Advice Re: All Souls Exam?

Incoming master's student here, thinking of sitting the All Souls exam. My college accommodation doesn't start till the 6th of October, so I'd have to pay another roughly two weeks' rent in order to sit it. Probably not the wisest financial investment one could make, but the potential payoff is just so mouth-watering, that I have to wonder: is it worth moving to Oxford a bit early in order to sit them? Is there anyone here that sat them (or, better yet, won a fellowship) and can provide advice on the exam? I've tried to look online for tips, but it's so niche and unique that there's basically nothing. Is it worth spending the intervening time studying, or should I try and enjoy what's left of possibly my last stress-free summer, which will presumably end during and beyond postgrad study?

Reply 1

Stiffy Byng

I took the All Souls exam three months after completing my degree in Modern History at Oxford. I did no preparation. I failed. A member of my college prepared for the exam by signing up for an MPhil and then spending two years in the Bodleian reading everything. He was awarded a Prize Fellowship. The exam is super hard. Read, read, read.

Reply 2

Bargeman

Fair play to anyone who even dares sit it. Im my era I think you had to be invited to sit it and that involved coming more or less top in Finals. No sleepless nights for me agonising over it. Good luck to anyone doing it.

Reply 3

Bargeman

Original post by Bargeman

Lots of info on their FAQ page. It's changed a lot.

https://www.asc.ox.ac.uk/frequently-asked-questions

Reply 4

Stiffy Byng

Original post by Bargeman

My tutor wrote me a letter after the results of my Final Honour School were published, saying "Dear Stiffy, excellent First, eighth in the University. Why don't you have a crack at All Souls?".

I had been drunk in London for most of the summer, but went back to Oxford in September and sat in the Codrington Library in sub fusc. I wrote some history papers which were like the ones I had just done but harder. The essay paper (three hours) simply said "Self-Deception". I wish that I had written "Thinking I can pass this bloody exam" and left.

I was viva'd by a room full of Fellows, including David Pannick, who would be my first pupil master two years later. Even he had taken two goes to get in. They asked me about jury trials in serious fraud cases. I knew nothing of that. I sat next to Lord Neill the Warden at dinner. We had duck with cherries.

And that was that. The only exam I ever failed. I got to join an illustrious club of All Souls rejects. Anyone who says that they are not still a bit bothered about failing the exam is fibbing!

Reply 5

Spailpín

Original post by Stiffy Byng

Ah, I didn't realise that you could take the exams the September after you finish your postgrad. Does that just apply to one-year master's? I'm on a two-year course. I think the following is saying that that would be possible:
"You are eligible to apply for the 2024 Examination Fellowship if:
...you have successfully completed your first degree not more than seven terms before the relevant election, i.e. no earlier than Summer 2022."
For the 2026 exams, the relevant date would be Summer 2024, and I've just finished it now in Summer 2024, so it's not before then—right? (If I've got this wrong, maybe that'll be a sign that I shouldn't sit for it...)

Original post by Stiffy Byng

My tutor wrote me a letter after the results of my Final Honour School were published, saying "Dear Stiffy, excellent First, eighth in the University. Why don't you have a crack at All Souls?".
I had been drunk in London for most of the summer, but went back to Oxford in September and sat in the Codrington Library in sub fusc. I wrote some history papers which were like the ones I had just done but harder. The essay paper (three hours) simply said "Self-Deception". I wish that I had written "Thinking I can pass this bloody exam" and left.
I was viva'd by a room full of Fellows, including David Pannick, who would be my first pupil master two years later. Even he had taken two goes to get in. They asked me about jury trials in serious fraud cases. I knew nothing of that. I sat next to Lord Neill the Warden at dinner. We had duck with cherries.
And that was that. The only exam I ever failed. I got to join an illustrious club of All Souls rejects. Anyone who says that they are not still a bit bothered about failing the exam is fibbing!

Hah! The self-deception thing reminds me of a story I came across while looking into All Souls: an Oxford interviewee is asked "What is bravery?". He promptly writes "This is" and hands it in.

Still, well done on getting to the viva, at least. Maybe something has changed since whenever you sat the exams, but I thought the viva is only supposed to ask you about what you wrote in your answers, so I'm a bit surprised that they'd ask you something you know nothing on. Hopefully the dinner was nice. Any tips on getting to the viva, at least?

Reply 6

Stiffy Byng

I took the exam the September after finishing my undergraduate degree. The better course would have been to sign up for a postgraduate course and take the exam a year or two after Schools.

The dinner was tense. I had dined at All Souls once before, with one of my tutors who was a Fellow of the college. But sitting next to Lord Neill KC was a bit daunting. I can't remember much about the exam questions or the viva. Since then, I have once been back to the Codrington Library to research a point, and I went to my tutors' son's wedding in the college (he was a colleague in my chambers). I briefly thought of applying for a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls about two years ago, after doing some lecturing at an undergraduate college, but I sensibly decided against it.