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

I didn't apply for PPE but I met many people who did, they shared their experiences with me.

They got asked a lot of lateral thinking questions such as:

"Lions only eat in the evening". Where's the ambiguity in that sentence?
What's the difference between being hungry and wanting to eat?
Would you rather destroy the Grand Canyon or the works of Shakespeare?

Im not giving anyone an unfair advantage by posting these questions, as there's no point in prepared answers (even doubt they'll ask these again). These are examples of how you should think off your feet :yes:

.

and speaking of wanting to eat, there's dinner on the table now lol yay :tongue:

good luck

what is the answer to the lions question?

Reply 6881

tooambitious

16

Original post by sreddy17

what is the answer to the lions question?

I thought it could mean, the only thing lions do in the evening is eat or the only time lions eat is in the evening

Reply 6882

dbmag9

15

Original post by Carrotcake18

"Lions only eat in the evening"

The ambiguity in that sentence is "only".
1) Lions only in the evening (and don't eat anything during the day).
2) All lions do in the evening is eat
Also, if im not mistaken--> 3) The only creatures that eat in the evening are lions.

As a plug to learning formal logic, if you know a bit of it it becomes very easy to show the two readings of the sentence (I don't think your third reading works in English):

1. lion eating -> evening
2. evening -> lion eating

(if you wanted to write 3 symbolically, it would be (evening & x eating) -> x is a lion).

Reply 6883

tashiepashie

Original post by h.b123

I am applying for PPE at Oxford. Does anyone have any experience of what sorts of things they ask you in the Interview? Has anyone got any tips/ past experiences?

At my interviews they were all based entirely on unseen material that I had about 20 minutes to look at before the interview. In politics and philosophy I had to discuss various moral dilemas and in economics I had a big maths problem to solve. The best advice I can give is to stay calm and just be yourself. There's no point in trying to preprepare impressive sounding things beforehand because the tutors will see right through you. If you just be yourself you'll stand a better chance of being able to focus on the questions you're being asked and also as coming across as a competent and likeable person.

Reply 6884

JBMJBM

Removed

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 6885

Mouth

12

Need to make a decision of the other unis to apply to.
Oxford, Warwick and Durham are for sure.
The other two I'm thinking Manchester and Lancaster as back ups. Ideally I'd do York too, but I don't want 3/4 A*AA Unis which are all really competitive!
What are you guys doing?

Reply 6886

Caecilius

6

I'm applying to Ox (Christ Church), Warwick, Durham, LSE (Gov and Econ) and UCL (ESPS), so plainly not going for back-ups. Basically, I plan to take a gap year if I don't get into Ox - the others are there in case things change drastically, and for the banter.

Having been basically unhelpful, I will say this - Royal Holloway is of a pretty low academic standard (in comparison), but has some pretty dank architecture. St Andrews also seems to have lower entry requirements, and is a very well-respected university, but the closest offered course is Philosophy and Economics.

Reply 6887

JBMJBM

Removed

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 6888

seb94

Is
A* - Philosophy
A - French
A - Spanish
A - Business Studies,

with Maths AS & Politics A Level both predicted at A/A*, a good enough subject mix for PPE?

Also, if one gets a high 60 score as opposed to a comfortable 70 on the TSA, will that seriously damage chances of getting in (stronger critical thinking than problem solving)? Since only 10% of people who take the TSA get above 70, that must mean some people can and do get in with 'average' scores.

Reply 6889

Aeonstorm

9

Original post by Carrotcake18

"Lions only eat in the evening"

The ambiguity in that sentence is "only".
1) Lions only (eat) in the evening (and don't eat anything during the day).
2) All lions do in the evening is eat
Also, if im not mistaken--> 3) The only creatures that eat in the evening are lions.

Original post by dbmag9

As a plug to learning formal logic, if you know a bit of it it becomes very easy to show the two readings of the sentence (I don't think your third reading works in English):

1. lion eating -> evening
2. evening -> lion eating

(if you wanted to write 3 symbolically, it would be (evening & x eating) -> x is a lion).

Are you guys entirely sure about this? To me, "Lions only eat in the evening" only has one possible meaning, which is meaning (1). When you place a qualifying time phrase after "x ONLY y", the 'only' refers to the time period and not the action. In fact, this is true if you put any condition after (x ONLY y), where x is a noun and y is a verb. If I wanted to convey meaning (2), I would say "Lions do nothing but eat in the evening," or what you had (All lions do in the evening is eat).

