Economics & PPE

Subject: PPE
A Levels: Maths, Further Maths, Economics, English
Date: 08/12/08
Place: Lincoln, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2 interviews with 2 tutors in each
Academic Questions: Philosophy: A situation was described where a train was
heading towards 5 people and I had the choice of pulling a lever so that the train went
down a different track and so only killed one person - I was asked what I would do.
Then the situation was changed so instead of pulling a level I would have to push
someone in front of the train to save the other 5 people and was asked what I would
do. Following on from this I was asked if any actions are justified by anything other
than their consequences.
Politics 1: I was given a map showing levels of corruption throughout the world and
asked why I thought corruption existed. Then was asked why levels of corruption
varied across the world and if I could think of any things which might reduce it. I was
also asked about to explain and expand briefly on a comment I made on my personal
statement about the "Sophist qualities necessary for election".
Politics 2: I was given a sheet 20mins before the interview with a graph showing
distribution of voters with ideologies from left to right then asked where a political
party which was vote maximising and when there was only other one political party
would place itself (in the centre). I was then asked if this would change if it was a
multi-party system. I then had to put the parties in the House of Commons (Labour,
Conservative, Lib Dems, SNP, Plain Cymru...) on a scale from left to right in terms of
ideology. Having been asked about the limitations of this scale (another axis was
needed with Authoritarian/Liberal) I was then asked to place the parties in this grid.
Economics: I was shown a graph with output per worker on the y-axis and capital on
the x-axis. I was asked to draw the function relating the two. I was then asked to draw
on a line to show investment if it was always 40% of total output. The tutor drew on a
line showing depreciation (a straight line) and I was asked where the firm would
produce (which was at where investment = depreciation to maximise output). On a
new graph the tutor drew another depreciation line but now the investment line was
curved (looked same as a Total Cost curve). I was asked again where the firm would
produce and what was the difference between the equilibriums (answer: the 1st
equilibrium was unstable as slightly below it depreciation was above investment so
capital stock would keep falling and output move towards the origin whereas slightly
above this equilibrium investment was above depreciation so growth in capital stock
would increase output until reached higher equilibrium, 2nd equilibrium was stable as
slightly below it investment was above depreciation so output would increase until got
back to equilibrium, and slightly above depreciation was above investment so output
would reduce until at equilibrium again). Was asked if I had heard of game theory
before and was shown a simple game and asked what I should do, then was shown
much longer problem with series of decisions between two players - was easy using
backwards induction i.e. work out what decision would be made by person at the end,
so figure of what each previous person would do to maximise their own benefit.

General Questions: No general questions

Subject: PPE
A Levels: Economics, Maths, Further Maths, History
Date: 7/12/08
Place: Oxord, Balliol
No of interviewers: Two tutors, in two different interviews Academic Questions:
Interview One
Passed a box of fair trade tea and asked my thought. Was steered towards the supply
and demand side of a firm with monopolistic and monopsonistic power as could be
the case without fair trade.
Discussed the trickle down effect of the fair trade benefits. Drew a diagram to
demonstrate the actual benefit to the consumer and producer.
Interview Two
Was given a sheet five minutes before with definitions and question and examples.
Was more in the style of a word play. I was asked of my thoughts on the definition of
intention- a person intends to do something if and only if they want to do it. Was
asked how relevant a definition this was in three different cases. When I showed some
unease with such a rigid definition I was asked to propose an alternative. The
interview then turned toward Wolff's into to political philosophy. Is it right for a govt
to intervene in the affair of the states people? Broke it down into- was a state justified
and- under which circumstances the intervention would be ethical. Faced a lot of
resistance with constant counter-arguing. However the counterarguments were
common to the topic using anarchical logic etc.
Subject: PPE
A Levels: English, History, Maths, Economics
Date: December 2008
Place: Trinity, Oxford
No of interviewers: 3
Academic Questions: Politics: Having not done politics, what areas are you
interested in. American Elections - what was interesting about them, something about
Obama and evangelical Christians, was his wanting support for them incongruent with
anti-Free Trade policies.
Economics: Got given a sheet of paper with a game theory question on it. Something
like: People A, B and C, A and B have 35, C has 25. A asks B for money; if B
accepts than he gets 50 minus the amount given to A, A gets the money B gives him.

If the exchange happens, C loses 5. What would happen? What would a social
planner think of the situation?
Philosophy: One question, 'What is a lie?'.
General Questions: None, nothing about Personal statement.

