Hello,

my name’s is Kate Doornik, and I'm

the PPE Admissions Coordinator

and what I'd like to do is just talk a little bit

about how you can prepare for the TSA

or the Thinking Skills Assessment test.

So the TSA has two parts to it.

There's a first part

which is a multiple choice test.

And then there's a second part,

which is an essay question.

So if you're doing PPE then you're going
to be answering both sections.

But if you're doing any other TSA subject,
then you're only doing

the multiple choice section.

So the first thing that I want to say

is if you go to our website,
you'll find that

there's more than ten years
worth of past papers.

So by looking at those,

you can see what kind of questions we ask.

And you can practise
answering those questions

in the time available.

For the multiple choice part,
there’s solutions available too

so you can see exactly how you're doing.

The questions as you'll

see are not subject specific.

There's no knowledge,
no facts that you have to learn,

so there really is
absolutely no substitute

for going to those tests

and practising them.

For the first time this year.

The TSA is going to be taken online

so what that means is that

the questions will be shown on screen

and you will also be entering

your answers on screen.

So we have a practice test set up for you

on the online format.

And by going there
you will be able to practice

moving your way through the test

and entering your answers,

just as you would do in the real thing.

And another thing I'd like to

remind you is if you are entitled

to any access arrangements,

such as extra time for the test,

then do make sure that when you register
for the test,

you register for those arrangements
at the same time.

Now a couple of bits of advice

for the multiple choice part itself.

So this test

is supposed to be a challenging test,

and you really shouldn't expect
to find it easy.

So if you find that

you are getting 60% or 70%,
it may not feel like it,

you're actually doing really well.

And one of the things
that makes the multiple choice

part hard is the time pressure
you will be under.

You're going to answer

50 questions in 90 minutes.

If you go online and practise,

you will find that
it's really quite a pace.

So it's important
to manage your time well.

So if you're getting stuck on a question

and there will be questions
that you get stuck on,

then the best thing to do is just

put some answer,

any answer, even if it's a guess,

flag that answer, that question
to come back to later

if you've got time and move on.

In the multiple choice questions,

you don't get any marks
taken off for incorrect answers.

So do make sure you put down an answer

for every question,
even if it is at the end,

literally a guess.

I'm now going to move on
to saying just a few things

about the second part of the test,
the essay.

So remember, this bit is only relevant

if you're applying for PPE.

So for the essays you have a choice

of four questions of which

you just choose one to answer.

So again you can see examples

of questions of past papers online.

And what you'll see is that on the whole

they are loosely related

to ideas in politics,

philosophy and economics,

but really only quite loosely

and we're definitely not expecting
any specific knowledge

on those subjects.

What we're looking for

is that you can communicate your ideas

in a clear and logical way,

that you can organise your thoughts

and then write effectively.

So my first bit of advice,

and this is probably obvious,

is make sure that you read the question

carefully so you know exactly
what's being looked for.

And then my next bit of advice

is, it's really tempting at this stage

to rush in and start
writing straight away.

And instead I would
say take a few moments,

think what you want to say,

use the writing materials
to plan out your answer,

and that way
you'll know where you're going

and you'll be able to organise it

in a much better way.

Remember, there isn't any one

right answer or best answer,

but it is important that what you do say

is communicated clearly.

And then the third bit of advice
is to remember

that a longer answer
is not necessarily better.

Instead of just writing down everything

that you can think of, all the ideas
that you've got on the topic.

Instead, choose your arguments carefully

and word them accurately.

And that's going to give you a

much clearer, nicer answer.

And finally,

on the day itself, all the best of luck.