A-levels

By far the most roller coaster two years of my life, I’m both sad and elated to have progressed from A-level student to an undergraduate student. Never in my life have I felt like so much of an abject failure, nor have I ever felt so proud to have had certain experiences and opportunities (see my previous post my Oxford interview experience) as I have had in the last two years. Whilst I was not lucky enough to have had an offer from Oxford, I’m still fairly pleased to have held my own throughout the interviews, and was fortunate to get into my other university of choice.

I appreciate, however, that others were not so lucky – many of whom deserved better than were awarded. But that’s the nature of exams – they are intrinsically imperfect. The exam itself as a form of assessment does not suit everyone. Different people perform differently under such pressure. Some of the most intelligent people I know absolutely fall to pieces under exam conditions, whereas some people simply get lucky with the topics selected for the exam. Not to mention the fact that subject vary hugely in their methods of assessment to each other – some of my A-levels were strictly essay based, whereas some never required me to write more than six or seven lines at a time.

It also seems to me that, particularly for science-related subjects, exam boards have yet to find a decent way of distinguishing an ‘A’ grade student from a ‘C’ grade student. In my opinion, students shouldn’t simply be assessed on how many questions they can answer, but also the depth of their understanding, i.e. by implementing a sort of ‘tier’ for each grade, and ensuring students satisfy the criteria of each tier to determine their grade. After all, this is how some of the humanities and a lot of BTEC students are assessed.

My advice to current and upcoming A-level students is this: if you have fantastic memory, it won’t be enough, you have to understand the material. If you are naturally gifted, understanding the material won’t be enough – you need to memorise information. However much effort you are putting in, there is no such thing as ‘enough’ effort. And remember, this is going to be the most difficult two years of your life (at least so far), but I promise it will be worth every second – live it, breathe it, love it!

My Oxford interview experience

     It’s amazing what a little bit of encouragement can do. I’d always thought of entry to institutions like Oxford and Cambridge as equivalent to smashing impenetrable glass ceilings only accessible to the independent school elite due to their socio-economic status and nepotistic advantage. However, after a positive experience at an open day at Cambridge, as well as encouragement from those around me, I decided to roll the dice and apply to the University of Oxford to read Biological Sciences.

Thirteen days before the Biological Sciences interviews were due to take place, I saw an email from Oxford on my phone. Wondering why the insensitive bastards had decided to reject me the day before I had another interview at my second choice university (I was already convinced that rejection was inevitable based on my less than stellar GCSE results), my heart instantly began to palpitate once I saw that I had, in fact, secured an interview at my preferred college, St. Anne’s. I thought I’d write about my preparation and experience there, as it may be helpful to anyone thinking of applying for entry in 2014.

Although there is really no way to be completely prepared for an Oxbridge interview, one of my lecturers began to look at sample questions, and ran me through a mock interview, which was immensely helpful at giving me the ‘first taste’ of the format of the interview. Although my performance was abysmal it at least gave me an idea of what the worst-case scenario would be. We looked at a number of broad topics relating to Biological Sciences, as well as looking back over my personal statement, as there was every chance that questions could come up based on this at any time. My lecturer was also able to deduce who was most likely to interview me (she was 100% right!), and so we were able to look into his interests and background.

Privately, I watched the interview videos on the Oxford website. My advice to readers would be to watch the sixth video, in which the candidate gets a question wrong on the topic she claimed to be especially keen on in her personal statement. This highlights just how important it is for potential candidates to re-read your personal statement and make sure you know your stuff! Don’t let that be you! I also made sure that I had answers prepared for general questions such as “Why do you want to study at Oxford?” and “Why do you want to study Biological Sciences?”. I also found this Youtube playlist made by a current student quite helpful.

The only information given prior to the interview to us was the time we were required to be there, and that we would have to stay there from the Monday until the Tuesday, and may be required until the Wednesday (accommodation is provided free of charge throughout). Upon arriving at St. Anne’s, we were greeted by very festive students who were actively engaging with the interview candidates to ease their nerves. The room we waited in has sofas and bean bags wall-to-wall, and animated films were constantly playing on a television. The whole experience was extremely informal, and it felt more like a party than a serious academic interview at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, although I have heard that other colleges were a lot more formal around the interview period. A board was present that had our interview times and the names of our interviewer on. It became immediately obvious that all of the Biological Sciences interviews were at different colleges the following day, mine being at St. Hilda’s. We were not made aware of who was interviewing us on the second day (although I managed to figure out who mine would probably be by checking the St. Hilda’s website).

My name was eventually called for my first interview and a third year student walked me to the room that the interviews were being held in. The previous candidate told me that I had nothing to worry about on her way out and, after a period of discussion, the interviewers called me in. Whilst I had expected to be greeted by a stern, tweed-clad toff, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my interviewers were fun, encouraging and, above all, enthusiastic. There were two interviewers for each interview, and the general pattern seemed to be that one would take notes while the other asked questions, and occasionally they would swap. The questions I was asked varied greatly – they began by asking about my personal statement, and we got into a rather deep conversation concerning intelligence. I was then shown a graph and tree trunk and asked to explain what was happening, and I was also asked to describe the adaptations of some fish in a small tank in the room. I found that if I wasn’t telling the interviewers exactly what they wanted to hear, they wouldn’t sit in silence until I got a question correct, they would instead give hints to push me in the right direction.