Subject: P.P.E. / E and M

A Levels: Economics, English, History, Maths
Date: Dec 08
Place: Keble / St Benets
No of interviewers: Keble interviews 2 tutors in each, St Benets 3 tutors and
seperate interview with senior master + colleague
Academic Questions: Keble Economics: Two econ tutors took it in turns to ask
questions on mathematical/economics puzzle given 20 mins before interview. First
question was about whether a firm should enter a market to challenge an existing
monopoly and the incumbent firms reaction and feasible responses to possible entry e.g. Firm A is a monopoly making 300,000 profits. If Firm B decides to enter it will
incur costs of 60,000 and each company will now gain 100,000 profits. Firm A can
start a price war or engage in advertising etc, should Firm B still enter the market on
each occasion and which would be Firm As best strategy... Question was arguably
flawed as only short term (i.e. one year/one time period game theory) was allowed...
Second question was about auctions and the best way for the buyers and sellers to
gain the best possible outcome. Buyer A had a ceiling price of 200 and Buyer B 100.
Two types of Auction, Dutch and English. Dutch bid down in 10s from 500, English
bid up in 10s from 0. Main aims of buyers are to 1) secure product and 2) pay
cheapest price. Questions asked along lines of which situation favoured buyer/seller
given original perfect information and later including asymmetry of information
No general questions or personal statement questions. Keble Politics and Philosophy:
Politics tutor first asked about areas most enjoyed in A-Level History course. Then
followed a discussion about difference between intention to and actual carrying out of
a crime with regards to punishment - e.g. If two men are holding a gun and pull the
trigger but one gun doesn't go off, should the man who didn't manage to kill someone
be punished in the same way as the person who murdered successfully... Philosophy
was entirely based around 3 similar arguments which consisted of two premises and a
conclusion. The third one was clearly false but you had to explain why: All people
over 10ft tall are over 5ft tall, People over 5ft tall are numerous, Therefore people
over 10ft tall are numerous...
Keble Economics and Management:
After econ interview for ppe got asked if i'd like to attend an e and m interview
simultaneously to my ppe application, explicitly stated that it would not effect my ppe

application and that i would be considered for both courses... Interview itself
consisted of more mathematical/game theory puzzles. There are 100 light bulbs
connected to 100 light switches. There are 100 Oxford tutors numbered 1 to 100.
Tutor 1 turns on light switch one and all multiples of 1. Tutor 2 light switch 2 and all
multiples of 2 and so on and so forth. How many light switches are left on? (there
were questions leading towards an answer but i can't remember them all...) Then there
was a general management interview centring around where one would place a fort on
a map given there was an enemy, finite number of resources, men, strategic positions
etc and discussions based on initial decision. Then got asked about whether i'd
consider doing e and m over ppe, whether i was interested in management etc but
again made clear that application was being considered for both subjects and that
supposedly could get asked to choose between the two...
St Benets PPE:
Automatically got interviewed there as was 2nd choice college (received letter for
interview before pp interview at keble...) Consisted of brief questioning about labour
market graphs, post code lottery and another question on punishment/justification.
General Questions: No general questions in academic interviews but did have a
general interview at St Benets with college master and the former master of All Souls
(?)... Questions centred around what i thought i would bring to the college, extracurricular interests etc, whether i would fit in with the traditional surroundings, brief
questions on job/gap year plans, as well as more detailed discussion of my take on the
current economic situation.

Subject: Economics
A Levels: Economics, History, Maths, Further Maths
Date: 11th December 2008
Place: Cambridge, Emmanuel College
No of interviewers: 4, 2 interviews with two people each
Academic Questions:
After a set reading on current governmental policies, I was asked how quantitative
easing would effect the price of government bonds, and the effect on the yield of the
bonds.
Why at a time of recession and when our economy is approaching deflation, should
we have negative interest rates. How would this help our current situation.
f(x)=A-Bx. Sketch the curve y=f(x)
Sketch the curve y=Ax-Bx2
What would be the rational way to pay for a bill at

the end of a meal at a restaurant?

o Would you split the bill equally?
o Would you split the bill accordingly to the price of what you ordered?
If a consumer was observed buying a good for 20, and then seen buying two of the
same good when it was sold at 10 each, would the consumer buy two units of that
good for 28 together.
A man buys a lottery ticket, and pays for insurance against burglary. Is this an
inconsistent act?
General Questions:
Asked why I wanted to study Economics
The reason for me taking retakes in certain AS modules

