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

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Reply 4000
Avatar for Caerus
Caerus
sibilantsnape

The problem that I'm having is with choosing my A-Levels.

I'm not sure whether it is advisable to accomodate my A-Levels to the PPE course because there is every chance I won't get in considering only 19.4% of people have had successful applications over the last 3 years.

So should I take economics at A-Level?
And if I take economics will that look good on its own without me having to take a science as well?

This is what it is looking like so far:

Religious Studies or History
Philosophy
Psychology
Biology or Physics
Government & Politics
English Lit & Lang
Economics

At a push I'd drop RS/History if people thought it would be better to continue with a science as 7 A-Levels would probably be very impractical.

Thanks in advance


Firstly, if you want to do PPE, there is no real way to choose a perfect set of A-levels.

If you're hard-working enough to do 6/7 A-levels, you're hard-working enough to get an A at Maths, at least until As.

Perhaps just do 4/5 but read outside the subjects? After all Oxford are looking for rounded applicants as well as great academics

I would also like to raise a word of warning. I do humanities at AS, and it's not like GCSEs. You can't just breeze through the coursework, read the revision guide the day before then roll up to the exam and get an A*. It's a lot of more work and you have to be give lot more sophisticated awnsers in significantly more depth.

This is why I think you would be well advised not to over-do it and end up with 7 Bs instead of 3 A's.

With regards to the the subject choice, I think you should just do what you want. If you want to do the more advanced economics modules at degree A-level maths becomes a must, so you should consider this. At an Oxford access day it was also suggested that politics tutors are very keen for applicants to have History A-level, more so than to have politics and likewise Philosophy tutors would rather that you have Eng Lit, psychology or Maths than Philosophy.So I don't think it matters as long as you have good acedmic subjects.

This is the best advice I can give you, so if you're very worried, perhaps if you sift through the advice on the huge PPE thread you will find more (and better) advice.
to be honest, the most basic economics modules really require a-level maths. for the advanced ones, you'll want further, and the general abiilty to pick things up quickly.
I expect you've seen this page already?

Maths and history would seem to be a useful choice
starcarton
I highly doubt it, they will understand thay you are expected to take only 3 subjects and for oxford maths>philosophy any day, though to be fair either combo with a good ps and strong exam can get you an interview and that is where it counts, in fact your as will give you plenty to talk about.


:ditto:

Maths will most likely be more useful to you, should you get an offer.
OP, if you want to be considered seriously as a candidate for PPE, you'll need A2 maths.

DtS
Reply 4005
Avatar for d123
d123
17
I was considering PPE but as I don't do AS maths I decided against it.

I would personally suggest History, Maths or Economics, RS/Another essay subject, and then possibly a language or another essay subject.
My friend that does PPE now at Oxford (same class, but I'm on Gap Year) did, I believe, RS, History, Sociology and Politics.

Not Maths. But, that said, he said he found the Maths bit quite hard....
Derek_the_Sheep
OP, if you want to be considered seriously as a candidate for PPE, you'll need A2 maths.


Alright then, let me re-jig that:
OP, if you want to be considered seriously as a candidate for PPE, it will be a hell of a lot easier if you are studying A2 maths.

OK? DtS
Tipareth
My friend that does PPE now at Oxford (same class, but I'm on Gap Year) did, I believe, RS, History, Sociology and Politics.

Not Maths. But, that said, he said he found the Maths bit quite hard....


Isn't the main point that you're going to have to do maths as part of the Economics prelims paper, so if you're not good at maths you'll struggle with Economics generally?

I mean, if the OP couldn't get a grade A in A level maths, the odds that they can teach themselves the areas of A level maths required for the PPE course on top of all the other material in one year seem quite remote.

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, I know some people get in without A level maths, but there's a difference between not doing A level maths and having a degree of mathematical ability, and genuinely struggling with maths.
sibilantsnape
These are just ones I've considered initially. Why?

I suppose saying I'm terrible at maths is just me self-depreciating in comparison to the other subjects which I feel a lot more confident in. I get the grades but due to illness I miss a lot of maths lessons which means playing an awful lot of catch-up, and that's what puts me ill-at-ease with it. It's not that I don't enjoy the areas of it which are relevant to economics, I suppose.

You seem confident in your own abilities which is certainly a good thing. Others have advised you well and I doubt I would be able to add much. Bare in mind that 6 or 7 A Levels is nowhere near the norm for Oxford applicants and, to be blunt, the extra work required would not equal the benefit. You would be far better off reading extensively around the subject you are looking to study further and developing understanding and enjoyment from it.

