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

Original post by Poppyxx

hmm not sure I agree - for starters there was no Maths in my interview until right at the end when I had to differentiate something, literally just before I walked out the door. But even my friend who hadn't done AS maths was given a Maths question of some sort (I think they explained a concept and then asked him to use it to solve something. I can't really remember), which he said panicked him. But all colleges are different.

I had all maths >.<, nothing about current affairs. Yeah of course it does depend on each college :smile:

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Reply 6583

Budgie

12

Original post by Bevanite

I got 9 A* 4 A and 3 B at GCSE (A in Maths)...would this be sufficient in terms of displaying a decent level of numeracy?

I believe that tutors are keen on Maths AS more due to its content than due to a signal. No AS-level maths will make the first year harder for you as you'll have more to learn. For that reason it does make you slightly worse off in terms of admissions.

In my PPE cohort of 10, one person did not have at least AS-level maths, and one person had taken it up in upper sixth. It was important enough that the latter person's offer was conditional on an A in the AS, as well as the standard 3 As.

As with all things, attitudes will vary by tutor. However, my advice would be to pick up AS-level maths in upper sixth if you can.

Reply 6584

emmaaa88

12

It's not a requirement, otherwise they would have stated that it was, so you definitely still have a chance :smile:

However on the Facebook group for PPE offer holders 2012, every single person there studied maths in 6th form (we did a poll of subjects). If I were in your position, I might consider maybe taking AS maths in Year 13, or doing some sort of quick qualification out of school, but that's just me as it would ease my mind somewhat, you don't have to agree. All your other subjects are fantastic.

Reply 6585

ROBBY7896

7

There can be no doubt that it is preferred for applicants to have maths at A level. However, Oxford are also aware that many candidates are poorly advised. If you were to mention that you didn't take maths because you were told that it wasn't necessary, then I expect that they would understand this. If you then took maths up at AS level in upper 6th, I expect the tutors would be able to overlook the fact you don't have the full a-level.

Reply 6586

tinytadpoletim

Hey guys, could someone please tell me how important the TSA is compared to things like grades, PS or interview? I'll be applying for Balliol in 2013 but a but nervous about my chances. Any other relevant advice would be much appreciated as well.

Cheers, :cool:

Reply 6587

Original post by tinytadpoletim

Hey guys, could someone please tell me how important the TSA is compared to things like grades, PS or interview? I'll be applying for Balliol in 2013 but a but nervous about my chances. Any other relevant advice would be much appreciated as well.

Cheers, :cool:

The TSA is used by all the colleges at Oxford to determine which students they'd like to call for interviews. Different admissions tutors will put different weighting on the importance of the score, but it is accepted that the higher your score, the higher your chances of doing well on the course(in terms of exam results).

My friend who applied a few years ago was a post A-Level applicant with A*A*A, but was not called for an interview because his score was deemed to be too low.

Balliol college is extremely popular, and I would only apply to the college if you thought your application would be deemed as competitive as the others.

Reply 6588

tinytadpoletim

Original post by AK0001

The TSA is used by all the colleges at Oxford to determine which students they'd like to call for interviews. Different admissions tutors will put different weighting on the importance of the score, but it is accepted that the higher your score, the higher your chances of doing well on the course(in terms of exam results).

My friend who applied a few years ago was a post A-Level applicant with A*A*A, but was not called for an interview because his score was deemed to be too low.

Balliol college is extremely popular, and I would only apply to the college if you thought your application would be deemed as competitive as the others.

Ok, thanks for your help.

Is the TSA something you can realistically practice for? Some similar aptitude tests try and make it almost impossible to prepare for.

I know, but I thought that due to the pooling system it didn't reduce your chances to apply for a very popular college. With that logic, I thought I might as well apply for the most popular college for PPE...

I have heard people ridicule extra curriciular things like work experience for PPE, but is there anything like that at all that could boost my application?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6589

Original post by tinytadpoletim

Ok, thanks for your help.