Subject: PPE
A Levels: History, English, Maths and Economics
Date: December 5th 2008
Place: Pembroke, Oxford
No of interviewers: 4
Academic Questions: First question was called 'the unexpected exam' problem,
basically the question was that a headmaster has told his students in the last week of
the term that he will set them a test and that they won't know about it the night before,
a clever pupil says that because the headmaster never lies, based on his conditions
there won't be a test. I was then asked to explain why. I talked for a bit out loud for a
bit and with a little bit of prompting clocked that it's a standard backward induction
question.
Politics Don asked me how I'd go about writing an essay on the links between
economic growth and democracy, I told him I'd want to get some case studies and
actual data about the economic changes of countries as they've made democratic
reforms. He then gave me a graph and asked me what it showed, I said it showed a
positive correlation between economic growth and democracy but qualified my
statement, saying that the graph was ambiguous as it gave no indication of whether
economic growth caused democracy or vice-versa. The politics guy seemed to like
this and started nodding pretty hard.
Philosophy guy asked me another game theory question. Apparently it's quite famous
but I'd never heard of it. There are two boxes, one has 10 and the other has either 0
or 1000. You can take both of the boxes or choose only one. However, the guy who
decides which amount will be in the second box always knows whether you'll pick a
single box or take both and decides that if you're going to pick both boxes then he'll
put nothing in the second box, but that if you're going to pick a single box, he'll put
1000 in the second box. The question is then which should you pick... I wasn't great

on this partly because the question is quite a difficult one to articulate and the
philosophy Don had an eastern european accent and wasn't very good at explaining it.
The Economics don then asked me about advertising in the real world and asked me
to compare it to advertising in perfect competition. Talked about perfect competition
for a bit...
Subject: PPE
A Levels: History; Economics; Maths; Latin
Date: 8th December 2008
Place: Worcester - Oxford
No of interviewers: Two interviewers for each interview.
Academic Questions: First interview with the Economics and Politics dons, picked
up words or phrases used in my Personal Statement and drew out my understanding
whilst stimulating discussion. For example, talked a lot about Globalisation with the
Economics don, referencing my reading of Joseph Stiglitz and developing it into
economic principles such as negative externalities. Talked about the concept of
Alienation with the Politics don, elaborating into how Marx's views are still
accessable and examples in the real world, followed by discussion over how the
problem could be remedied
Second interview with two Philosophy Dons, given a sheet of logic and philosophy
questions to think through 25 mins before actually sitting down with the dons. Logic
questions about sheep on a farm, e.g. if most of the sheep are lambs and most of the
sheep are white, must most of the sheep be white lambs? Stuck closely to the
questions on the sheet for the logic part. The "philosphy" questions combined
problems about arguments (if these premises hold must it lead to this conclusion) and
some basic moral problems (how far is someone responsible for their actions if they
can see no other way?), diverted more into discussion.
General Questions: No real general questions, was asked whether I enjoyed puzzle
solving but not in an entirely serious manner.

Subject: Economics
A Levels: History, Electronics, Economics, Further Mathematics, Physics
Date: 09/12/2008
Place: St. Catharine's, Cambridge
No of interviewers: 1 (in general interview) then 2 (in Economics interview)

Academic Questions: I was asked to/on/about:

-Explain what Economics is...
-Books in my personal statement (arguement summary, sections which appealed to
me)
-A non-mainstream economics(-related) book I'd read recently & what I'd learned
from it (seemed happy I talked about a statistics book instead)
-Current economics stuff, esp. on what to do with fiscal/monetary solutions
THEN linked to exchange rate mechanism stuff (long & confusing)
-Development Economics:
--->Prebisch-Singer
--->S. Korea & Patents
--->protectionism (linked with current Economics discussion too)
--->Comparative advantage vs. expected increased returns as reasons for trade
specialisation (talked about Japan & S. Korean car industry immediately post-war)
-How can I relate Economics to:
--->The prisoner's dilemma (& subsequent qs on cartels)
--->A topic I'd studied in History
--->Any aspect of Amazonian tribes (was asked to make up stuff)...(my general
interviewer was a Dr in Human Geography)
General Questions: -Do I have a life? (presumably outside of academic stuff)
-How good was my teaching (esp. in Economics)?
-Do I think I will pass my A-levels?
-Why do an economics degree?
-What does economics mean to me?
-Why my college?