I suppose if it was asked at an interview, meaning 2 is probably valid, but it really doesn't resonate with me.

Meaning (3) requires only to come before the noun - "Only lions eat in the evening."

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6890

Alex-Torres

15

My profile:

GCSEs:
A* - Science
A* - RE (SC)
A* - Citizenship (SC)
A* - Geography
A - Mathematics (Year 10 entry)
A - Additional Science
A - History
A - English Lit
A - Statistics
B - English Language
B - French

AS levels:

History - I've scored A's so far
Geography - Predicted A
Economics - Predicted A
ICT - Achieved an A in Year 11
Maths - Hopefully A

What Universities do you think I should avoid applying to (LSE being one), and where I could stand a good chance of getting in?

Reply 6891

Ja-m-ie

10

Well your grades look fine and your subject choices for A levels look solid too.

When I applied for PPE I went for: Oxford, York, Warwick, UCL and LSE. I applied for PPE at the first three, philosophy and economics at UCL and Government and Economics at LSE. Why don't you want to go to LSE?

What exactly do you want to ask, however? I mean, I can't say if you are going to get in or not. All I can do is advise you on what might be the best things for you to do. My number one piece of advice is to apply to somewhere that you really love the idea of studying at, so check out the institutes you are considering. That will be a big thing to encourage you to do your best come exam time.

If you elabourate, I can be of more use.

Reply 6892

Alex-Torres

15

Original post by Ja-m-ie

Well your grades look fine and your subject choices for A levels look solid too.

When I applied for PPE I went for: Oxford, York, Warwick, UCL and LSE. I applied for PPE at the first three, philosophy and economics at UCL and Government and Economics at LSE. Why don't you want to go to LSE?

What exactly do you want to ask, however? I mean, I can't say if you are going to get in or not. All I can do is advise you on what might be the best things for you to do. My number one piece of advice is to apply to somewhere that you really love the idea of studying at, so check out the institutes you are considering. That will be a big thing to encourage you to do your best come exam time.

If you elabourate, I can be of more use.

I just wanted to know where I stand with my grades, if I could consier going to top 10 unis for PPE/Economics and if realistically I could get a few offers... Some people tell me I'm not good enough quite clearly and upfrontly, whilst others say otherwise.

Reply 6893

Ja-m-ie

10

Original post by Alex-Torres

I just wanted to know where I stand with my grades, if I could consier going to top 10 unis for PPE/Economics and if realistically I could get a few offers... Some people tell me I'm not good enough quite clearly and upfrontly, whilst others say otherwise.

If that is the case then you might as well apply to at least one of the top unis otherwise you will regret not trying. If you are unsure, then I would say putting down two max. would be a good bet and then two more that you think you have good chances of getting into and then one insurance choice.

Reply 6894

arctic95

1

Hi guys,

I have two questions:
1) Does the essay part of the TSA follow straight after the multiple choice, or do we have like a 5 minute break while they collect the multiple choice papers?
2) What is the mean percentage for TSA?

Thanks

Reply 6895

tooambitious

16

Original post by arctic95

Hi guys,

I have two questions:
1) Does the essay part of the TSA follow straight after the multiple choice, or do we have like a 5 minute break while they collect the multiple choice papers?
2) What is the mean percentage for TSA?

Thanks

1) Depending in how efficient the invigilators are at your school, becaus they hand out the essay papers after collecting the multiple choice
2) I think the average score is around 60ish

Reply 6896

chaza01

2

Hi.
As the title indicates, I am looking to study PPE at Oxford.
My A level subjects are:
Maths
Further Maths
Chemistry
Physics.

And AS Critical thinking (grade A taken year 10).

I should have picked an essay based subject, but I didn't; it's now too late to change my options.
If it makes any difference my GCSEs (11A*s) show high attainment in essay based subjects, with 98% in IGCSE English lit and lang.
I am pretty strong essay-wise and got my IGCSE to more AS level standard.
BUT
I dont do any a level essay based subjects.

Am I bonkers?

Kind regards,

Charles.

(edited 11 years ago)

nope your fine

You dropped your ego.