TSA Section 1 2023 / Oxford E&M (2024 entry) thread

willf2206

1

how did everyone find it
I ran out of time and had to randomly guess for last 3/4

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Original post by willf2206

how did everyone find it
I ran out of time and had to randomly guess for last 3/4

Was it just me who found this years a lot harder than past papers? I usually have like ten-fifteen mins left but today I ran out of time.

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

Just finished it but guessed about 5. All the maths questions were time consuming and critical thinking wasn’t nice either - I normally don’t get many (if any) of the CT wrong. What a nightmare.

Reply 3

Anonymous #3

found the problem solving so time consuming. ran out of time and I dont usually do.

Reply 4

willf2206

OP

1

Original post by Anonymous

found the problem solving so time consuming. ran out of time and I dont usually do.

looking at past ones everyone has spare time on past papers but runs out of time on the real thing but to get an interview you can normally get like 15 wrong and still get one so no need to panic

Reply 5

emilya0470

1

For most problem solving qus I couldn't even get the answer :frown:

oh well we just have to wait and see

Reply 6

Anonymous #4

Critical Thinking was pretty good but the Problem Solving… it was so time consuming I had to guess 5 of them. This year was really tough, I’d go as far as saying it was the hardest TSA they’ve ever made.

Reply 7

Anonymous #3

the problem i found is that all the problem solving questions took alot of time, no quick ones so i fully had to guess 4 ah. I actually did last years tsa and i was not as pushed for time as this one.

Reply 8

Anonymous #3

what do you usually need to get for an e&m interview

Reply 9

emilya0470

1

Icl i'm so glad everyone found it equally as difficult

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 10

willf2206

OP

1

Original post by Anonymous

what do you usually need to get for an e&m interview

some people got one last year with 62 but also some didn't with 70 but if you get 70 you should get an interview

Reply 11

UnlawfulCarrot

1

Definitely harder than past papers. CT questions were alright apart from 1 of them I couldn't actually see an answer that made sense lol, so just picked the best-ish one. PS was a joke, didn't have time for the last 3. Not sure why the others took so long, must have been a nerves thing?

Reply 12

Anonymous #5

Original post by Anonymous

what do you usually need to get for an e&m interview

I would err on edge of caution with trying to set exact numbers but I agree with the person who replied first. You want a 70 to be pretty confident the TSA is not the factor that got your application brushed off. Blanket assumption though and does not include context & people with other circumstances etc... 34 or 35 marks I suppose would be the boundary, so if you're happy you think you got that you should be alright!

Reply 13

Anonymous #2

35 wont do it i think. Last year for 70 you needed 39...and the last non-covid year (online so cant compare) you needed 37. Also, if you dont have contextual flags you are likely to need a lot higher.

Reply 14

willf2206

OP

1

whats everyone's mark prediction like out of 50 not the curve score

Reply 15

willf2206

OP

1

Original post by Anonymous

35 wont do it i think. Last year for 70 you needed 39...and the last non-covid year (online so cant compare) you needed 37. Also, if you dont have contextual flags you are likely to need a lot higher.

but you dont actually need 70 for an interview most colleges lowest score for interview is around 65 without contextual flags

Reply 16

jamfina

5

I thought the critical thinking was harder than usual but the problem solving was easier and cause that’s usually my worst bit I finished with a few minutes to spare. I BOMBED the essay though, truly the worst thing I’ve ever written.