Subject: Economics
A Levels: Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Economics
Date: 5/12/08
Place: Jesus, Cambridge
No of interviewers: 2 interviews - one in each Academic Questions: Both interviews
were based on a 10 page prep study given an hour before the first interview. It was
about how the physical and human geography of Africa affects it's economic
development (written by Paul Collier). First interview was mainly based on how
much I absorbed from the text (key ideas and concepts: though mainly focusing on the
physical side. Asked about my personal opinion regarding the future of Africa. At the
end of this, a maths question relating to the theme of the text was given: Find
Revenue Maxmisation where R=-x^2+2x. Second interview was more on the human
geography of the text, but tended to attack and challenge every point made. (e.g.
comparing the situations with that of other countries...) Really only needed to know

basic economics (e.g. investment is important for growth...)They tried to get you to
think on your feet as much as possible. Didn't question my personal statement or
books I'd read.
General Questions: Only question not based on the article (right at the very end) Why Cambridge?

Subject: Economics & Mangement

A Levels: Further Maths, Maths, Economics, Physics, Chemistry
Date: 10/12/08-12/12/08
Place: Pembroke, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2 people in each Interview
Academic Questions: I had two interviews, each one had 1 Economics and 1
Management tutor, one asked questions while one took notes-this seemed to be the
format for most candidates at the college.
First Interview
Why Economics & Management? Why Management? Why do we study
Management? (Mention differing social aspect of management, dynamic nature of
people-don't make the mistake of saying Econ is theoretical and Management is
practical, they do NOT want to hear that)
It took him over 5 minutes to give me the next question: A traveller walking through
the desert, has 2 enemies who follow him. Traveller is carrying bottle of water/food.
While the traveller is sleeping, Enemy 1 poisons his water and sneaks away. Enemy 2
follows, not knowing Enemy 1 has been there before and plugs a hole in the bottle so
the water flows out. Traveller dies of dehydration the next day. You're the prosecution,
you have all the evidence, which Enemy will you prosecute for murder and why?
(Neither, argue along the lines of Intent/Action/Consequence)
Then the Economics tutor asked me a maths question: y=-x^3. What type of function
is it? Explain. What graphical property does such a function have? Find the tangent at
the point where x=-2.
Second Interview
What questions were you asked in the first interview? Economics Tutor: Suppose
you're one of four firms in a new industry prone to fashion/fads, you know the
industry will not exist 10 years from now. You all face a choice: form a cartel and
collude to restrict output and raise price (make more SNP), or just produce
competitively as is. Rules: If you break away from the cartel, you raise output and
make massive profits that year, but you will not be able to produce in the industry
ever again. What is going to happen now-is a cartel going to be formed (Use
backward induction to get to answer-start from the 10th year).
Management Tutor: Establish why firms in different industries make different levels
of profit. Then had a long discussion about why firms in the SAME industry make
different levels of profit (assuming they face the same costs/operate in the same

market)-special reference to the airline industry in the US, and the car industry in
Japan/US.
Then briefly spoke about why football players salaries should be capped-argument
that football clubs won't make profits. Do you think football clubs will make a profit?
Is it likely that these profits are passed on to players in terms of higher wages? Use
specific examples.
General Questions: Where have you come from? Tell me about your school. What
are you studying in Maths/Economics? What do you plan to do in your gap year?

Subject: Economics
A Levels: Maths, Further Maths, Economics, Physics
Date: 15/12/2008
Place: Cambridge, Sidney Sussex
No of interviewers: 1st interview: 1 interviewer, 2nd interview: 2 interviewers
Academic Questions: 1st Interview:
What is the role of the financial sector, in a more marcoeconomic perspective?
Draw the circular flow of income diagram.
What is the equation for Aggregate Demand?
Working with your AD equation and the following equations, equate them for savings:
i) S = Y - T - C
ii) AD = Y
Estimate the percentages deficits/surpluses of each component of the resultant
equation for the US. Note that overall, savings are negative.
2nd Interview:
So what does Nigel Lawson know about green economics and what are his views on
the topic?
Assume that everyone in poverty in Bangladesh will die as a result of no curbing of
CO2 emissions, why should the developed world care? Try to consider it from a social
welfare aspect. The interviewer places 7 blank pieces of paper on a coffee table and
asks me to choose two, then reveals the two graphs I chose. The interviewer asks me
to relate the two graphs, see whether there was any correlation, and explain why from
an economic perspective, what I would expect. The two graphs were one of a linear
graph of the S&M 500 stock listing, and of CPI inflation rates in the US, from 19862005.
General Questions: No general questions.

