<p>I posted this yesterday on the "college admissions" forum, but it appears that it would be better to post it on here:</p>
<p>Hello all, I'm currently in 11th grade in America, and I have my mind set on applying to University of Oxford in 2010. I read online that I'll have to take 3 AP tests and score a 5, or 3 SAT subject tests with a 700 or better. Yikes! Any advice for that?</p>
<p>Also, I'm planning on applying to their Physics department, and I'll have to take a Math/Physics admissions test in fall 2010. The problem is, my school only has one physics course and I'm taking it this year! I might forget a lot of the material by this next fall. Should I take a physics course over the summer?</p>
<p>This year I'm taking:
English
Chem II
French IV
World History
AP Calculus
Physics</p>
<p>Next year (my senior year) I'll be taking all the rest of the AP courses offered (AP Biology, AP English, AP French), as well as a dual enrollment higher level math course at a local college. Is it worth it to take all these, will Oxford notice that? Or do they only look at your junior year?</p>
<p>I wrote a very long reply but now it has disappeared and I do not have time to re-type.
Basically Oxford are only interested in subjects relevant to the course you are applying for. They will ignore everything else (and aim for far more than 3 APs. that is absolute minimum. Do as many math and science ones as you can). US high schools are generally weak in maths and science so you have to prove to them that this doesn’t apply to you. Take the college math course. If you think you will forget physics, take that course as well. If you don’t get an interview because you fail the Physics test, you will regret it.</p>
<p>For physics, I would suggest a book called “University Physics” by Sears and Zemansky. It has a very good descriptive topics, and will aid your understanding of the subject. Hope this help. Yes and follow Mr cupcake’s advise. Best of luck.</p>
<p>I’m very interested in this as well. I’m also a junior in HS and I’m not sure if I should apply as an undergrad at Oxford or go to an American college and then do an exchange program. I would like to study the humanities, so any advice?</p>
<p>I applied for Physics at Oxford. There were three half-hour interviews, and they were 95% Physics, and 5% Maths. That’s it. There weren’t questions about anything else, just problem-solving.
I believe they covered mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, and waves.
So it’s not just the Aptitude Test - you need to know a lot of Physics at the interviews as well.</p>
<p>I second PhoenixR’s recommendation. WRT the interviews, they want to know how good you are in the subject. It’s like going beyond an A+. You have to have a lot of knowledge and understanding about Physics. University Physics (the book) will help you.</p>
<p>Just a (perhaps unrelated) tip for the OP. Oxford doesn’t really care about whatever ECs you have.</p>
<p>I got an interview at Cambridge for Maths. I think the thing that helped me most besides the AP scores (which they wanted four AP scores of 5 in relevant subjects) was the fact I had taken Linear Algebra and finishing up Multivariate Calc, Differential Equations, and third semester college based Physics (Modern Physics etc).</p>
<p>Good luck to you, although when I saw a sample Oxford admissions test for Maths, I noticed it was multiple choice, ha ha.</p>
<p>If you get an interview, they will tailor the questions to you. So if you do more maths, you will get harder questions, and if you go to a school that doesn’t let you do much maths, they will focus on other things. The idea is that it tests how you think, not what you know. I’d recommend that you do as much maths and physics as possible though to show you are interested in the subject.</p>
<p>Hmm, in the interview, the professors just go over the admission test while adding a few additional questions as a follow up to some of the questions. Certainly if you are able to answer the question using higher mathematics, that would benefit you.</p>
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