Oxford PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) Students and Applicants

The PPE Test

The new PPE admissions test (to be known as TSA Oxford from 2008, as it will also be sat by Economics and Management applicants) replaced the old test, which used to take place during interviews, in 2007 (there is now no test at interview). It is taken by in late October / November (November 5th 2008 for the next cycle), and candidates sit in in their own centres. If you are an applicant, you need to make sure that you have been entered for the test.

The test lasts two hours and has two components; a ninety minute, fifty question multiple choice section known as a "Thinking Skills Assessment", and a thirty minute writing task. The former is marked externally by Cambridge Assessment, who then pass a score onto Oxford, which you will then receive some time after you have had a decision on your application. The latter is marked internally by Oxford, and you will not necessarily receive feedback on it. Those in the 2009 applications round will not be required to submit written work, so the writing task in the test will be Oxford's main gauge of your ability to write.

Further information on the TSA Oxford, including a practice paper, can be found on the website here. Bear in mind that there is only one practice paper available, so it would probably be a good idea to wait until reasonably close to the test date before trying it. An explanation of Thinking Skills Assessment scoring (from the 2007 test) can be found here. As you can see, you will be given three scores, one for Problem Solving, one for Critical Thinking, and an overall score. A score of “60” is expected from “typical applicants”, whilst “70 represents a comparatively high score and only a few very exceptional applicants will achieve scores higher than 80”. These scores, however, are not raw percentages, so don't get too excited if you score highly on the practice test! The questions are weighted, taking into account their difficulty. To give you a rough idea of the ballpark, I (Budgie) scored 44/50 on the practice paper, and went on to achieve an overall score of 72.1 in the actual test. However, this is only a rough guide, as every paper will be different depending on its difficulty (just as with UMS conversion at A level).

In the 2008 round, as the test was new, scores were only used for selection post-interview. From the 2009 round onwards, I understand it will also be used to deselect candidates pre-interview (although cannot currently find a source to prove this). As written work is no longer required, the writing task can also be viewed as comparatively more important than last year.

Preliminary Reading
The first thing to know about preliminary reading is: don't go over the top! There is no need to read hundreds and hundreds of books. Tutors are more interested in how you think than what you know. It is a good idea to read some books and to mention them on your personal statement, in order to demonstrate your interest and passion in the subject. But there is no need to try to teach yourself the course before you get there! Another thing to note is that it is probably better to go for depth rather than breadth. Any books you do mention on your personal statement could come up at interview, so you should know them well and be able to discuss them! It is therefore better to have read two or three books thoroughly than have a passing knowledge of ten. Remember, you should be prepared to discuss these books with a world expert in the field, so you are unlikely to be able to wing it!

Another point here is that it is far from necessary to read original texts. You can if you want, but again remember that you are likely to study these as part of the course anyway, and they will be books that the tutors really know! If you are new to the subjects, it would be far wiser to go for an introduction to them that to jump head first into Plato.

My recommendation for books would be:



Whilst Jesus College helpfully provides a list of suggested preliminary reading for applicants;

Thank you, PM'ed you.

Okay, I guess even the person at the admissions department told me it was much more important to do subjects I enjoy rather than those that will help me get into PPE (to an extend obviously) but I just keep thinking that 2 of my 4 subjects I definitely will enjoy and find interesting, the third (English Lit.) maybe not, but it is something at least I can do well on, it shouldn't really be so much of a big deal to kind of do one subject I hate, especially considering I had to study a lot of subjects I hated for at least 6/7 years!

Again, I'm in a similar situation, I hate maths, but I just can't see myself doing any other degree!

I read somewhere (possibly in this thread) that you can get asked mathematical questions in interviews sometimes, that in itself worries me a lot, considering I'd only have GCSE maths!

Thank you! I've repped you for all the help, I'm afraid it has no power, but it's the thought that counts..

If you dislike an A-level choice, you can always change it in the first few weeks (I did - I swapped English Language for Philosophy).

As for interview, I wasn't asked any particularly mathematical questions. Bear in mind that this was getting on 3 years ago though! Economics wise, I had to interpret a graph in the interview, and in the (now heavily changed, I believe) written test just do basic arithmetic.

I think it'd be very unfair if they asked you a mathematical question you'd have no chance of answering if you didn't have A-level. That's not to say it doesn't happen though ... maybe it does.

How do we know which professors will come abroad and interview us?

Eep. I've just had a bit of an ommmgggzz I'm not getting in anywhere moment .

Is it just me that finds philosophy reading the hardest? Unless it's political philosophy or moral philosophy I just confuse myself. It's not that I don't understand what they're saying, but it's difficult trying to get an objective view on anything because every philosopher seems to have some crazy theory that they want to convince you of. Then there's me just sitting there like bugger off I've never heard of you*, you're probably making this up!


*I realise that the list of philosophers I have heard of isn't that long but still.

Hey PPE people, how we all done? Got the necessary grades?
(I know there are official threads but I can't be bothered to sort through to find all the PPE ones :P)

Yeah. I think I might end up doing Maths now. It's annoying, because I really did look forward to Economics. The other alternative is to swap it with English Lit. but I think English would be quite useful for me too. Or, I could do Maths out of school with a tutor, but then that might be too much.