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

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Mine is actually one on political philosophy- i'm not entirely sure this is what you want.

But if you've got £50- £200 to spare you can get ones which are soooo much better. Also, there is a Routledge one which i don't have but i have used it before and it was really good, and specifically just politics which is called Encyclopedia of Government and Politics. I imagine that would be fairly expensive too though.

Politipedia is quite entertaining, and to be fair informative in a trivial way, but i wouldn't recommend it as a staple text! But in all seriousness if sometimes you just want something light to pick away at and confirm your basic knowledge + some new stuff about UK politics i personally rather like it!
Thank you for all your suggestions. I think I will get Politics UK to prepare myself and probably a political encyclopedia which I am sure I will find useful!
Yes, I think I'm going to get Politcs UK as well...
Hey guys,

I'm just wondering if these A-Levels are okay if I decided I wanted to do PPE:

Maths
Further Maths
History
Philosophy

Would I be at much of a disadvantage for not taking Economics, even if it's been offered at my school? Thanks.
backintime
Hey guys,

I'm just wondering if these A-Levels are okay if I decided I wanted to do PPE:

Maths
Further Maths
History
Philosophy

Would I be at much of a disadvantage for not taking Economics, even if it's been offered at my school? Thanks.


Nah they're good!

Which will you drop? I'd recommend keeping Maths and History. Or will you take all 4?
backintime
Hey guys,

I'm just wondering if these A-Levels are okay if I decided I wanted to do PPE:

Maths
Further Maths
History
Philosophy

Would I be at much of a disadvantage for not taking Economics, even if it's been offered at my school? Thanks.


Sound fine to me, though I'd agree with pinkpenguin ^^^^ and say make sure you don't drop either Maths or History. Personally, I'd say that economics is probably more useful than philosophy for the course, but they're perfectly fine!
pinkpenguin
Nah they're good!

Which will you drop? I'd recommend keeping Maths and History. Or will you take all 4?

I want to take all 4 to A2! That's great to know they're ok though, thanks!

I pretty sure that I want to do Maths & Philosophy, but I just wanted to know if the PPE option would be open to me, if I decided I really wanted to actively pursue it.
backintime
I want to take all 4 to A2! That's great to know they're ok though, thanks!

I pretty sure that I want to do Maths & Philosophy, but I just wanted to know if the PPE option would be open to me, if I decided I really wanted to actively pursue it.


Yeah that's fine. You can do almost anything.

I have an offer for this September and I'm doing Maths, Biology and Politics A2 with Chemistry AS!

Not exactly specific subjects..
backintime
Hey guys,

I'm just wondering if these A-Levels are okay if I decided I wanted to do PPE:

Maths
Further Maths
History
Philosophy

Would I be at much of a disadvantage for not taking Economics, even if it's been offered at my school? Thanks.


They'll be more than fine for PPE, I did the same but without further maths.
So I received a matriculation offer which means that I would rather focus on whats coming up first year in Natural Sciences than my A levels. I really think my mathematics isn't up to scratch, and it wouldn't do me any harm to learn some extra physics as well.

So what I want to ask is directed at those who have been through the first year of Nat Sci Physics and done the full mathematics course in that first year. How can I prepare for the first year? Are there any textbooks you'd recommend which would introduce me to the kind of questions I will have to tackle? What topics are covered and what A level modules are particularly relevant? How can I make sure I bridge the gap between A levels and University?

Any help is much appreciated.
Make sure you know all the Core and FP modules inside out. Riley, Hobson and Bence (Mathematical methods for physicists and engineers) is the standard textbook for the course, so may well be worth having a look at that.
Hey everyone - this is a really fantastic thread, I'm in awe of the comprehensiveness of it! So many pages...I think it would take me the best part of a week to read through all of it lol

Anyway, I'm Year 11 and choosing my A-levels. I'm predicted all As and A*s and I'm really interested in doing PPE at university - politics, economics and philosophy are all such intriguing subjects (is it okay to have mere curiousity at the moment? I know very little about philosophy and economic theory at this present point in my life :s-smilie: although I plan to change this!) PPE at Oxford would therefore be a dream.

