, doing this in and of itself as a separate thing isn’t something that would be helpful in an interview scenario
Instead, maybe try looking into things that extend beyond the syllabus? The C3L6 and Chemistry Olympiad questions are fun, and often start with something related to content you know and then move beyond that. The format is very different to an Oxford interview, but they have that in common. The C3L6 papers are for Year 12s, so may be more appropriate at this stage. The NRICH website for maths also has a chemistry section, which has related mathematical problems, and the royal society of chemistry has resources called ‘chemistry for the gifted and talented’ which are quite fun and look at topics and models in more depth
Hopefully that’s given you some things to do, and if you work through them then I’m happy to recommend other things as well!
Hey there!
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for suggesting me so many resources I was not even aware of! I knew about the C3L6 and Olympiad which I am already working on but the had no idea about the NRICH website and the royal society's resources! I am so excited and will definitely be looking into these!
I really appreciate your support and will probably not learn the syllabus anymore as I probably should just focus on completely udnerstanding and appreciating topics I covered already rather than try to cover as much as possible. Thank you!!
Original post by chem4life1
Hey there!
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for suggesting me so many resources I was not even aware of! I knew about the C3L6 and Olympiad which I am already working on but the had no idea about the NRICH website and the royal society's resources! I am so excited and will definitely be looking into these!
I really appreciate your support and will probably not learn the syllabus anymore as I probably should just focus on completely udnerstanding and appreciating topics I covered already rather than try to cover as much as possible. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my post. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for suggesting me so many resources I was not even aware of! I knew about the C3L6 and Olympiad which I am already working on but the had no idea about the NRICH website and the royal society's resources! I am so excited and will definitely be looking into these!
I really appreciate your support and will probably not learn the syllabus anymore as I probably should just focus on completely udnerstanding and appreciating topics I covered already rather than try to cover as much as possible. Thank you!!
Glad to be of help
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