Advice for Year 12 applying for Oxford chemistry

Hello, I think this makes a lot of sense! Is there an example interview scenario and how it should be applied? 🤔BTW I'm also wondering about the 30 percent of applicants who get rejected pre-interview. What could be off in a personal statement?

I would look for practice interview questions, such as the ones accessible through the link on reply #9 to this thread. Once you have accessed the thread linked, go to reply #1 - the organic question given is a brilliant example of a mid-interview style question where they would expect you to apply what you’ve learnt at A level to solve an undergraduate level question. You will also find solutions to the example questions on that thread to see what sorts of answers might be expected.
There is an admissions criteria for chemistry at Oxford and it is possible that in the cases of most pre-interview rejects that they have failed to demonstrate enough of these skills. Reply #15 on this thread has the aforementioned set of criteria listed on it and so finding ways to demonstrate you have these skills with your supercurriculars is a must.
There are also quite a few people who apply with weaker GCSEs than would be expected and with A level predictions below the entry requirements. These applicants are most likely to fail to cross the first hurdle

I had no idea it was possible to apply with lower entry requirements 🫨I thought UCAS would have a filter!

Since 70 percent of applicants get called in for interviews, I'm wondering (as chem has such high requirements on the first place) which applications would get rejected at all?

I would look for practice interview questions, such as the ones accessible through the link on reply #9 to this thread. Once you have accessed the thread linked, go to reply #1 - the organic question given is a brilliant example of a mid-interview style question where they would expect you to apply what you’ve learnt at A level to solve an undergraduate level question. You will also find solutions to the example questions on that thread to see what sorts of answers might be expected.
There is an admissions criteria for chemistry at Oxford and it is possible that in the cases of most pre-interview rejects that they have failed to demonstrate enough of these skills. Reply #15 on this thread has the aforementioned set of criteria listed on it and so finding ways to demonstrate you have these skills with your supercurriculars is a must.
There are also quite a few people who apply with weaker GCSEs than would be expected and with A level predictions below the entry requirements. These applicants are most likely to fail to cross the first hurdle

Thank you, this is all amazing help! Would you say most Oxford December interviewees start preparing this soon? Or would you say it’s fine to leave it until a bit later down the line when it’s confirmed you’ve got one?

I’m probably guessing a poor personal statement (pretty sure Oxford doesn’t judge much on them although they may ask a question on it as a starter based on applicant experiences) or inconsistent past exam performances (e.g. if someone got below a 5 in GCSE chemistry and maths but was predicted an A* now possibly??).

A law Don at my college tells me that he and his colleagues use the interviews mainly to winnow out candidates who may look good on paper but do not appear to respond well to the Oxford tutorial, and in some cases to see if a candidate who has maybe fluffed the LNAT but is otherwise impressive can shine when interviewed and be admitted. They try to take account of nerves. He was at Cambridge earlier in his career and says that the approach at Cambridge was much the same. I would not be surprised if tutors in most disciplines take a similar approach.

It’s hard to know exactly when the interviewees start, but I would say now is the best time to start preparing if you haven’t already.
Olympiad past papers, practice interview questions and teaching others aspects of A level chemistry can all be done now. These are probably the best methods you have at your disposal and the sooner you start, the more accustomed to thinking out loud you’ll become.

Recently, I’ve managed to find an online partner with undergraduate chemistry experience to talk to so hopefully I can get my communication skills up by then!

Since interviews are usually in December, we would typically not have covered the majority of year 13 A2 content by then (at least for my school). Will the interview likely be an application of AS content or it’s expected as an applicant to cover extra? I have taken a good look at the organic question on reply #9 and am still unsure whether year 1 chemistry knowledge only is enough to derive the answer. Thanks again for all your help!

would you say it's essential to learn year 13 chemistry content for the interview?
also, what is the best way to prepare for the interview? i am planning on doing one olympiad paper per week- is this enough?

would you say it's essential to learn year 13 chemistry content for the interview?
also, what is the best way to prepare for the interview? i am planning on doing one olympiad paper per week- is this enough?

There are things I would make the effort to learn from the year 13 part of the course before interviews. For chemistry, these would be the thermodynamics (entropy particularly), kinetics (rate equations, Arrhenius) and carbonyl chemistry (nucleophilic addition and nucleophilic addition-elimination). I would also make sure you know your ordinary A level pure maths from both years 1 and 2 as these topics can crop up a lot.

The above are things that are more challenging to work out without prior exposure to them.

Olympiad past papers are excellent practice, though I did these in conjunction with explaining concepts from chemistry to less familiar classmates so as to get familiar with thinking out loud.

Oh and I forgot to mention aromatics - study those, too!

Hi, thanks so much for your reply! I’ve recently just finished school, DofE and I’m abroad currently so I’ve haven’t been on TSR for a while. I think the main area that I would like to focus on is the interview process; I’ve heard that because they don’t have an admissions exam for chemistry, it has the heaviest weighting in receiving an offer. Also, around 80% of applicants will receive an interview invitation. I’ve made a Google document that has a wide variety of topics which has come up in interviews from people who’ve had them (not specific questions as I know they’re not allowed to share) so I know what to look out for. I really appreciate your help!!

There are things I would make the effort to learn from the year 13 part of the course before interviews. For chemistry, these would be the thermodynamics (entropy particularly), kinetics (rate equations, Arrhenius) and carbonyl chemistry (nucleophilic addition and nucleophilic addition-elimination). I would also make sure you know your ordinary A level pure maths from both years 1 and 2 as these topics can crop up a lot.
The above are things that are more challenging to work out without prior exposure to them.
Olympiad past papers are excellent practice, though I did these in conjunction with explaining concepts from chemistry to less familiar classmates so as to get familiar with thinking out loud.

Thank youu!
Are there any specific A Level Maths topics which come up more?
Also, are you currently studying at Oxford?

Would you be penalised if you don’t learn any of this? Also, would you say most applicants learn all this before their interview?
It sound stressful trying to learn all this alone

Thank youu!
Are there any specific A Level Maths topics which come up more?
Also, are you currently studying at Oxford?