Good luck with whatever you decide!
Reply 4010
Avatar for pf1
pf1
4
Andy the Anarchist
Isn't the main point that you're going to have to do maths as part of the Economics prelims paper, so if you're not good at maths you'll struggle with Economics generally?

I mean, if the OP couldn't get a grade A in A level maths, the odds that they can teach themselves the areas of A level maths required for the PPE course on top of all the other material in one year seem quite remote.

Maybe I'm just being overly cynical, I know some people get in without A level maths, but there's a difference between not doing A level maths and having a degree of mathematical ability, and genuinely struggling with maths.


Exactly. Well put. And the best way of showing you have the mathematical ability to cope with the first year economics modules is ... to do A-level maths.
sibilantsnape

This is what it is looking like so far:

Religious Studies or History
Philosophy
Psychology
Biology or Physics
Government & Politics
English Lit & Lang
Economics
Mathematics


:yep:
Reply 4012
Avatar for Sariya
Sariya
11
sibilantsnape
Hi all,

I really, really want to do PPE at Oxford - always have - and am aware that you can discontinue with one of the three after the first year of study. This, for me, would definitely be economics as my main interest areas are politics & philosophy.

The problem that I'm having is with choosing my A-Levels.
I'm afraid that having all humanities is going to be a setback and have decided to choose either biology, physics or economics to study as well. The problem is (if I'm honest) I am only interested in physics out of the three (but I'm terrible at maths!) and my ex-boyfriend put me off economics telling me it was tedious as he dropped out of his economics degree at university.

I'm not sure whether it is advisable to accomodate my A-Levels to the PPE course because there is every chance I won't get in considering only 19.4% of people have had successful applications over the last 3 years.

So should I take economics at A-Level?
And if I take economics will that look good on its own without me having to take a science as well?

This is what it is looking like so far:

Religious Studies or History
Philosophy
Psychology
Biology or Physics
Government & Politics
English Lit & Lang
Economics

At a push I'd drop RS/History if people thought it would be better to continue with a science as 7 A-Levels would probably be very impractical.

Thanks in advance

I got an offer from Lincoln College to read PPE last year with Biology, Chemistry, and Computing as my A-Levels.

English Literature at AS.

I didn't declare a single module grade- heck- I just got an A at GCSE Maths.

During interviews, I didn't really get any mathematical questions per se- a couple of basic "interpret this graph" questions, but nothing post-basic statistics. It drew from 20th Century History more than anything else- although I made quite a fuss over my interest in that in my personal statement.

Bear in mind that so long as you get a reasonable score on the PPE Entry Test, and have a decent personal statement, you'll be pretty much guaranteed an interview.

Once that's done, it's down to you. You could give Lincoln a try, I suppose- you might end up with the same sort of interview. Most of the other applicants I talked to had a similar experience.

As for the A-Levels? Have one amongst them, at least to AS, that involves essay writing of some degree- along with a vaguely scientific/mathematical/economic(!) subject. So long as you have some degree of essay writing/dealing with data in your A-Levels.
Don't feel compelled to go for something you don't feel you can get As/A*s in just to impress the selectors- they take a decent number of non-Humanities/Social Science students every year. In fact, about half of the PPEists at Oxford I've run into didn't take Maths beyond GCSE level- they accommodate that, and put you into a different learning stream through the first year- once you hit Year 2, you can drop Economics right off- whilst being at the same level as students who dropped it at AS or higher.

All that matters is that you get the As/A*s- past that, it's down to your application.
Don't bother with seven A-Levels- you'll be shooting yourself in the foot. If they're going to give you a PPE offer, they won't care if you have four superfluous A-Level Grades.
Just do three! Believe me- you do not want to end up in my position of missing your offer once you have it thanks to drowning in delayed work catching up with you when you can afford it least. Horrible, horrible feeling to have missed something that wonderful.

Best of luck!
AirRaven


All that matters is that you get the As/A*s- past that, it's down to your application.
Don't bother with seven A-Levels- you'll be shooting yourself in the foot. If they're going to give you a PPE offer, they won't care if you have four superfluous A-Level Grades.
Just do three! Believe me- you do not want to end up in my position of missing your offer once you have it thanks to drowning in delayed work catching up with you when you can afford it least. Horrible, horrible feeling to have missed something that wonderful.

Best of luck!


