Negatives of Oxbridge

yusufu

Yep. I can't speak for Oxford, but you can theoretically get 100% in the maths tripos. Practically speaking, it ain't gonna happen:
4 papers in which you answer as many questions as you can in 3 hours. ~40 questions on each paper. The people who come top of the Tripos usually get 10-12 done on each paper (on average). So yeah, while it is possible, 100% isn't going to happen!

What?! Seriously, how long does one actually take to do one question? :eek:

Reply 263

hobnob

im so academic

What?! Seriously, how long does one actually take to do one question? :eek:

Do the maths. :p:

Reply 264

hobnob

Do the maths. :p:

Cambridge Tripos Paper, Part I, 2008

Question I) 1 + 1 = x. Find x

1 + 1 = 2

.
. . x = 2

(took me five seconds to answer Questions I)

Reply 265

yusufu

16

im so academic

What?! Seriously, how long does one actually take to do one question? :eek:

A rate of half an hour per completed question would be good going and would probably get you a first.

Reply 266

yusufu

16

im so academic

Cambridge Tripos Paper, Part I, 2008

Question I) 1 + 1 = x. Find x

1 + 1 = 2

.
. . x = 2

took me five seconds to answer Questions I)

foiled. It's Part IA (first year) or IB (second).
And the question numbers have letters after them to indicate which examiner marks that question.
And 5 seconds is a bit slow for that question.

:p:

Reply 267

Mithra

2

im so academic

Cambridge Tripos Paper, Part I, 2008

Question I) 1 + 1 = x. Find x

1 + 1 = 2

.
. . x = 2

took me five seconds to answer Questions I)

huh?

edit: Academic, even in the Physics Olympiad second round they expect you to spend about 45 minutes on the first question only.

Reply 268

yusufu

foiled. It's Part IA (first year) or IB (second).
And the question numbers have letters after them to indicate which examiner marks that question.
And 5 seconds is a bit slow for that question.

:p:

slow? you just said that people complete 1 question in 30 minutes! :eek:

I'm fast in comparison to them, so where is my first? :p:

Reply 269

Mithra

huh?

edit: Academic, even in the Physics Olympiad second round they expect you to spend about 45 minutes on the first question only.

by heck! how hard are the questions for the average person to answer it in 45 bloody minutes? :eek:

what next? takes 3 days to answer one question in cambridge maths finals :rolleyes:

you must love maths to waste your time answering a question, when the examiner could just give you the answer which takes 2 seconds. :rolleyes:

Reply 270

lol_wut

Tutorial system
College system
Amazing resources/library/research material
High quality of teaching

not sure what exactly makes the tutorial system so amazing. it's just another method of teaching. and high quality of teaching isn't necessarily the case -- it varies from tutor to tutor.

Reply 271

DavyS

im so academic

by heck! how hard are the questions for the average person to answer it in 45 bloody minutes? :eek:

what next? takes 3 days to answer one question in cambridge maths finals :rolleyes:

you must love maths to waste your time answering a question, when the examiner could just give you the answer which takes 2 seconds. :rolleyes:

That's a slightly bad example.

The second round of the physics olympiad is many multiple choice questions independant of each other.

The Oxford Maths degree you take 4 papers, each with 8 questions in and you get marked on your best 5, each out of 20 up to a potential maximum of 100, but our tutor said he's never seen a score above 95. Potentially, 100% is possible: in reality, probably not.

Reply 272

Supergrunch

10

im so academic

what next? takes 3 days to answer one question in cambridge maths finals :rolleyes:

you must love maths to waste your time answering a question, when the examiner could just give you the answer which takes 2 seconds. :rolleyes:

Erm, ever heard of the concept of proof? It gets pretty important, and means you generally can't just be given the answer - often, you're told the answer anyway.

Reply 273

hobnob

Supergrunch

Erm, ever heard of the concept of proof? It gets pretty important, and means you generally can't just be given the answer - often, you're told the answer anyway.

Hmm, I suspect we may be wasting our collective breaths here...

Reply 274

basically, to sum everyone's post up is that, there are more pros than cons at oxbridge, however the main one we can all agree is that:

Spoiler

Reply 275

necessarily benevolent

im so academic

basically, to sum everyone's post up is that, there are more pros than cons at oxbridge, however the main one we can all agree is that:

Spoiler

Er, no, to be quite frank I wouldn't care less if I was rejected.

Reply 276

hobnob