The Student Room Logo
Applying to Uni for 2024? Find your Uni here and chat with others! >>
Applying to Uni for 2024? Find your Uni here and chat with others! >>
Applying to Uni for 2024? Find your Uni here and chat with others! >>

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

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1440
Avatar for ~Ollie~
~Ollie~
8
Jibzy
yeah it's possible to prepare, as there is an A-level course in critical thinking.

hmm i am very skeptical about how much preparation this gives. yeah parts of them are similar but i don't think the critical thinking A-level is that great, and a lot of the multiple choices are more mathsy, as well as the essay questions which aren't really much like critical thinking (or at least not like the AS, which is all i've done so far)
Reply 1441
Avatar for Jibzy
Jibzy
15
~Ollie~
hmm i am very skeptical about how much preparation this gives. yeah parts of them are similar but i don't think the critical thinking A-level is that great, and a lot of the multiple choices are more mathsy, as well as the essay questions which aren't really much like critical thinking (or at least not like the AS, which is all i've done so far)


indeed, ur right actually! it only helps a little bit, but not so much
how was ur PPE test result btw?
Reply 1442
Avatar for ~Ollie~
~Ollie~
8

Haven't got it yet :s-smilie: i really wanna know as well! lol. Did everyone's just get sent to the college then they gave it to you?
Reply 1443
Avatar for Jibzy
Jibzy
15
~Ollie~
Haven't got it yet :s-smilie: i really wanna know as well! lol. Did everyone's just get sent to the college then they gave it to you?


yeah! ask the exams officer...
was quite shocked by mine. im not sure if it's average, or if it would have been good enuf to get me in, if i had the interview...
Reply 1444
Avatar for ~Ollie~
~Ollie~
8

lol you should have sent in your written work you fool! hmm i will ask tomorrow. there's another girl who got in from my college for ppe and i wanna beat her :P lol i still claim my offer is better because i got my first choice college. Yeah i'm petty like that :P
Reply 1445
Avatar for Jibzy
Jibzy
15
~Ollie~
lol you should have sent in your written work you fool! hmm i will ask tomorrow. there's another girl who got in from my college for ppe and i wanna beat her :P lol i still claim my offer is better because i got my first choice college. Yeah i'm petty like that :P


ur competitive man! good trait to have....

about my written work, rub it in man, ur allowed to lol....
it's all good. you live and you learn lol....
good choice of college though. had my sights on that one earlier on too....
btw i know somepeople who got offers of AAB for ppe. i was like WTF! lol. they must have really loved them (and their way of thinking). bt then again these guys were predicted AABB and had really crap gcse's. this is why l love oxford!.....so really feel like re-applying lol...
Reply 1446
Avatar for ~Ollie~
~Ollie~
8

Hey go for it man, see the world! travel 'n' that, I can't wait for my gap year - partially coz i will be able to doss around for a few months which will be GREAT! lol. But yeah, apply to wadham and we could end up on the same course, lol would be amusing
Oh man what i would give for an AAB offer though... lol i see some of those EE offers in the cambridge thread (i lead a boring life) and its just like... aaarrrghhh. not that i'm complaining!
Reply 1447
Avatar for Jibzy
Jibzy
15
~Ollie~
Hey go for it man, see the world! travel 'n' that, I can't wait for my gap year - partially coz i will be able to doss around for a few months which will be GREAT! lol. But yeah, apply to wadham and we could end up on the same course, lol would be amusing
Oh man what i would give for an AAB offer though... lol i see some of those EE offers in the cambridge thread (i lead a boring life) and its just like... aaarrrghhh. not that i'm complaining!


EE offers? WTF lol. that is the height of amusing lol. see that's what's good about oxbridge, there are so many factors they used in deciding, so it's not all about grades. but the likes of LSE would be so mad about the grades....
yeah the idea of a gap year is very alluring....bt my parents wouldnt let me. im 19 this year soo...they figure that i should just apply for a masters at oxford in developement economics or just apply to yale or sumin.....
bt um we'l see...things might change.....bt it would be risky though:wink: in terms of declining my current offers...
wer u off to on your gap year btw?
Reply 1448
Avatar for ~Ollie~
~Ollie~
8

Hopefully spain then south america - i wanna get fluent in spanish. i got an A* at gcse and can hold my own in conversation but i really wanna get properly fluent. With declining offers, i met this guy at the oxford interview (doing postgrad) who had applied for undergrad, got rejected and tried again but had emailed his second choice (york) and they had kept his place open for the next year. I dno if that might be worth trying, a pretty long shot i guess lol, but would be reassuring. weirdly he lived in the same little town as me and i have seen him since, lol, but that is irrelevant to the story :P
Reply 1449
Avatar for lol_wut
lol_wut
I have no idea where that score lies on the scale as I am totally outside of this whole system, but it looks about average from the other posts.


the average score is around 60. 72 would put you easily in the top 20%.

there was a brief explanation of the scores and graphs showing the distribution with my results.
Ah thanks. I didn't get the sheet with the information - my administrator just told me what my score was.
Reply 1451
Avatar for Budgie
Budgie
12
What I don't understand is how a score of 102.5 was possible when it states at the top that it's out of 99!

And remember the TSR average will not be the same as the overall average.
At the moment I'm doing these AS's: History, Philosophy and Ethics, Law and Product Design

I'll probably drop design after AS and just do History, Philosophy and Ethics and Law.

Do you think doing 3 full A2's is enough when applying for PPE at oxford?

Thanks
Law may be an "iffy" subject, especially if it's one of your three full A-levels.
Although Oxford refuse to issue a black-list like Cambridge and LSE, it may be harder for you to compete as you have Law and AS Product Design. They're not "traditional" subjects, and there will probably be others applying for PPE who will have 3 or 4 A-levels in traditionally academic subjects.
But, to answer your question, yes, 3 full A2's is enough to apply and be accepted into Oxford. The subjects of those 3 A2's matter though.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you don't have chance! The only people who can tell you honestly are the admissions tutors, but as far as people with offers for Oxford go, they tend not to have subjects like Law included in their offers.
You really ought to have some Maths or Economics as well as you will find that side of the course very hard with neither of them at A level.
Looking at your subjects Philosophy seems much more appropriate or a History/Philosophy course. Why do you want to do PPE? If it's just for the 'cachet' of the course, then think again - it's very hard work, especially if you have no grounding in the Maths/Econ side of things.
If you have done outside reading on the Economics and are good at Maths, then it might be worth a shot, but there will be many others with more useful subjects. You really need to talk to your teachers especially the Careers staff, about this.
Maths is much more important than Economics. When I was at interview I was told that they really didn't care whether you'd done A-level economics.
If I did History, Philosophy and Law (A2) as well as an AS in Economics in Year 13, would that help.

So then I would have:

History - A2
Philososphy + Ethics - A2
Law - A2
Economics - AS
Design - AS

Thanks for the help
Two clicks away from a whole thread dedicated to PPE.
i.e. we're all 'boffs' (haha)

Is it just me or does life seem boring now having been through a hectic few months?
My friend has an offer for AAAa in History, English Lit, French, and AS Maths - which seems to be the clincher. Perhaps you should consider taking up maths to help with the economics side.

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Trending

Latest