Basically, I'm definitely doing three A-levels that I like and am good at: Maths, English Literature and History.

I'm stuck on my last choice - it's a slog-out between Chemistry, Economics, German or Further Maths. I wouldn't mind doing any of these as my fourth, although I'm slightly leaning towards Chemistry. But I'm worried that not having Economics might disadvantage me when I get to UCAS and the interviews, especially if I want to do PPE. How necessary is it, and is Chemistry in any way a better option for such an application? Which subjects do you think make the most sensible/robust/most interesting/best combination?

In the meanwhile I'm off to practise articulating my opinions lol. From what I've read it seems to be required...!

Thanks in advance for any help :smile: It would be massively appreciated!
ich weiss nicht
Hey everyone - this is a really fantastic thread, I'm in awe of the comprehensiveness of it! So many pages...I think it would take me the best part of a week to read through all of it lol

Anyway, I'm Year 11 and choosing my A-levels. I'm predicted all As and A*s and I'm really interested in doing PPE at university - politics, economics and philosophy are all such intriguing subjects (is it okay to have mere curiousity at the moment? I know very little about philosophy and economic theory at this present point in my life :s-smilie: although I plan to change this!) PPE at Oxford would therefore be a dream.

Basically, I'm definitely doing three A-levels that I like and am good at: Maths, English Literature and History.

I'm stuck on my last choice - it's a slog-out between Chemistry, Economics, German or Further Maths. I wouldn't mind doing any of these as my fourth, although I'm slightly leaning towards Chemistry. But I'm worried that not having Economics might disadvantage me when I get to UCAS and the interviews, especially if I want to do PPE. How necessary is it, and is Chemistry in any way a better option for such an application? Which subjects do you think make the most sensible/robust/most interesting/best combination?

In the meanwhile I'm off to practise articulating my opinions lol. From what I've read it seems to be required...!

Thanks in advance for any help :smile: It would be massively appreciated!


Your 4th subject won't make much of a difference - Maths, English Lit and History are all very good choices for this application.

Personally? I would pick Chemistry. I did Chem last year and, despite it being hard, it was worth it. It doesn't really hamper your application as such; it may even enhance it as it shows you as a very well rounded student.

Economics isn't needed. You have maths, they will not be expecting any prior economic knowledge for interview if you did not study it/mention any specifics you learnt in your personal statement.

Hope this helps! I have an offer for 2009 entry, doing Maths, Biology and Politics A2 with Chemistry at AS; it shows you can apply with pretty much anything! :biggrin:
You could have a look at the NST workbook if you liked. But you'll probably get sent that eventually anyway.
You might also be able to find the pre-course maths sheet on the internet somewhere, but they should send you that after results day.

Edit: i.e. What Supermerp just posted.
ich weiss nicht
Hey everyone - this is a really fantastic thread, I'm in awe of the comprehensiveness of it! So many pages...I think it would take me the best part of a week to read through all of it lol

Anyway, I'm Year 11 and choosing my A-levels. I'm predicted all As and A*s and I'm really interested in doing PPE at university - politics, economics and philosophy are all such intriguing subjects (is it okay to have mere curiousity at the moment? I know very little about philosophy and economic theory at this present point in my life :s-smilie: although I plan to change this!) PPE at Oxford would therefore be a dream.

Basically, I'm definitely doing three A-levels that I like and am good at: Maths, English Literature and History.

I'm stuck on my last choice - it's a slog-out between Chemistry, Economics, German or Further Maths. I wouldn't mind doing any of these as my fourth, although I'm slightly leaning towards Chemistry. But I'm worried that not having Economics might disadvantage me when I get to UCAS and the interviews, especially if I want to do PPE. How necessary is it, and is Chemistry in any way a better option for such an application? Which subjects do you think make the most sensible/robust/most interesting/best combination?

In the meanwhile I'm off to practise articulating my opinions lol. From what I've read it seems to be required...!

Thanks in advance for any help :smile: It would be massively appreciated!


