Philosophy, Politics And Economics @ Merton, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

3x 30 min Skype interviews, 30 min apart

Interview content

Economics: problem sheet given before; Politics: discussion of model, democracy and dictatorship; Philosophy: my interests, logic problem

Best preparation

Past papers

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Have enough background knowledge; practise talking about subject.

Remember this advice isn't official. There is no guarantee it will reflect your experience because university applications can change between years. Check the official Cambridge and Oxford websites for more accurate information on this year's application format and the required tests.

Also, someone else's experience may not reflect your own. Most interviews are more like conversations than tests and like, any conversation, they are quite interactive.

Interview Format

Test taken: TSA

Number of interviews: 3

Skype interview: Yes

Time between each interview: 30 minutes

Length of interviews: about 30 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Economics: I was given a problem sheet before, solved it and then discussed how minor changes to the question would change the answer.

Politics: I was given a small outline of a model, discussed its implications and then moved on to a general discussion of democracy and dictatorship.

Philosophy: discussion of what interests me about philosophy and then a simple logic problem.

How did you prepare?

I used the past papers.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

Make sure you have enough background knowledge of what you plan to study (especially relevant for joint schools subjects).

Try to get used to talking about your subject with other people so it doesn't feel to awkward/intimidating to do it with tutors in the interview.