Much of the afternoon was spent talking to the other St. Anne’s Biological Sciences interviewees. There were only seven of us (although more students were coming in from other colleges to be interviewed at St. Anne’s), and we all found out a bit about each other’s background. I was quite shocked to discover that I was the only state school applicant there, and whilst I was previously fairly happy with my GCSE results, I realised that I had a lot to prove at Oxford compared to the 11 A* applicants I was up against!

Whilst all of us had had fairly similar first interviews, the second interviews were somewhat shrouded in mystery as we were sent to different colleges (me to St. Hilda’s, three to St. Catherine’s, one to St. John’s one to St. Hugh’s and one to Christ Church) and did not know our interviewers. My interview was one of the later ones, so I spent most of the morning brushing up on things I thought might come up. Most of the other applicants returned looking shell shocked from their second interview, and felt that they did not go as well as the first. However, I should probably note that I did not meet a single current student there who didn’t claim to have a ‘bad’ interview. All of the second interviews appeared to follow completely different formats, whereas, much of the first interview was the same for all of us.

When my name was called for the second interview, a third year student walked me from St. Anne’s to St. Hilda’s and informed me that the latter was very similar in terms of atmosphere and attitude to St. Anne’s (much to my relief!). I didn’t, however, get to experience much of St. Hilda’s, unfortunately, as I was whisked to my second interview pretty much immediately after arriving. The interviewer for my second interview was, again, very enthusiastic and approachable. However, the interview was far more rigorous and scientific than the first but, in a way, the more objective approach was comforting as I was certain when I was getting the answers correct. Much of the interview centred around a graph of genome sizes, and some fairly fundamental questions about cloning and conservation.

With my legs having turned to jelly by the end of my second interview, I headed into town for a bit of comfort food before heading back to St. Anne’s. Just before the final interview was about to start, all of the Biological Sciences students were told they could leave, and so my key was handed back in at the Porter’s Lodge, and I was on my way home, feeling that I’d done my absolute best, and that I’d gotten the most out of my experience. The outcomes of our interviews are being sent on the 10th January 2013, and no matter what the letter says, I’ll always be proud of the fact that I had an interview.

I hope this been helpful to anyone thinking of applying to Oxbridge for 2014 (or later) entry. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Exams, Exams, Exams

I appreciate this would have been far more relevant a few days ago, and that this is by no account my area of expertise, but I would still like to speak my mind.

This past May, I sat A-level unit examinations for the first time, the results of which came back last Thursday. The wait for results is bad enough, without being treated to articles like this during the build-up.

It’s incredibly difficult to actually explain what ‘grade inflation’ is, or what Ofqual and the government have actually done about it, considering the extremely high levels of bias in media sources that always present themselves when it comes to education. However, it pretty much means that more and more students have been getting good grades, and, therefore that ‘must’ mean that exams are getting easier and/or ‘A’ grades are decreasing in value.

Subsequently, Ofqual have said that they need to find a way to “manage..the persistent grade inflation”. They have denied ‘fixing’ the results, but former exam board official Kevin Stannard has said, “grade inflation is a systemic feature of criterion-based exams, so if there isn’t a record percentage of pupils getting top grades again this year, it suggests something quite disturbing: the system isn’t so much broken as corrupt…Someone will have decided to raise the bar, not by setting more difficult questions but simply raising the boundary mark for particular grades.”

Many lecturers and students complained of high grade boundaries this year, and I must admit that my heart sank when I first saw them. Some subjects, of course, were unaffected, but some had the highest (or among the highest) grade boundaries in recent times.

It’s not easy reading newspapers as a student. First of all, you can’t decide whether your hard-earned A grades have ‘bedevilled’ the exam system (who other than the Telegraph?) or if you are simply victims of a failing system. It’s clear that the media cannot make up their mind.

Many politicians, journalists, and even teachers have weighed in about grade inflation, and given their views on whether or not exams are getting easier, and the ‘dumbing down’ of exams. There doesn’t seem to be much representation of students in the media, however, which I find both strange and rude. It’s a bit like having a ‘size zero’ debate whilst Kate Moss is within earshot.

Therefore, let me tell you on behalf of myself and many of my peers, exactly what I think about grade inflation, the ‘dumbing down’ of exams, and the level of difficulty those exams present…

In the grand scheme of things, there are thousands of A-level students. Some of them speak English as their first language, some do not; some struggle financially, some do not; some live at home, some do not; some have had personal hardships, some have not; some work to support themselves, some do not; some students slack, some do not. We are all human beings, with different aptitudes, and situations that can change from one day to the next. Different exams present different challenges to different people, and the ability of a student to cope with those difficulties are different at different times depending on personal circumstance. It is irrelevant to ask whether or not exams are getting harder, as we are all human beings with varying experiences, trying to get through life as best we can. Anyone who disagrees is CLEARLY not a student, and clearly hasn’t been one for quite some time.

On a more personal, if less eloquent, level, I would like to say thank you to publications like the Telegraph, and government departments such as Ofqual. Thank you, first of all, for not listening to students. Thank you for telling me that the only reason I did well last week was because the exams were getting easier anyway, and that I actually should have just sailed through them. Thank you for convincing me that the HOURS AND HOURS I spent revising for my exams, whilst trying to look after my mortgaged flat, whilst working all weekend (EVERY weekend), whilst attending lectures five days a week, whilst spending hours commuting everyday, were worth ABSOLUTELY NOTHING because the exams were SO DAMN EASY. Oh, and, thank you in advance, for thinking that the above text is simply the frustrated ramblings of a student who did badly last week. Because I actually did well. No thanks to you.