Subject: PPE

A Levels: Maths, Physics, History, Economics

Date: 8/12/08
Place: St. Peter's College, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2
Academic Questions: Economics: He asked me what in my Economics course at
school I found particularly interesting. He then asked me questions on the subject I
raised (power with the interviewee) and helped me talk through some of the
questions/problems raised.
Politics: Asked me about what interested me in my History course at school, and
asked me questions about that, getting me to explain and try to justify slavery in the
USA. He then asked me about the Obama election (current affairs - know your
stuff!).
General Questions:

Subject: PPE
A Levels: Maths, Physics, History, Economics
Date: 8/12/08
Place: St. Peter's College, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2
Academic Questions: Politics: Asked me about any area in politics that particularly
interested me. I mentioned some things on my personal statement - but he seemed to
disregard this and ask me about China anyway. Questions were about how China's
free trade/totalitarian government and how this interplays. Then further questions
about protectionism and free trade and how that relates to the government in control
(democratic/totalitarian).
Philosophy: Asked me what interested me in Philosophy. I mentioned a book I had
read and a part that particularly interested me (Descartes' Meditations) and we talked
about epistomology. His questions got increasingly complicated - about why
scepticism is important and the value of knowing that we know what we know.
General Questions: none

Subject: Economics

A Levels: Further Maths, History, Economics

Date: 08.12.2008
Place: St Catharine's College, Cambridge
No of interviewers: 1 person in general interview (human geographer) 2
economists (funnily enough)
Academic Questions: What caused the current financial crisis? (for those in later
years, that's the credit crunch and collapse of banks etc.). What measures do you think
should be taken to solve these problems? Explain the multiplier effect? What affects
its size? - propensity to save/spend/invest Could nationalisation of banks lead to them
having monopoly power?
What problems do banks suffer from in LEDCs? Do you know any banks that have
managed to get around these problems? - Grameen bank Said in personal statement
that was interested in economic theory, as well as its limitations - what are its
limitations? What is perfect competition? Which economic models do you think are
most relevant or applicable?
General Questions: Why economics?
Why St Catharine's?
Asked me couple questions about extra-curricular stuff on my p.s. that were unusual.
What does it mean to be poor?
How is this measured?
What does it mean to be happy?
How is this measured?
He was a human geographer so asked my about environmental degradation and how
this can e measured. He liked measuring stuff, and discussing problems that arise with
the relevant methods of doing so.
Subject: PPE
A Levels: Maths, English, History, Latin
Date: 9th December 2008
Place: Oxford, Somerville College
No of interviewers: 1 for an Economics interview and 2 for a Politics/Philosophy
interview Academic Questions: Before the economics interview I was given fifteen
minutes to prepare the following question:

"You are playing a game with at least one other person, in which each of you has to
simultaneously choose a number between 1 and 100 (decimals allowed). The winner
is the person who chooses the number closest to two thirds of the average of all the
numbers chosen. What number should you choose?"
After we talked about this problem in the interview, the interviewer asked me about
competition, asset prices and what affects them, and we talked about instances in
which the idea of second guessing human response to things/anticipating trends would
be relevant e.g. share prices. (n.b. she was aware that I didn't do economics)
In the Politics/Philosophy interview, I spent the first 5-10 minutes talking to the
Politics tutor, who mentioned a book that I said I'd read on my personal statement,
asking me why and what about it I enjoyed. So we talked about liberty, Isaiah Berlin's
"Two Concepts of Liberty", and a bit of Marxist political philosophy. The Philosophy
tutor then asked me about Descartes, and what interested me about him (I'd talked
about him in my personal statement). We moved on to logic, and she then gave me a
list of statements like this: 'Jim is lying' 'Jim is not telling the truth'. I had to find
instances in which one of these could be true and the other false, and vice-versa.
General Questions: In the economics interview: Why do you want to study
economics?

Subject: Economics and Management

Date: 10/12/08 -12/12/08
Place: Oxford - St Hugh's
No of interviewers: 2 interviews - 1 person in each
Academic Questions:
Economics Interview: There are two banks, one offers annual interest rates of 5% in
the first year, 4% in the second and 3% in the third. The other one offers 3% in the
first, 4% in the second and 5 % in the third. Which bank will you put your money in?
Differentiate e^(e^x).
A chain rule maths question. A logic question about 10 people: person one knows 9
people, person 2 knows 8 people, person 3 knows 7 people...person 9 knows 1 person.
How many people does person 10 know? There was another person in the room
(research student I think) and whilst the tutor conducted the interview he read my
personal statement. After the tutor had finished, he then picked out the books I had
said I had read and asked a few questions about those.
Management interview: I know you haven't done biology for a few years
but....WHAT IS A MAMMAL? What are the characteristics of a mammal?....He went
on about this for a good 10 minutes and at the end he told me I needed to think
'outside the box'. I really didn't see the point of this. Let's talk about the financial
crisis. Do you think we should have a world government?

