Oxford PPE Interview Preparation Guide
Don’t know what to expect for Oxford PPE Interviews?
Interviews can seem daunting and hard to prepare for as you never quite know what to expect. However, they are extremely important, with many selections made almost entirely on interview performance alone. Luckily, there are a number of things you can do during the interview and in preparation that can really help you stand out. Conveying your passion and motivation is essential to a successful performance at interview - interviewers want to work with people who they can trust to get on with work without needing to be pushed. Those with a genuine interest and passion are going to be more likely to do this. This is why the first section of our 28-page guide is dedicated to showing you how to build evidence of wider subject exploration to convey your passion for the course - our PPE graduates lead you through how to know what to read (primary and secondary material), and how to cite key texts to justify your reasoning in answer to interview questions. Each book recommendation comes with a thinking task - an interview question that responds directly to the text’s content.
The pack also includes pointers for answering questions based on your personal statement, as well as countless accounts from successful PPE candidates. Gain insight into the interview process, and invaluable preparation tips for tackling the different formats of interview including personal statement / general interviews, open questions and problem-solving. Each provides a run through of their own interview experience, questions asked, and tips for tackling questions at Politics-focused interviews, Philosophy-focused interviews, Economics-focused interviews, and interdisciplinary interviews. We also provide three worked through interview questions for each subject, and 20+ additional questions for Philosophy, Politics and Economics, categorised into key course topics/ modules e.g. personal identity questions, political theory questions, macroeconomic questions etc.
Looking for PPE mentoring to further direct your independent preparation?
Having a PPE mentor can present an invaluable learning opportunity - U2 has a wonderful network of PPE undergraduates, graduates and postgraduates, who would be delighted to host tutorial sessions giving you exposure to some of the key topic areas within the discipline, support personal statement writing, admissions test and interview preparation. Book a free consultation on our Contact Us page for further details on our offerings and to discuss your university application. Also be sure to check out our university preparation Summer Schools on our co-curricular division website, Minds Underground.