Philosophy, Politics And Economics @ Oriel, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

3x interviews, over 2 days

Interview content

Politics: text given beforehand, problem-based discussion; Philosophy: logic problem, text given beforehand; Economics: problem sheet

Best preparation

Past papers

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Apply; prepare for admissions test and try to get strong predicted grades; try not to panic at interview.

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: No

Interview spread: over two days - 2 one day, 1 next day

Length of interviews: less than 30 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

My personal statement was not discussed at all. Each interview was prefaced by a 20-30 minute preparation time wherein we were given a source and/or a problem.

My politics interview was a discussion of an essay given beforehand, followed by a discussion of voting theory based on an exercise.

My philosophy interview was based on firstly a logical problem that I can’t entirely recall, and secondly an excerpt of a philosopher. This was entirely discussion based as well.

My economics interview was a tutorial-style problem sheet, wherein I was asked to show my working and answers on a whiteboard in front of the tutors.

Each interview had a friendly and relaxed atmosphere and the focus was very much on thinking processes and making mistakes in order to learn, rather than getting it correct the first time around. For politics and philosophy, the source-work took up far more of the time than the problem but both were treated with importance in the course of the interview.

How did you prepare?

My preparation was almost entirely doing past papers.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

First of all; apply! So many people do not even consider applying - often due to misconceptions about GCSE grade standards or even due to misconceptions that Oxford is too white, too private school, too home counties, so on.

Second; prepare hard for the admissions test, and ensure strong predicted grades (even it means persuading that one teacher or doing extra work after school, etc.). If you do well on both of these counts, your chances of reaching the interview stage will be much higher - even in the face of poorer GCSE grades.

Third; if you get to interview don’t stress and don’t panic! Make sure you are prepared; not necessarily by reading every book in your subject under the sun, but rather by being prepared to express ideas logically and cogently. In interviews, more than prior knowledge the importance and focus is on teachability and potential, rather than you being the complete package.