What do you think of the steps the government has taken to improve the economy?
General Questions: Why do you want to study economics and management?
Are there any questions you would like to ask me?
How do you think you did in the TSA?

Subject: PPE
A Levels: Maths, History, French, Chemistry, AS Critical Thinking
Date: December 2008
Place: Wadham and Balliol, Oxford
No of interviewers: 3 interviews, 2 people at each
Academic Questions: Interview 1:Economics: It was all about auctions- At an
auction what does the auctioneer want? What does the bidder want? How do auctions
differ from other methods of distributing goods? What might you sell at an auction
and why? How might you make a profit at an auction? If we auctioned a pot of money
with unknown value to you and the other candidates, what would you expect to
happen? What if the pot was replaced with a painting? Philosophy: He
wrote the following statements on the board: "We ought to drive on the left hand side
of the road", "Barack Obama is prettier than George Bush", "Slavery is wrong", "The
Earth is round". He then asked- Assuming these statements are all facts, is there
anything different about them? (I didn't get this so he had to explain that the first
statement was a fact we imposed on ourselves whilst the last one was a fact that could
be scientifically proven). He then asked if the fact about slavery was more similar to
the first or last fact and why. Interview 2 (politics): First we talked about
international relations. He asked why countries made treaties with one another and
then why they made human rights treaties with one another. We then had a general
discussion about this. The second part was weird. I was given a bar graph which
showed the percentage of people in different age groups who called themselves
patriotic. With each increasing age group, a higher percentage of people were
patriotic. He asked how the graph could be interpreted (I said either people became
increasingly patriotic as they aged or successive generations were becoming less
patriotic). He asked which seemed more likely and why and then challenged my
answers. Interview 3 (Politics and economics at Balliol): He saw that I'd written
about Jonathan Wolff's book on my personal statement and we discussed whether the
state could be justified. In the economics part, I was asked about micro-finance
because I'd written about it on my personal statement but I think I missed the point of
what she was asking...
General Questions: None at Wadham. At Balliol they asked what I'd thought of my
Wadham interviews...
Subject: PPE

Date: 01/12/07

Place: Oxford Pembroke

No of interviewers: 3

Academic Questions: The tutors asked me to choose which area out of the three I
would like to start with and the philosophy fellow picked up on Descartes, which I
mentioned in my personal statement. How would I know that the situation was reality
and not a dream or something I had just imagined? I said something about
determining the existence of an external world I am connecting to by perhaps
conferring with them, thus to gain a cumulative perspective. Or if something occurs
that surprises me then I would know I did not fabricate it and its not something
internal. He asked about how would one could determine certainty if we are limited
by our physical senses and the politics guy followed this about how I would go about
determining conviction in political ideas. He also asked about the conflict of public
and private interest and how government should be organised to fulfil both. The
economics fellow asked me about a piece of chocolate being broken into 100 pieces
and the smallest number of times it could be broken. Also about whether inflation was
possible in a barter economy. I think they approved if you broke the problems into
composite aspects and looked at it comprehensively as well as in a straight forward
fashion. The politics tutor followed these problems by asking me a question about
game theory then asking me to relate the thought experiment to the real world. I
responded relating it to the unequal bargaining power of large buyers and small
agricultural suppliers in the developing world.

General Questions: No general questions

Subject: Economics
Date of Interview: 14/12/7
Place: Christ's, Cambridge
No of interviewers: 3 (2 in the academic interview, 1 in the general interview)
Academic Questions:

Given that you have estimated the value of a human life to be 1.4m (I
submitted an essay on calculating the value of a human life known as the
VSL- value of a statistical life) would you spend 50m on a rescue mission to
help three astronauts stranded in space?

Knowing that I was studying British History 1919-1939, I was asked what was
relevant from that time period in the last six months.

There is a 20000 investment with a 25% chance of reaping 100000 (and so a

75% chance of losing your money)- what would you do?

A man leaves a lecture room (call it room A) and goes into another lecture
room (call it room B). In doing so, the average age in room A goes up and the
average age in room B goes up. What has just happened? It is possible that the
man was in the older half of the people in room A?

I was shown a quadratic equation and told that it was a total cost curve- I was
asked what was the relationship between output and total costs. I talked about
the derivatives.

There are four envelopes containing either 60, 30, 15 or 5. There are two
people, A and B who each have one envelope. They know what is in their own
envelope but not in the other person's. They are told that if they both want to
swap envelopes, a swap will take place. But if one of them does not want to
OR they both don't want to, then no swap will take place. What do you expect
to happen?

General Questions:

Given that most people from your school like to take a gap year, why aren't
you?

