r/oxbridge

I have 888777765 at GCSE however the average GCSE grade at my school was a 4 and it was the first time in 3 years that the avg was above a fail. I was roughly top 5 to top 3 in the cohort. I am at 4 A*s predicted in Maths, FM, Econ and Fine Art (unexpected but I use maths a lot for my work). I am doing an EPQ on chaos theory and fractals with tons of genuine interest in books such as Celestial Encounters and The Essence of Chaos. I am at a sixth form with an average of 2-3 Oxbridge applicants each year and an average grade of a C. I‘ve already gone through all of year 13 maths and fm and I’m currently working rlly hard for TMUA and I enjoy spending time with uncomfortable STEP questions. I’ve attended lectures hosted by CMS and I submitted an essay on fractal geometry for the Tom Rocks Maths Essay Comp this year. I really want to tackle one of, if not, the most challenging maths degree as I really enjoy the subject but I just feel as if so much of my stats (which I unfortunately cannot change) are preventing me from doing so… Would it be a waste of a slot or am I capable of achieving an offer?

YES. But IF.

(A very big fat IF)

IF you consciously calibrate your aim to train your thinking, NOT to do more past papers for the sake of it.

Well what do you mean by training your thinking? How do you do that?

After several(closer to countless) stupendous trials and error for this, it came down to this one thing for me personally. I think this works best.

STEP 1: JUST DO IT
Just read the question and solve it what feels intuitive and instant for you first.

- the goal here is not to get it perfect, the goal is actually the complete opposite. It’s to fail, as this erroneous thought process of yours is the raw material for what you want to fix later on.
- In fact, the more wrong and awful you are, it’s quite better in that the juxtaposed difference between a good model answer and your answer will be more starkly polarised.

STEP 2: COMPARTMENTALISE and ARTICULATE THE THOUGHT PROCESS
After solving it your way, journal your thought process on why it was obvious for you. So VERBALLY ARTICULATE why you thought this was natural for you.

E.g) after seeing a f/g, I immediately used quotient rule because this is
(I’m getting ahead of myself but it’s sometimes the case that you need to read between the lines)

STEP3: COMPARE AND CONTRAST ( this is the real stuff, the whole point of step 1 and 2 was to do this as here is where you actually fix yourself)
Juxtapose your mathematical chain of reasoning and the model answer’s chain of reasoning. ( Guys this is how you do Proper Maths)

- What thought process did I not write out that the model answer did ( So identify the nominal differences first)

- Now the real shxt. WHY.

WHY.

Why did I not think of this certain expression. And why did the model answer think of this.

E.g.) I thought when they ask differentiation of f/g you should just do differentiation first. But the model answer has a preceding step of simplification first!

Okay so WHY. Why is doing simplification first the obvious step. -> Because simplification can lower the exponent of f/g thus we don’t need to use quotient rule.

BOOM. So that leads to…

STEP 4. EXTRACT A REVELATION
What is the new reaction circuit that I will pick up from this question? What is the tool I am equipping myself with with this question?
(Think of it like picking up a new diamond sword in Minecraft sorry guys I don’t play Minecraft)

Okay so I know from step 3 that my thought process was a detour and I also now know why.
Now we have to extract/juice out the general rule.

E.g) okay so even IF we see nominally that a quotient rule differentiation is POSSIBLE. That does not mean we should. Hence what is the extracted juice(I’m awful at analogies give me a break I’m Korean lol)
-> Even if a possible method of differentiation is obvious, hold up. Wait. There MIGHT just be a more efficient method.

STEP 5:PUT THE REPS IN
Soo this is the final step that I used to skip but this is like you ACTIVELY training your THOUGHT process.( Yh let me stick to that diamond sword analogy so now we are practicing to use that sword)
Actually start solving the problem by following the thought process that you extracted to be ideal.

———————-
Now this leads to a new topic of SPEED, I’ll talk about in the next post. But just to keep it concise, speed comes from proper thought process, not rushing. If you lack speed, it’s not an urgency problem, it’s a methodology problem.

When I was preparing for the TMUA, I used to think improvement was basically:

More questions solved = higher score.

I now realise that could not be further from the truth.
I think what matters is how much you are capable of extract from each question.

After looking at a model solution, instead of asking:
“Do I understand it?”
I started asking:
Why was this the natural thing to notice?

What clue in the question pointed towards this method?
What did I miss that the solver saw immediately?
One question analysed properly taught me far more than blasting through ten and moving on.
Curious what everyone else thinks.
Did your biggest improvements come from volume, or from spending much longer on individual problems??

Would LOVE to help out and answer any questions, DM me at Jamiebaek on Reddit!

My son is just finishing year 12 and is looking to apply to Oxford or Cambridge to do maths. The entrance requirements are A*A*A, with the A*s being in maths and further maths (if the college offers it).

