Today we have a guest feature from Ally about the PPE interviews at Oxford.
Hi Ally, how many interviews did you have?
I only had one interview and it was with four tutors.
What were the different interviews on?
It had a section on a text which was politics and philosophy based and then the second section was an economics problem.
Were you given any ‘unseen material’?
Yes, we were given the text beforehand with the questions and were given the problems we were being asked to solve. So, we had time to prepare our answers before the interviews.
Did the tutors push you out of your comfort zone?
Yes, the tutors asked me for clarification on some of my answers. One of the economics problems I also found quite tricky but the tutor gave me some guidance to help me solve it.
What advice would you give prospective applicants?
Don’t feel that you should know all the answers.
The tutors aren’t expecting you to be the finished article.
Think out loud and always explain what’s going on in your head.