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

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Buffyboy
Would the candidates that are reallocated be reallocated during or before the 3 day interview period?


Probably not is half right, some are reallocated before the interview process, and some during it. I'd imagine there are people who might be reallocated multiple times before and during the interview period.
i'm trying to distinguish "reallocated" and "pooled": "reallocated" means that the primary college that deals with you (and definitely interviews you, and maybe sorts out your interviews elsewhere) changes; "pooled" means you get sent to an interview outside your primary college.
probably not
i'm trying to distinguish "reallocated" and "pooled": "reallocated" means that the primary college that deals with you (and definitely interviews you, and maybe sorts out your interviews elsewhere) changes; "pooled" means you get sent to an interview outside your primary college.


Fair enough.
Reply 3823
Anyone else think the probablility questions in past papers are a lot easier than those on the other topics? (Maths A/B)
I like the Qs on taylor series, lagrange multipliers and fourier series. Dont like probability much, but yeah some of the Qs are quite easy!
It might just be a result of which past papers you're looking at but I think generally if you're happy doing the probability stuff it's a good one to go for. Possibly lots of people are turned off because those questions are often just walls of text and you have to be careful that you're interpreting it properly, whereas 'find the fourier series of [manky thing]' is straightforward.

I have no idea how you can like Taylor series and Lagrange multipliers. Taylor series questions in particular are the most irritating ones of all!
Reply 3826
Out of curiosity did anyone actually get offers with predicted/actual grades of AAB?

Also actually, i hear M Harris if the worst college, but would you still go to it?
Reply 3827
Urgh, taylor series are awful, will definitely be avoiding them. Half of them seem to involve finding the series about a point where the function isn't defined, which I didn't think was even allowed. Lagrange multiplier questions are normally fairly routine IMO, and fourier series are ok as long as I don't do something stupid (which is every time...)
Scipio90
Urgh, taylor series are awful, will definitely be avoiding them. Half of them seem to involve finding the series about a point where the function isn't defined, which I didn't think was even allowed.

In those cases the limiting value of the function is/should be defined, so finding the Taylor series is still something you might want to do (like finding the shape of sinx/x around the origin). For those questions though it can take like 5 applications of L'Hopital's rule to work out what the limiting value is and often it's a lot easier to use Taylor series of parts of the function (like expanding all the sinxs or using the binomial expansion) and find it that way.

Doing that means you have to intuit/guess what order in x you need to keep though, which can get irritating if you get it wrong and then have to go back putting 7th order terms in.
Reply 3829
Supermerp
Doing that means you have to intuit/guess what order in x you need to keep though, which can get irritating if you get it wrong and then have to go back putting 7th order terms in.


Yeah, that's the bit I find most annoying.
lmfao
Out of curiosity did anyone actually get offers with predicted/actual grades of AAB?

Also actually, i hear M Harris if the worst college, but would you still go to it?


A person on TSR got accepted to Cambridge politics(SPS) with AAC so it happens
Reply 3831
hi I was just wondering what exactly do many students who study natural sciences at cambridge actually do after their degree. I know that there are many many different options but what precisely do students studying plan to do? Thank you
Soloman
hi I was just wondering what exactly do many students who study natural sciences at cambridge actually do after their degree. I know that there are many many different options but what precisely do students studying plan to do? Thank you


Continue with research, work in pharmaceuticals/technology companies/defence companies, work in finance, do law conversions, start their own businesses, work as a consultant. They'd be pretty typical of most natsci graduates I think.
Reply 3833
How impossible is getting into PPE at Oxford? Some tips? What should I be doing now!
It's at the top of the page as well:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=109491
Reply 3835
I will be doing A2 next year and the subjects i am keeping are Maths and History (that is a definite). I want to drop either Lit or Business Studies. I was thinking, if i dropped Literature, would having Business Studies considerably lower my chances getting into PPE becase of its "dos" level. What did you guys take at A2? Were some doss subjects?

ty
Could anyone possibly recommend a useful pre-interview philosophy book to get one up to scratch with the basics? And does Oxford see re-takes? Thanks very much in advance :-)
lmfao
I will be doing A2 next year and the subjects i am keeping are Maths and History (that is a definite). I want to drop either Lit or Business Studies. I was thinking, if i dropped Literature, would having Business Studies considerably lower my chances getting into PPE becase of its "dos" level. What did you guys take at A2? Were some doss subjects?

ty


I'm not sure how much Business will hamper your application, probably hardly at all, but having Literature would certainly be a bonus. History, Lit and Maths are probably quite common as a combination. I'd say it's up to you, but seriously consider keeping Lit over Business.

I have an offer for Oct with Biology, Maths and Politics.
Reply 3838
pinkpenguin
I'm not sure how much Business will hamper your application, probably hardly at all, but having Literature would certainly be a bonus. History, Lit and Maths are probably quite common as a combination. I'd say it's up to you, but seriously consider keeping Lit over Business.

I have an offer for Oct with Biology, Maths and Politics.


well done. What GCSE's did you get by the way?
lmfao
well done. What GCSE's did you get by the way?


7A* 3A

There were people there with better ones. GCSEs aren't stupidly important either. They just want a reasonably good spread that's all.

It's more about your PS and what they think of you at interview. :smile:

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