Oxford Physics Interview Questions (Part 1)

Due to repeated requests this series of videos goes through the questions I was asked at interview when applying for physics. Where necessary I've gone through the question with the answer they were looking for (not necessarily the answer I always gave!).

If anyone is looking for advice or help then please feel free to message me or comment down below. I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can, but I can't make any guarantees as Oxford is absolutely crazy during term time! Similarly, if anyone would like a tour of St. Peter's then message me and I'll try and sort something out.

I'm currently a second year physics student at St. Peter's College, University of Oxford, and beyond my enrollment as a student I have no other official affiliation with the university. As far as I am aware posting this isn't breaching any codes of practise, but should this prove to be the case I will remove it.

I apologise for the spot on my nose. It's really annoying.

Category:

Education

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• Oxford
• Physics
• St.
• Peters
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• Awesome
• t-shirt
• Interview
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• Jesus

[MrMyNameIsMatt21]

Please answer, thanks 1) Some of the maths questions sound hard and I don't think I would have covered them by then. I do further maths but no FP modules until year 13??? Also some physics concepts sound new to me. 2) The PAT is HARD, you know the threshold mark? 3) Does FM put me at an advantage? 4) Will having a northern regional accent put me at a disadvantage ?haha. I know it sounds stupid but at traditional unis you never know what they're thinking. oh and do they look at modular UMS scores

[SimonOxfPhys]

@MrMyNameIsMatt21 1) You're not alone in doing that - you'll probably cover at least FP1 in year 13 before interviews, if not then I would have a chat to your teacher about that. 2) It changes every year - check the physics department website for reports. 3) I think FM is a definite advantage. 4) No! There are loads of northerners here - you'll be treated no different than if you sound like you went to Eton!

[MrMyNameIsMatt21]

@SimonOxfPhys Thanks, do you know if Oxford look at your UMS scores in every subject, or do they just look at grades? Also, how would you suggest preparing for the PAT as some of the physics questions seem quite beyond me even when i've done as-level . The maths is alright but assumes a lot of knowledge and intuition.:L. Do you know what you scored in the PAT?

[SimonOxfPhys]

@MrMyNameIsMatt21 I don't think that they look into individual UMS grades, but I am quite possibly wrong. I'm pretty sure that Cambridge do.

In terms of preparing for the PAT I would recommend looking through synoptic physics papers that you do at the end of the course, and making sure that you are comfortable with everything that you have done so far. As for the maths the best thing you can do is do lots of old senior maths challenge papers as the questions are very similar. I got about 70

[thosava]

I have a question and was hoping someone here knew it: What object has the approximate mass of 1.112650056E-17kg?

[SimonOxfPhys]

@thosava 1.112650056E-17kg is about how much 1J of energy weighs (by E=mc^2), but in terms of physical objects that's about the mass of a large virus. Wikipedia 'Orders of magnitude (mass)' for a very interesting article.

[BlueSkyeCloudyDay]

Off topic, but I've just noticed your t-shirt - LOL.

[SimonOxfPhys]

@BlueSkyeCloudyDay Yes! Someone finally noticed! That's made my day that has :)

[MrMyNameIsMatt21]

Hi, thanks for the videos, they're useful and I appreciate the effort. I have a few questions/worries though. I'm wanting to apply to Oxford to study physics and really want to get in so...

[thosava]

@SimonOxfPhys Yeah i know it's one Joule, accually i calculated it, but then wanted to find out what object had the mass of one Joule =)

[metabog]

Could've answered the first two questions, and I don't even study physics.

[SimonOxfPhys]

@TheChemistryClub I think you need to show in a short space of time that you are passionate about your subject, but not to the point of obsession. So make sure you talk about other things you're interested in (e.g. music) once you've said the obvious stuff like where you're from etc. but also talk about your connection to chemistry e.g. why you find it interesting, any particular experiences you've had. There is a video floating around somewhere about how to answer this I think