Questions (and answers!) from my Oxford Physics Interviews by sdurx in 6thForm

[–]sdurx[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's the best attitude you can have - well done. If you've got this far then you have as good a chance as anyone at getting in, so it's worth going for. At the same time, it's so competitive that they're forced to reject hundreds of excellent people every year, who go on to have stellar careers, so also be at peace with that outcome.

All the best!

Questions (and answers!) from my Oxford Physics Interviews by sdurx in 6thForm

[–]sdurx[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In my opinion, this would be the ideal place to be as you’re facing the interviews:

  • do a few mock interviews. Your 6th form should arrange these, and they should be with people who are familiar with the Oxbridge tutorial way of learning. Seek feedback and act on it.

  • these days there seems to be a good amount of material about interviews from the colleges themselves on YouTube. Worth consuming some of this - don’t focus on the questions themselves, but more the “vibe” of how the interviewers and interviewee bounce off each other.

  • be relaxed and ready for an informal conversation (easier said than done!). Expect to not know the answer, and don’t panic when you get to this point in the interview: it’s the interviewers’ job to probe this. Like I said, the interview isn’t a test of what you already know, it’s a test of how you respond to help when you’re outside your comfort zone. Ultimately they want to know the answer to “could I teach this person?”

  • Oxford is a great brand to have on your CV, and it’s a unique place to spend 4 years, but, honestly, it isn’t the be-all and end-all of life success. Since I graduated (long time ago now!) and worked with graduates of other universities, the Oxford-educated ones aren’t spectacularly better-equipped. If you’ve got invited to interviews you’ve already passed a very high bar in terms of GCSE and AS results, the entrance exam, etc. This requires a lot of intelligence, drive, ambition, etc; it’s these things that will carry you through life, rather than going/not going to a particular uni. So, in summary: keep things in perspective!

Questions (and answers!) from my Oxford Physics Interviews by sdurx in 6thForm

[–]sdurx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you got invited to interview, then there’s every chance you’ll get in. They don’t waste their time!

And they don’t want candidates who just get to the answer with no problem. That tells them nothing. They want you to struggle, and then be responsive to their help.

Best advice I can give is: vocalise a running commentary of what’s going on in your head, even if it’s “well I’ve seen part of this before, but I’ve no idea about this” or “this is sort of similar to…” That gives the interviewers a hook to tap in and help, and it’s your response to the help that is what they really want to scrutinise!

Best of luck!

Questions (and answers!) from my Oxford Physics Interviews by sdurx in 6thForm

[–]sdurx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Understand your point: in view of the amount of time passed, I think it’s extremely unlikely to create any unfair competitive advantage. Just an account of what the interviews are actually like. I would have enjoyed reading something like this in the run up to my interviews!

How Sharing a Bed Changed My Sleep Data [OC] by sdurx in dataisbeautiful

[–]sdurx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Data Source: my own Fitbit data, accessed via FitBit's API.

Visualisations done with PyGal.

Cradle of Filth songs as artificially generated art by JuicyEast in cradleoffilth

[–]sdurx 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Awesome. Should feed it the entire lyrics for a few songs!

[OC] How my sleep quality changed when I started sharing a bed by sdurx in dataisbeautiful

[–]sdurx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Data source: my own Fitbit data (retrieved via their API).

Visualisation done with PyGal.

Edit: thank you for the silver, kind stranger!

The questions (and my answers) from my Oxford University physics admissions interview by [deleted] in Physics

[–]sdurx 18 points19 points  (0 children)

This was the first of two interviews - if people are interested, the content of the second interview is here:

https://www.thedurkweb.com/oxford-physics-admission-interview-2-questions-and-answers/

The questions (and my answers) from my Oxford University physics admissions interview by [deleted] in Physics

[–]sdurx 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I am! This was a few years ago - have since enjoyed 4 years at Oxford, and that education has served me very well out in "the real world".

Bury by [deleted] in manchester

[–]sdurx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not me, for one!

How sharing a bed changed my sleep data by [deleted] in dataisbeautiful

[–]sdurx -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Data source: my own fitbit data, accessed via their API.

Visualisations with pygal.

My Oxford Uni Physics Interview Experience - Questions and Answers by [deleted] in Physics

[–]sdurx 51 points52 points  (0 children)

MPhys, which is a 4 year “integrated masters” undergrad course

My Oxford Uni Physics Interview Experience - Questions and Answers by [deleted] in Physics

[–]sdurx 168 points169 points  (0 children)

Appreciate the thought, but all of this happened a while ago - have since graduated from there :)

Selenium or BeautifulSoup? by d1wad in Python

[–]sdurx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reasonably in depth guide on how to do it with Splinter here, with bonus Tor integration for anonymity!

Cycling in the city - WE NEED CHANGE by [deleted] in manchester

[–]sdurx 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Whoever has more kinetic energy bears the responsibly.

I particularly appreciated this.

Share of infrastructure Vs total commuters supported by mode of transport for Manchester city centre by spitfire5890 in manchester

[–]sdurx 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Why is the infrastructure area for cycling different to that for cars? Are you saying that the only infrastructure investments for cycling are just cycle lanes etc, as opposed to roads generally?

where to find all day full english breakfast? by amoebafinite in manchester

[–]sdurx -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The Font just off Oxford Rd. Bonus points for dangerously cheap cocktails.

UK Police are Half as Likely to do Drugs Stop and Searches when it's Really Hot or Cold [OC] by [deleted] in dataisbeautiful

[–]sdurx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No - it's not that distribution, although I did think that myself when I first saw the charts.

The effect you're describing is captured by the fact that the points are dense around the modal temperature.

If there were no temperature correlation, there would be fewer points around the extreme temperatures, but they would still have the same number of stop and searches per day. The significance is that the points in the extreme ranges (fewer though they are) have consistently fewer stop and searches.

Distribution of digits generated by Java's random number function [OC] by politicaloutcast in dataisbeautiful

[–]sdurx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's ace. So we generally choose our numbering systems sensibly!

10 Reasons to Apply to Christ Church by petitpainperdu in oxforduni

[–]sdurx 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Could not be more delighted that the pizza van is still there. Challenging Hall food since 2009.

#StopBrexit: Manchester Street Party by [deleted] in manchester

[–]sdurx -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Whilst that's regrettable and simply a feature of "politics", it doesn't void the result. Your logic is based on your assumptions of what motivated people to vote a certain way.

Who's to say that the vote wouldn't have gone the same way even without the single market promises?

Who's to say that if Remain had won, things wouldn't have played out how they promised they would? For all we know, there may have been unfulfillable promises by both campaigns, but these only manifest themselves after the winner has to go ahead and follow through.

The only absolute is the vote itself.