TSA - Wish I'd Known (Expert Oxford Application Advice)
The TSA is one of the entrance exams that students applying to Oxford may need to sit. The TSA is primarily for social sciences and needs to be taken by applicants to the following courses:
The TSA is broken down into two sections:
Section 1: Thinking Skills Assessment
Section 2: Writing Task
Section 1 of the exam consists of 50 multiple choice questions split between problem-solving and critical thinking skills. These are similar in style to sections from other exams such as the BMAT, which can be used as a source of extra revision.
The problem-solving questions test numerical and spatial reasoning and require strong mental maths and an ability to visual shapes. This section is best practiced by brushing up on your mental maths and looking at similar style questions from past papers and other sources. The BMAT has a section that is similar in style and often used by applicants for practice.
There are common themes in the question styles and taking a logical approach to questions will help ensure a high mark.
The second style of question on the multiple choice paper are critical thinking problems. These test a students ability to understand and pick out the flaws in an argument in addition to language reasoning. Critical thinking A level can help provide some support here for students who struggle with these questions. In addition, some understanding of formal logic can help applicants separate an argument into its premises and conclusion with greater ease.
However, most students can improve simply by practicing past paper questions.
There are a lot of books that have been written for TSA support. Most of these books are unnecessary and limited in their use. To achieve a high score students need to understand the different styles of questions well and the approach to take solving these; a book cannot always provide this understanding.
In addition, the most crucial skill for section 1 is time management; this is best improved through rigorous practice, forcing yourself to try to complete the paper in under the allowed time.
The purpose of section 2 is to test how well a student can critically analyse a question and structure a logical and coherent answer. Most applicants to subjects requiring section 2, will have experience taking an essay based subject at A-level. You should try to take a lot of the advice you have been given about writing longer essays in these papers and apply it to section 2. Remember to include an introduction that sets out how you will approach the essay and defining any key terms, then work through your arguments point by point, making sure to use evidence and examples to support your statements, before evaluating each argument. Finally, you will need a conclusion summarising your arguments and giving a clear final answer.
It is important to make sure you leave time for a conclusion.
For applicants with less experience writing essays, I would recommend following a simple structure such as PEEE (Point Example Explain Evaluation), where you make your argument, then give an example before following it with explanation and finally evaluation. The evaluation will make it clear how important this argument is going to be in your final conclusion.
When picking the question to attempt in section 2, I would always recommend picking the one that you find most interesting.
The admissions tutors are not expecting you to have a lot of knowledge on the subject you are writing, so do not worry if your arguments are lacking in examples. Instead, make sure to focus on a logical structure with strong analysis.
The TSA is a very important part of any application; however it is far from the only section. It is crucial that you achieve a minimum which varies depending on subject and college. For most colleges and courses a score of over 65 is acceptable. However, for some subjects such as E&M a much higher score is often needed. One of the most common reasons why students fail to get an interview is simply because they achieve too low a score on the TSA.
You should be able to comfortably achieve a score of 65+ regularly within the time limit before your exam date at the end of October.
Let us know if you have any questions about this article.
This article was written by Emrys (Oxford - PPE).
If you find this content useful, please visit Emrys'profile for further information on applying to Oxbridge. Alternatively, book support with Emrys using the form below or contact us at: support@doxa.co.uk
Author: Emrys - Oxford
BA Philosophy, Politics & Economics
I have provided tuition internationally to students from Dubai, China and Pakistan. Through this I have a wealth of experience offering support for Oxford applicants, providing help with interviews and the TSA, where I managed to achieve a score of 80+ which is considered exceptional.