Is the TSA something you can realistically practice for? Some similar aptitude tests try and make it almost impossible to prepare for.

I know, but I thought that due to the pooling system it didn't reduce your chances to apply for a very popular college. With that logic, I thought I might as well apply for the most popular college for PPE...

I have heard people ridicule extra curriciular things like work experience for PPE, but is there anything like that at all that could boost my application?

You're welcome.

I'd say do most of the past papers available during the summer, although it's designed so that you can't really get better at it, if you do a few you will get familiar with what is expected of you. There are also plenty of "Thinking Skills" past papers that are available, these are A-Level papers designed by the same people who write the TSA. The format is not the same, but the critical thinking questions are the same format. They even use a few old questions for the TSA. There is also a good book, Butterworth I think. It's on the recommended list on the TSA site.

Hmm from experience not many people get pooled after interviews for PPE. They do, however, get pooled beforehand, perhaps that is what you are suggesting. It happened to quite a few of us. If you have your heart set on Balliol, then go for it :smile:

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Admissions are based entirely on academic merit. Having said that, if you can get work experience in your local MP's office, it will show a level of dedication.

Reply 6590

tinytadpoletim

Original post by AK0001

You're welcome.

I'd say do most of the past papers available during the summer, although it's designed so that you can't really get better at it, if you do a few you will get familiar with what is expected of you. There are also plenty of "Thinking Skills" past papers that are available, these are A-Level papers designed by the same people who write the TSA. The format is not the same, but the critical thinking questions are the same format. They even use a few old questions for the TSA. There is also a good book, Butterworth I think. It's on the recommended list on the TSA site.

Hmm from experience not many people get pooled after interviews for PPE. They do, however, get pooled beforehand, perhaps that is what you are suggesting. It happened to quite a few of us. If you have your heart set on Balliol, then go for it :smile:

.

Admissions are based entirely on academic merit. Having said that, if you can get work experience in your local MP's office, it will show a level of dedication.

Yep, I've had a quick look at some past papers but I'll go through them during my summer holidays.

Obviously it is far more important to get into the university than the college I want to, but I'd been told that applying to a "harder" college doesn't have a detrimental effect at all...

I have got quite a lot of relevant work experience (including with an MP), not sure if it will count for much though :hmmm:

Guess it just comes down to my AS grades and the TSA now...

I'll have loads more questions over the coming months so you'll probably see me on this thread again soon.

Thanks again :biggrin:

Reply 6591

Poppyxx

11

Original post by tinytadpoletim

Yep, I've had a quick look at some past papers but I'll go through them during my summer holidays.

Obviously it is far more important to get into the university than the college I want to, but I'd been told that applying to a "harder" college doesn't have a detrimental effect at all...

I have got quite a lot of relevant work experience (including with an MP), not sure if it will count for much though :hmmm:

Guess it just comes down to my AS grades and the TSA now...

I'll have loads more questions over the coming months so you'll probably see me on this thread again soon.

Thanks again :biggrin:

There's a textbook(ish) recommended on the TSA website. Can't remember who wrote it - it may be the Butterworth one recommended up thread. That's all I had, and I barely read it. Past papers are the way to go. In a way I was lucky because I'd sat some assessment centres for investment banks/professional service firms and the literary aspect of those were quite similar to the questions on the TSA.

My other piece of advice with regards to the TSA is to make sure you can write a good essay - and not an A Levels style ticking the box one. It needs to be a good argumentative one.

You've heard right - you are at no disadvantage applying to a popular college. Applicants are evened up over the colleges before interview anyway. If you are attracted to Balliol, go for it.

You're right about the work experience - it's irrelevant and no one cares.

It doesn't just come down to your TSA and grades - the reference especially plays an important role because it says a lot about your 'teachability'. Obviously it's the unknown quantity of your application, so there's not a lot you can do about it!

Original post by AK0001

You're welcome.

Admissions are based entirely on academic merit. Having said that, if you can get work experience in your local MP's office, it will show a level of dedication.