The thing is, he is currently predicted A* in maths but only A in further maths, with another A* being predicted for computer science.

Given that some students won’t even have done further maths at all, does the A in further count for or against him in his application?

Thanks

I will be applying to Oxford this Autumn and I am currently trying to understand how Oxford treats academic percentages in admissions.

If an applicant already meets the academic requirements for a course, does having a higher average percentage (for example, mid 90s vs high 90s in Canadian grades) actually give any meaningful advantage? The course I am looking for have a requirement of 91 percent average for reference.

Or is it essentially that once you’re above the required academic threshold, percentages stop mattering much and the decision is driven mainly by the admissions test and interview?

Just trying to understand whether Oxford meaningfully differentiates between, say, 93–95% and 97–99% academically, assuming both are already considered strong enough.

Hi, I'm an international student and was thinking of perhaps applying to oxford for Human Sciences or Biomedical Sciences, or maybe even biochemistry. I'm doing Biology, Chemistry, and Physics in A levels.

However, I'm a little confused about the subjects, human sciences leans more towards social sciences and is less science-y as compared to biomedical sciences which is one of the hardest courses to get into, I reckon.

What A Level subjects did you guys go for if you applied for it? Should I lean towards biomedical sciences instead of human sciences, or maybe biochem because of the subjects I have? I know you guys can't exactly tell which one would be best for me, of course, I just want to hear your thoughts and advice.

I'd appreciate any help I can get. Thanks!

"The Open Day is only for Year 12 (or equivalent) and mature students. We are unable to accommodate students in Year 11 (or equivalent) and below at these events."

Well, how would they know? Has anyone gone as a year 11? I need advice because I missed Oxford's open day and i really want to go.

Hey,

I’m applying to HSPS next year and I’m trying to figure out how best to prepare for the interview.

I’m really interested in the social sciences generally, but I’m already quite sure that I’d want to focus mainly on the Politics track, especially political theory / political philosophy. From what I understand, my predicted grades as a Swiss student should roughly convert to around A**A*A* to A**A**A*, so I think there’s a decent chance I’ll be invited to interview.

The problem is that I don’t take Politics as a subject at school, so I feel a bit lost about how to prepare. My first instinct has been to read lots of introductory books on politics and political theory to build a solid foundation, but I’m not sure if that’s the best approach.

For people who applied to HSPS or did the interview: how did you prepare? Are there specific topics, thinkers, books, or types of questions I should focus on? And how much prior knowledge are they expecting, especially from someone who hasn’t formally studied politics at school?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

I’m doing British a levels and applying for the global governance course , I’ve already got one A in Spanish a levels and predicting I’d get another AB or BB in economics and global politics , what are my chances of me getting in. I’m not applying for a scholarship either so what’s the minimum grade requirement do you think to get me in

Hi. I'm an international student, and was wondering how much of an impact GCSEs/ O Levels have on the application when it comes to Oxbridge. I've got fairly normal O level grades (considering O Level marking is different from GCSE marking) because there were some issues at hand. I've got 2A*, 4A, 1B, and a C in math (ahem) in my O Levels. I went to a low-scoring school, with their record showing that students rarely got absolutely excellent grades because of their teaching.

Hopefully, I will get A*s and A's for my A Levels result this summer, I'm planning on biology related fields. And I'm doing several super curriculars, I have been doing them since my O Levels, does that make my profile any better? Will my GCSEs/O Level grades be a deal breaker? Can anyone share their experience?

I'd appreciate any help. Thank you!

Saw some people saying this, please help

English A LangLit HL

Language B HL

Global Politics HL

Anthropology HL

Maths AA SL

Bio SL

For context im planning to major in government/international relations

Hey, are any history or economics students able to read personal statements for some help? Would be much appreciated!

He told me he deleted all of his social media.

So is deleting social media the new method to getting amazing a level grades and an admission into Cambridge University?

i have an offer for HSPS and though results day is obviously far, i was wondering if it's worth starting to read books to do w first year stuff?

Maths and Eng lit are the As, Politics is A*

I've tried but can't get Maths up
Will aim for a decent TARA, is that enough?

i wanna do a degree in maths&philosphy & i’m aiming for a job in academic research (not to be a professor, but to research and find ideas, create an original, coherent thesis and make meaningful work, i have a published article already on something in psych in super interested in, for a magazine!) (so lmk if this isn’t the right degree for it etc.)

i’m still in year 10 don’t get me wrong, but the alevels im thinking are maths fm english lit and classics.. they are all ones im super passionate about (don’t ask but ive already started prereading the specs and content!! im a decent chunk in the first year of alevel maths, cuz of self teaching fm gsce, i like fm more than normal maths..)

thanks

How much maths content should I include or should I focus purely on how economics fascinated me, how it made me think, and what I did to understand the subject deeper? Not sure if doing further maths already show qualitative skill.