I did Economics (Eng Lit and Politics (Hist AS)), but I think it covered up my lack of maths knowledge so that was good :smile: . Personally I rather enjoyed economics, but I supposed it's really up to you. There's nothing wrong with doing chemistry. Though economics is much more of a doss :tongue:.

The only reason I'm incredibly glad I did economics A Level is because I found economics first year rather difficult, and my economic theory pulled me through. But as I said, it sounds like you're good at maths so you should be fine!

Forgive my rambling. I had two hours sleep and have already written a 3000 word essay today.
Vivisteiner
So I received a matriculation offer which means that I would rather focus on whats coming up first year in Natural Sciences than my A levels. I really think my mathematics isn't up to scratch, and it wouldn't do me any harm to learn some extra physics as well.

So what I want to ask is directed at those who have been through the first year of Nat Sci Physics and done the full mathematics course in that first year. How can I prepare for the first year? Are there any textbooks you'd recommend which would introduce me to the kind of questions I will have to tackle? What topics are covered and what A level modules are particularly relevant? How can I make sure I bridge the gap between A levels and University?

Any help is much appreciated.


Make sure you can remember complex numbers and calculus, series (especially series expansions) were helpful too. Complex numbers are important since they're a fairly large bit of physics (electrical) and calculus is everywhere. As I remember (bearing in mind I did P1-6 four years ago), I think it's basically FP1 and FP2 that you need to know.

Oh, and don't buy RHB until you get here. Your uni card will give you 20% off at the University Press bookshop, which is the cheapest you'll get it for a new copy I think. Alternatively, Heffer's/Amazon/current students may have a cheaper second-hand copy.
ich weiss nicht
Hey everyone - this is a really fantastic thread, I'm in awe of the comprehensiveness of it! So many pages...I think it would take me the best part of a week to read through all of it lol

Anyway, I'm Year 11 and choosing my A-levels. I'm predicted all As and A*s and I'm really interested in doing PPE at university - politics, economics and philosophy are all such intriguing subjects (is it okay to have mere curiousity at the moment? I know very little about philosophy and economic theory at this present point in my life :s-smilie: although I plan to change this!) PPE at Oxford would therefore be a dream.

Basically, I'm definitely doing three A-levels that I like and am good at: Maths, English Literature and History.

I'm stuck on my last choice - it's a slog-out between Chemistry, Economics, German or Further Maths. I wouldn't mind doing any of these as my fourth, although I'm slightly leaning towards Chemistry. But I'm worried that not having Economics might disadvantage me when I get to UCAS and the interviews, especially if I want to do PPE. How necessary is it, and is Chemistry in any way a better option for such an application? Which subjects do you think make the most sensible/robust/most interesting/best combination?

In the meanwhile I'm off to practise articulating my opinions lol. From what I've read it seems to be required...!

Thanks in advance for any help :smile: It would be massively appreciated!


Like the other two replies have said what you choose as your fourth As won't make any difference really to your application. Maths and history will both be useful, the rest is just down to what you're interested in doing, i.e. pick a subject you want to learn. From a personal point of view I'd have loved to have done a science at As but I chose a language (French) instead which I enjoyed even though I was terrible at it.:smile: As long as your show itnerest in current affairs and the like over the next year and so and you want to study PPE then it sounds like the course for you.
Thanks guys, it's really great to get your advice on this :biggrin:

Another question - my school offers something called the Economics Pre-U as well as Economics A-level. The Pre-U is a linear course much like the old Economics A-level and apparently the top unis look favourably on it. Would it be any advantage doing it, because I wondered if: a) it is better than Economics A-level in any way b) the course content might put me at any advantage for the UCAS or the PPE interview/course (it's more topically based and harde apparently) and c) it is a better option than choosing Chemistry A-level?

Still inclined towards Chemistry, but just wanted to double check these things. Sorry...paranoid me! Thanks :smile:
Kyle_S-C
Complex numbers are important since they're a fairly large bit of physics (electrical)
Dude, that's undertalking complex numbers quite a bit. Unless you just meant first year physics.

Complex numbers are everywhere. Now that I have a degree in Physics, it's like the matrix except with argand planes instead of funny green things.

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