Tutors don't care about work experience like that.

I was in a tute with someone who made reference to their time spent at an MP's constituency office and the tutor just looked at him and said; "How is that relevant to this academic study of British politics?"

Out of interest - are you a current PPEist or just have an offer?

Reply 6592

Original post by Poppyxx

I was in a tute with someone who made reference to their time spent at an MP's constituency office and the tutor just looked at him and said; "How is that relevant to this academic study of British politics?"

Out of interest - are you a current PPEist or just have an offer?

I agree that it doesn't have anything to do with the study of British politics, but I would say it say it shows a willingness to understand the nature of British politics.

I actually missed my offer last summer. :redface:

Reply 6593

emmaaa88

12

Original post by tinytadpoletim

Ok, thanks for your help.

Is the TSA something you can realistically practice for? Some similar aptitude tests try and make it almost impossible to prepare for.

I know, but I thought that due to the pooling system it didn't reduce your chances to apply for a very popular college. With that logic, I thought I might as well apply for the most popular college for PPE...

I have heard people ridicule extra curriciular things like work experience for PPE, but is there anything like that at all that could boost my application?

I thought I'd chip in with my experiences as an offer holder! :smile:

Hope that's ok, I was just browsing the thread and thought I might as well.

I think personally it is quite hard to prepare for as most people are probably just either good at it or not, and different papers can be variable. I did Critical Thinking for AS level just because it's got some similar skills and got an A, so if you use up all the past papers for the TSA, try the OCR past papers for critical thinking. Having done that, though, my score on the critical thinking in the actual exam was pretty average, 65 (using their scaling system) I think, whereas for problem solving I got 76. You can just never tell, really. Last year the mean score of people who got interviews on TSR was 71.1 and the mean score of people who got offers was 71.7, despite the small sample size I guess you can say its importance drops off after you're called for interview.

I got pooled post-interview and got in at the place where I got my second interview. It is statistically true that more people get in to the university as a whole apply to the more popular colleges, so if you really want to give yourself a shot at Balliol by all means go for it! I personally avoided Balliol myself as I thought my application had a significant weakness (I got a C in Philosophy at AS level) and even though you have a better chance of getting in, you also have a bigger chance of getting in at somewhere you didn't apply which you might not like as much. That ended up working out for me though as I preferred my second college to my first one so by all means disregard my rambling here!

Work experience I personally think is a good thing, but I think it varies from college to college, there are lots of stories of some tutors not even bothering to read personal statements. I did lots of work experience to build up my application at consumer bodies, BIS, working for a politics researcher, bla bla and I think it helped me a lot by helping to increase my understanding of government (I do Econ and Phil at A level but not Politics) so even if I knew they weren't going to read my personal statement I still would have done it. Overall I'd say people don't need to stress about work experience but if you get an opportunity to do some, by all means take it! :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6594

Aeonstorm

9

A question for those who have done the TSA: how did the actual experience of doing it compare with doing past papers? I've looked at a lot of the past papers and they don't seem that hard, but I've also heard a lot of people say that it was much harder than they had expected compared to what they had practiced and they often got lower scores than expected. Is it just the nerves and pressure? Or have the tests been getting harder?

Reply 6595

pahoeho

The TSA was pretty much exactly as expected, its just that you can run out of time in the actually test :L (whereas at home I didn't really bother timing myself)

Reply 6596

idreamofoxford

2

I am planning to apply for PPE at Oxford but I even want to apply to LSE for government and economics. So, my question is does the philosophy portion of my PS reduce my chances at LSE?

Reply 6597

AnimalSpirit

7

Original post by idreamofoxford

I am planning to apply for PPE at Oxford but I even want to apply to LSE for government and economics. So, my question is does the philosophy portion of my PS reduce my chances at LSE?

Why would you apply to LSE if youdreamofoxford? :rolleyes:

Reply 6598

Ja-m-ie

10

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17EPnhhHopE

It'll tell you everything.

Tl;dr - no, it won't.

Reply 6599

username841677