Where do you see yourself in five years time?

Don't you think it is strange that you do not study the Great Depression in
Economics A level?

We talked about politics in Sri Lanka. I tried to keep it economicsy by talking

about corruption.

Subject: PPE

Date: 04/12/07

Place: Christ Church, Oxford

No of interviewers: 2 (Both economics tutors)

Academic Questions: Given 4 questions in envelope 20minutes before.

1) A town has a fairground with rides. One councillor says charge entry fee and then unlimited use.
Another councillor says no entry fee,but charge for each ride. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each system? Which is best for profit-maximising?
2) What are the implications of the falling dollar on the rest of the world?
3) Draw the curve modx+mody=1
4) For the curve modx+mody is less than or equal to root2, find the point where x^2+y^2 is maximised.

Subject: PPE
Date: December, 2007
Place: Lincoln, Oxford
Comments:
Interview 1
I see you have finished your a-levels what have you been doing?
Where do economic principles apply there?
You learned about perfect completion, what are the conditions of it?
So why do firms operate at P=MC?
Ok so if you extend the MC curve so that it crosses the demand curve twice does it
matter which point it cuts are they both equal, and why?
Given that information can you plot the average cost curve?
What does logic mean to you?
Two logic problems- sleep is the best help and not to get confuses with the wordiness
(not that I achieved either)
Interview 2

Given graphs 20min before.

Then asked to describe and give possible reasons for trends.
What is democracy?
What are the flaws in it?
If a building was burning who is it ethical to save - your family member or a
doctor./cancer research? Why discussion centred on this for 10 minutes.
Subject: PPE
Date: December 2007
Place: Corpus Christi, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2 interviews with 2 people in each
Academic Questions: Politics - assess the merits of individual leadership versus
collegiate leadership. Also discussed the issue of accountability in politics.
Philosophy - had to defend something I had said on personal statement (that there are
no right or wrong answers in
philosophy) so he asked what is the point of having such a philosophy department if
there are no right answers. Economics - mainly asked questions around the theory of
the firm (weird question about Chinese college returns) and game theory.
General Questions: What areas and skills of previous studies do you think are the
most similar to those you will encounter in PPE?

Subject: PPE
Date: December 2007
Place: Oriel, Oxford
No of interviewers: Two per interview; one interview for each subject
Academic Questions: Politics: I was given a choice of three questions, one of which
I had to discuss. I chose to explore torture. Questions were a) give examples of
general rules against torture which would be accessible worldwide; b) would this
mean that there would be no opportunity for torture? c) if you were a politician who
could use torture extra-legally to obtain information which could save lives on a large
scale (i.e. 9/11) would you do this?. After talking through these, they asked more
specific questions on the model I had suggested such as the moral implications of
those who had to administer torture (professional torturers? - 'not a Sunday afternoon
job') and the fact that my utilitarian basis contradicted my insistence on transparency

and accountability. They tried to get me into a position where I would contradict
myself. Then we started to move on to wider questions such as who should rule?
which came out of the discussion, but ran out of time. Philosophy: This was entirely
on logic. They did not ask me anything about ethics or political philosophy, which I
had mentioned on my personal statement. I was given a sheet with three questions to
'think over' for 20 mins. One of the questions looked at ambiguities in language i.e.
Alice and Bob picked up a crate - had to find instances in which A and B EACH
picked up a crate was true, but A and B TOGETHER picked up a crate was false, and
vice versa. Then had to explain if a list of similar statements had the same type of
ambiguity, and give examples. The other was an article disputing natural selection, a
counter-argument and a reply. I had to find the main points of the argument and
counter argument, and explain how the analogies worked.
Economics: I was given the pirate question and macro data to look at beforehand. On
the pirate question: is this fair? what would happen if D and E were offered the
opposite number of coins? if A were more risk-loving what could A have offered? On
the macro data over a twenty year period - was given three graphs showing export and
import levels, income growth and exchange rate levels. Questions included: example
of trade deficit and surplus? When does rate of imports increase? How to find this
mathematically? How to find balance of payments? How to find total debt?
General Questions: Was based completely on the material (questions, articles, etc)
they had given 20 mins beforehand to prepare - no questions on my personal
statement, specific books I read, etc.