Thank you very much for all of what you said - I will take it into account. It'll be either a science OR economics, and if I decide on taking both then I'll just have to begrudgingly drop Religious Studies (or one of the Politics&Gvmt/History/Psychology three). The decision may get easier over time.
I don't want to take any more than six, and I know it may sound excessive but I am well aware of the workload as a few of my friends are taking 5/6 AS/A levels. One was doing 7 but found history too heavy/time consuming and thus dropped it.
^It wouldn't be six purely for the sake of it btw, it would be because I thoroughly enjoy studying the subjects. The only accomodations I feel I would have to make for the PPE course would be studying science/economics (which could turn out to be a small sacrifice to make).

I'm very appreciative of everyone's contributions and well-wishes :-)
Reply 4014
Avatar for Sariya
Sariya
11
sibilantsnape
It wouldn't be six purely for the sake of it btw, it would be because I thoroughly enjoy studying the subjects.

In which case, ignore everything I said about the number of subjects.

I did five in Year 12, and the workload wasn't bad at all- the extra was an internal course. I could easily have crammed in a bit more.
I just slipped a little in Year 13- coinciding with the workload jump, that was rather unfortunate, in hindsight. I lost all interest in my chosen subjects- since I'd taken the decision to go for PPE at that point, I just ceased to care.

If you genuinely do love all of those subjects, go right ahead- a couple of extra grades can't hurt your application, so long as you have the enthusiasm and talent to back them up.

I would, however, suggest grabbing some copies of the Oxford TSA specimen papers- that's the benchmark that'll decide whether you get offered an interview or not, beyond your personal statement. Don't feel horrified if you're getting sub-70%- it's meant to be difficult. The mean grade's around 60%, I'd say- and they only use it to eliminate the lower 20% of Applicants.
If that's a bit shabby, I'd suggest working on your logic and critical thinking skills. It's conceivably possible to prepare for, to a certain degree- more than worth a go.
I haven't read any of the replies, but here's my advice:

Don't go 7 A levels. 5 at most, I would say.

Out of religious studies and history, go for history.
Philosophy is respected, by not necessary.
Same goes for government and politics.
Psychology, biology and physics aren't very related.
English literature > English lang. and lit. > English language.
Economics would be useful.
Mathematics would be useful.

In my opinion, you should take:
Maths
Economics
History
English lit
Philosophy*

* - optional.

In fact, as a 5th I would actually recommend further maths AS, but I think you'd flat at refuse to do that!

Maths A level is not hard. The vast majority of people who complain about it are people who got As/A*s at GCSEs with next to no work, and lets face it, that hardly shows any ability in maths.
There is little work to do, and you can just do past papers and reproduce solutions from memory in the exams, if you're that bad at it.

If you really struggle with maths, you won't be able to handle the economics element of the course, so it's not for you.
sibilantsnape
Interesting - I asked a few people on Facebook and they all seem to think English Lit is preferable than the combined. May I ask you why you selected lit by itself?


Eng Lang isn't as respected, Universities respect English Literature much more. Most Universities say Eng Lang & Lit is acceptable if Eng Lit isn't offered on its own, however it if it, it's advisable to take the more respected option - otherwise it will count as a minor negative on your application.
Reply 4017
Avatar for 130ss
130ss
2
take: maths, history, FM, economics, philosophy
Reply 4018
Avatar for Sariya
Sariya
11
sibilantsnape
Ah, the TSA was what I had forgotten to mention. I downloaded the PDF a while ago and got around 75% on it which you've now given some meaning to :-). I had already resolved a while ago to improve my logic skills and have sought out a couple of books which are currently residing on the dining room table - yes, I know - put them to better use!
The Essay section of the paper's significantly more important now- I got my offer when samples of written work were required during application. 30 Minutes to write an essay's a frustratingly short margin- I'd suggest practicing organising your ideas on the spot- even if you're a talented writer.
I just let rip with a stream of babble- I'm amazed I even got a glance last time.

sibilantsnape
I am very passionate about the subjects but it's English that I'm losing rapid interest in, funnily enough. GCSE English Lit is fundamentally regurgitating what reputed critics have said before you. In my experience original interpretations detract from an A*
*frown*
A-Level English Literature's more of the same, I'm afraid. You have slightly more scope, but that comes with the massive downside of your having to memorise the texts, what with your not being permitted to take any Shakespeare into the exam.

You do have marginally more scope, be the way I was taught it at AS was nothing more than the going through each text at an agonising pace, whilst the teacher pointed out every single common interpretation in a monotonous voice. Killed all sense of enthusiasm.
I have added a comprehensive explanation of doing the TSA tests - particularly the multiple choice - I'll explain more on the written section at a later date. Hope it helps.

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