Test taken: TSA

Number of interviews: 3

Skype interview: No

Time between each interview: 1 day

Length of interviews: 15-20 minutes each

None of the interviews dealt with my personal statement whatsoever. I know from the other applicants that each of us (for PPE) received the same starting questions in every interview.

The interviews consisted of two main problems/questions each and they were evenly dealt with, time wise. Two tutors were in each interview and usually I had to discuss the first question with one tutor and the second question with the other tutor.

For the politics interview we had to show up 15 minutes prior to the interview and got a page-long text that we were supposed to read and prepare. The questions were already printed on the sheet of paper. What followed was a discussion of the answers to the questions, and the tutors always tried to complicate the scenario/question, so that I always had to rethink my answers or find new reasons to support them. I backed down very little from my original answer, but conceded some points to the tutors. Both questions were rather general and did not require prior knowledge, but obviously knowledge of general terms like 'democracy' and the concepts around it was helpful. The atmosphere was fine, and I thoroughly enjoyed the interview, even though it was quite exhausting and felt a bit like an "academic game of cat and mouse".

For the economics interview we did not get prior reading but instead had an instant start to the interview. Before I sat down, the tutor had already given me a math problem, which I was quite overwhelmed with. I tried to give one or two answers, which were brushed aside rather quickly, before admitting that I had no other ideas on how to solve the problem. The tutor then explained to me his solution and asked if this made sense or if I could find anything wrong with it. I couldn't but said that his answers still seemed wrong, but I couldn't pin the reason for this down and so we moved on to the next question. This one was a more general question regarding economics and the effects of policy measures on business. I had a very engaging and passionate discussion with the other tutor about the second question. The atmosphere was fine, but not great and I definitely did not feel as confident as in the politics interview. Still, I tried to enjoy it as best as I could.

I was most nervous about the philosophy interview, because I did not have Philosophy in school and had no experience talking to people about philosophy whatsoever before the interview. This was the only interview in which I was asked a "personal" question. The first discussion was about a statement given by the tutor, which I then had to agree or disagree to. I began by judging instantly, before rambling out my reasons for this judgment and my thinking process behind it. The second question was more open ended and of a problem solving nature, and each of my solutions was nullified by the tutors through a complication of the contextual scenario in which the problem was posed. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the Philosophy interview the most, and the atmosphere was really nice, too. After a couple of minutes my beginning nervousness had subsided and I grew more confident in discussing my thoughts.

I used the old papers found on the official test website.

I did prepare by reading my personal statement thoroughly and looking for possible points of attack that the tutors might find in it. This was in hindsight wasted time, because the tutors did not ask a single question regarding my personal statement, but your experience might differ.

Other than that I prepared by reading a couple of books from the suggested reading that I found on the PPE website and, as someone who had little to no experience in either economics or philosophy, Tim Harford's "The Undercover Economist" and Jonathan Wolff's "An Introduction to Political Philosophy" really helped me out.

I did not really speak to any teachers or anybody else about the interviews, because in my country nobody would have known anything about them anyways, but rather watched some YouTube videos about them. I also did not have any mock interviews, but they are probably really helpful.

I believe the most important thing for me was to keep a positive mindset. I tried to see the interviews as an opportunity to learn something new about the subject by talking and discussing them with experts and this really helped me to enjoy them. Also I tried to view the whole experience as a nearly free mini-"vacation" to Oxford and a unique opportunity to experience living in an Oxford college, which was a win in itself, no matter the outcome. This really helped to take the pressure off a bit.

I would also recommend getting to know the fellow applicants, even though some of them are direct competition. I really had some enjoyable conversations with the people there and it made the whole experience so much better.