Rebecca has written a blog post with lots of helpful tips about how to study for exams, such as your ALevels or GCSEs. These tips are also helpful for lots of other things you might need to study for! For example, at Oxford we have Collections, which are mock exams at the start of each term (there are several blog posts on TOG about Collections). As exams are slowly creeping closer, I’m sure a lot of you will be feeling stressed and under pressure. This is a completely normal reaction so you don’t have to worry! However, sometimes, feeling too stressed can impact upon your ability to study ..read more

I applied to St John’s College in October last year and was fortunate enough to be invited for an interview for biochemistry. I had 2 interviews, one at St John’s, and one at another college. Then, in January of this year, I received a conditional open offer, which was underwritten by St John’s. I had never heard of this, and neither had anyone else at my state grammar school, so I was a little apprehensive (which was not necessary!). Essentially this means: “An Open Offer guarantees you a place at Oxford, if you meet the offer conditions, but it is not yet possible to say at which college ..read more

My interview experience was a mixed bag. I arrived in Oxford the evening before my interviews; alone and absolutely terrified at the idea that I could fall at the last hurdle of what had been a long and emotionally draining application process. When I arrived at the college, I wasn’t thrilled to discover I had an interview at 8:30 the next morning at a different college 20 minutes away, but there was nothing I could really do other than try to remain calm and get a good night’s sleep. I avoided speaking to anyone else applying for Psychology because I was scared they’d all sound so much mor ..read more

If you've found out you've got an interview for Oxford, it's normal to be both nervous and excited! At That Oxford Girl, we have a number of different articles about interviews - and this one is about Rebecca's experience of her Earth Sciences interviews. Earth Sciences interviews follow the normal Oxford interview structure of being like tutorials. Being a subject spanning many areas of science, it is impossible to second guess what you may be asked but as a rule of thumb I’d say make sure you are comfortable with your A-Level subject content, as this will form the areas the tutors can rea ..read more

I remember it so clearly - the anxious wait after pre interview tests, which seemed to go on forever, to see if I would even get to go to interview. And then when I finally did find out, I only had just over a week to prepare and I was so full of questions with no idea where to even start! Here are some answers to questions I was dying to know the answer to a year ago! Will they test me on my personal statement? Honestly, probably less than you think. You certainly need to know your PS inside and out, because if you do get asked a question about something you said you read, you really need ..read more

In the autumn term (Michaelmas) I had tutorials at Wolfson College. Wolfson College is a graduate college and is the furthest out of the city centre - you might have heard of Lady Margaret Hall and St Hugh's College if you've heard people talking about far-out colleges, but Wolfson is even further! Wolfson is in the suburbs, and it made a lovely change to go there! The reason why I was having tutorials at Wolfson was because my tutor is based there - it's her college. To get to Wolfson, I either caught the bus or walked. Walking through suburban Oxford in the autumn was actually really love ..read more

When I saw on UCAS that my place to study Law at Worcester College had been confirmed, I didn’t believe it. I had read in the newspaper the year before that sometimes there were mistakes and acceptances and rejections got sent to the wrong people. In fact, I was so sure it was a mistake that I phoned Worcester College on results day to see if I actually had been accepted. I had first heard of imposter syndrome a year before this. My dad had heard about it on the radio and thought it summed me up. Every time I achieved something, I thought it was a fluke and it led to me overworking because ..read more

There are many beautiful libraries in Oxford but sometimes you may want a more chilled environment or somewhere you can collaborate with your friends over coffee and snacks. If you’re having trouble finding a space to work or are simply getting tired of your college library then read on for some inspiration - these are my favourite non-library places to work in Oxford! Skogen This is a lovely café very near to my college (Christ Church) and I have become a regular there! They have student discount and loyalty cards making it a good option for coffee and snacks (they do amazing cinnamon buns ..read more

How do you get onto the JCR Committee? There are two ways to get onto committee: by being interviewed, or by husting - which one you do depends on which role you are applying for. Interviews The role I have, as one of the JCR Access Officers, is interviewed. The interview process is really, really simple. When the time comes to elect the role, the Vice-President emails everyone saying they can apply, then all you do is email back to say you're interested, and then you're automatically invited to an interview! The interviews are only five minutes long, and each candidate is asked about three ..read more

Why study Earth Sciences? There are loads of reasons why you might study Earth Sciences. The breadth of the course allows you to come in from a range of outlooks on science. For example, I entered from the geography perspective of wanting to study volcanology (though I’ve since changed my mind) while others enter from the eyes of geophysics, geochemistry, computing and more. If you can think of a subject area that somehow relates to studying the Earth, the Earth Sciences course probably covers it. Having such a variety of subjects under one roof is good as it means you can dapple in lots of ..read more