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

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Reply 5920

n_251

something like maths, history, economics, philosophy? politics as a 5th?

Reply 5921

saajan_92

Here's what I would do, in order of importance:
1. Maths
2. History
3. Further Maths
4. Politics
5. Philosophy
6. Economics

Obvs dont do english language or business, but Econ & Politics is seen as a relatively softer subject (than Maths/History etc) so avoid these if you can bear doing harder subjects (thats why econ is never a required subject for any degree, inc straight enconomics - you would be better of doing the more traditional subjects, and showing your interest in PPE through further reading etc.

Reply 5922

TimmonaPortella

Maths
FM
History
Economics
Philosophy.

!!

Reply 5923

vms1993

I'd say Philosophy and Maths...maybe even History!

Reply 5924

definado

Original post by doivid

I don't think this is right. On the website Oxford list Maths and History as helpful and don't mention any of the first 3 you recommend. Just because the subject is in the degree doesn't mean that they recommend it at A level (eg Law).

I have no doubt that having a good grounding of the three subjects is one of the single most easy things to do to gain a slight advantage at interview :smile:

History is a winner.

Don't do Philosophy. That's my advice. I've looked at some A level Philosophy specs and they don't look very rigorous, and I don't think it would help really. It certainly wouldn't advantage an application any more than reading a couple of philosophy books would.

Econ. and politics are a bit better, though neither's necessary. Maths, although not a must, is VERY helpful, as lots of people struggle with the maths in econ., even if they did A level. History is well-respected, as is English lit. (NOT language, as somebody above pointed out, though the joint lit. and lang. course isn't too bad). I don't want to be prescriptive, because you really should do subjects you find interesting, rather than picking for the course, but if you know you want to do PPE then maths and history are your best bets, and are really good for any course anyway.

Reply 5927

TsarinaMeg

Anyone hearing anything regarding interviews? The engineering and law kids at cambridge have started receiving theirs...

Reply 5928

sophiejay692

Maths
History
Physics
Economics
Further Maths

Chinese Mandarin- not done within school

Is this a good A Level combination for PPE (preferably at Oxford)?

I'm unsure whether to take Physics or Chemistry, however I'm inclined towards choosing Physics due to having a truly excellent teacher. Which Science would maximise my chances?

Thanks!

Reply 5929

ily_em

I doubt picking either would make a difference as they're not related to PPE! Go for physics if the teacher is better.

Reply 5930

JIRAIYA-ERO-SENNIN

everything is fine, there should be no problems getting an interview if you do well at the TSA exam. you might find it expedient to jettison physics for another humanities or social science subject. doing politics or philosophy might add to your base-knowledge, which will help at the interview stage; but you don't have to.

Reply 5931

TsarinaMeg

Original post by sophiejay692

YES! They're probably the best combination, imo. If only I had chosen to do F.Maths- I always thought only people pursuing science/maths/IT degrees would need it and never bothered.
I would strongly advise you, however, to narrow down your subject range in your A2 year. Better A*s in 4 than As in 6. Obviously, ignore that statement if you're confident of 6 A*s .

Reply 5932

Poppyxx

Original post by madferit-lfc

Hello. I am interesting in studying PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Oxford but I am not sure which subjects to study for A level. I definitely would like to do Politics and Economics but I am not sure about the remaining two. It would be out of Philosophy, Mathematics, Business Studies, and maybe English Language. Can I please have some advice on which would help me the best? Thank you.

Don't do Economics, Politics and Philosophy as 3 of the 4

It's too obvious and there's no point.

Doing all three won't help in interview - I only did Economics as an A Level, but even what I knew from that had little relevance to my questions

I'm not convinced Philosophy A Level is a worthwhile cause - only one person doing PPE at my college did it, and we blasted through what she spent the best part of a year on in two tutorials. Not worth it.

Definitely do Maths if you're confident - I think I few colleges are actually demanding it now.

History is always strong. I'm not sure if there's any conflict about doing that and Politics... does anyone know?!

If not History, pick English Lit

Out of Politics, Phil and Econ A Levels - Econ is the toughest and more strenuous

As above posters have said - AVOID BUSINESS AND ENG LANG if you want to maximise your chances

At the end of the day, you're going to need at least AAA (maybe A* by your year) so you need to pick the most academic subjects you can get that in

Oh I'm first year PPE at Oxford and I did History, Maths, Economics and German at A Level

Reply 5933

ScroobiusBrit

Original post by London Prophet

I was reading through this and just disagreed with a lot of this.

I didn't know anyone who encountered logic questions or game theory. Nor would they expect you to "know" how to do them. If you do they are likley to change the topic to find something you didn't know well. They want to know how you think not what you know.

Writing 1500-5000 word essays is ridiculous. I would think it suspect for a "normal school work piece" to have written a 5,000 word essay. One of my essays was 800 words, which was fine. The other was 2,200 which i feel was more than what was necessary.

You're also going to have to give reasons why Durham's PPE course is poor before advising people to go there.

I'm in my first year at Hertford College studying PPE. In my economics interview our questions were based on game theory. I hadn't studied it, but it's easy enough to figure out...

Reply 5934

miike1234

Original post by TsarinaMeg

Anyone hearing anything regarding interviews? The engineering and law kids at cambridge have started receiving theirs...

PPEists normally hear back on the 27th or 28th November

Reply 5935

London Prophet

Original post by ScroobiusBrit

I'm in my first year at Hertford College studying PPE. In my economics interview our questions were based on game theory. I hadn't studied it, but it's easy enough to figure out...

Weirdly I can't remember why I posted that - my first question at interview WAS game theory related (I think when I wrote the guide I still associated game theory with just the prisoner's dilemma)

Reply 5936

AnamAfridi

Original post by Teebs

Don't worry about it. You don't have to do any of the subjects of PPE at A level/Highers level. The only one that *really* matters is maths and you've got that. You could probably get some mention of not being able to study PPE subjects slipped into your reference or something if you're worried about it, but you shouldn't be at all disadvantaged.

Are PPE interviews really difficult and mind boggling?

Reply 5937

BJack

Original post by AnamAfridi

Are PPE interviews really difficult and mind boggling?

No, of course not. Successful candidates won't all be freakishly intelligent — very, very few will be, in fact. The interview material should be accessible to all the candidates that reach the interview stage. If you feel your interviews are mind-boggling, you're probably thinking too hard & over-complicating something.

The tutors want to know "how you think" and they wouldn't achieve that by asking absurdly difficult questions that only a couple of applicants could fathom.