Subject: P.P.E.
Date: 03/12/07
Place: Worcester, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2 interviews, 2 people in each
Academic Questions: First interview (2 philosophy fellows) - given 25 minutes to
read through a logic question and a philisophical "puzzle".
Logic question - there is an island and on this island there are white, brown and black
bears. There are three different types of bear, alpha, beta, gamma (bears can be more
than one type). There then followed a set of questions based on observations which
were initially taken to be true, and then taken to be untrue. I then had to explain my
reasoning as to whether a statement made was therefore true or false. The
philisophical puzzle was to do with the self - something along the lines of: A person
never changes, my body is always changing (based on scientific facts e.g. cells are
always being replaced etc) therefore I am not my body. Effectively had to then discuss
the two premises and the conclusion... Was allowed to make notes and then had to
explain my conclusions to the interviewers, one logic, one the more general
philisophical question. Second interview (1 economics and 1 politics) - Economics
tutor first started by asking me a little bit about the work I had sent up, before

progressing onto the fact that I had discussed a bit of my stone essay in my personal
statement - asked my opinions on specific facts and asked me about how I had carried
out some data analysis and about my more general conclusions. Politics tutor then
started by asking me about free speech, in particular in relation to the recent debate
that had been sparked by the Oxford Union allowing Irvine and Griffin to debate free
speech a week earlier. Reasoned about whether or not it was acceptable and where the
line could be drawn over what is acceptable and what is not in terms of free speech.
Then he had a stock question (asked every candidate i spoke to...) about a South
African sprinter, Oscar Pistorius, who has had his legs amputated just below the knee
and now has special prosphetic "blades" which allow him to run. He is almost
Olympic standard and the question ran along the lines of whether or not I thought he
should be allowed to compete in the next Olympics.
General Questions: Why did I want to study P.P.E.?

Subject: Economics And Management

Date: 5th-7th Dec 2007
Place: Hertford College, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2 in the first interview, 1 in the second
Academic Questions: The first interview was entirely based on my written work.
The second interview had mathematics questions about circular motion and
hypotheses testing about intellectual people listening to classical music (who you
would survey etc). There was also a question about sustainable development
techniques if I was a politician in a developing country.
General Questions: None at the first interview. At the second interview, where I see
myself in five years.

Subject: Economics
Date: 3/12/07
Place: Cambridge, Queens'
No of interviewers: Two
Academic Questions: Do you believe it was right for the government to inject the
volume of money they did into Northern Rock? What economic lessons can be learnt
from the Northern Rock experience? Differential equations, graph sketching,
statistically analysing normal distributions. Statistical comparisons of a different scale
projects, relating to the effects of demand upon revenues of these projects.

General Questions: None

Neither interviewer came across as being hostile. No questions asked were intended to
trick you.
Subject: Economics
Date: 6th December 2007
Place: Gonville & Caius, Cambridge
No of interviewers: 1 (general interview) + 2 (economics interview)
Academic Questions: Economics interview: In your personal statement you talk
about the interplay between social and economic goals. Do you think there is a tradeoff here? What's the difference between equity and equality? [some more questions
that i forget] How would you try and measure poverty? What do you think of
alternative measures: e.g. measuring happiness? Is there scope for government policy
in this case? Draw y=4/x<BR>2. What did Northern Rock do wrong? As a
mathematician do you not find it frustrating that economic models of human
behaviour are not very mathematically rigorous?
General Questions: General interview: Why economics? How have you shown
independence, time management etc. so that you will be able to cope at university?
What other activities may you take part in at Gonville & Caius &/Cambridge
Subject: Economics
Date: 29/11/07
Place: Jesus Cambridge
No of interviewers: one person in each of the two interviews
Academic Questions: Explain the theory behind a model given two hours
beforehand (Director's Law); explain how to find the profit maximising quantity given
a profit function for a quadratic and a cubic, including explaining whether it was a
maximum or a minimum; talk about the best choices for players in a given game
theory situation, including whether allowing the players to talk beforehand would
change the expected outcome; talk about whether given statistics were plausible
(correlations between corruption, freedom of the press, and time in power of the
current government); why do you want to study economics; how could we price
drinks to alter the amount of binge drinking.
General Questions: None, although they did ask if I had any questions for them.

Subject: PPE
Date: 3/10/07
Place: Oxford University, Univ
No of interviewers: 2 in each interview. 2 interviews one PP one E
Academic Questions: POLITICS based entirely on passage given before interview.
PHILOSOPHY. Can't remember exactly. There are 2 boxes, one contains 100, the
other contains either 0 or 1000. You can choose either the second box only or both
boxes. There is a predictor who knows exactly how you are going to act before you
make your choice. He is never wrong. If he knows that you will pick both boxes, he
puts nothing in the second box. If he knows that you will choose the second box only,
he puts 1000 in the second box. Which choice do you make? You have a friend who
knows what is in the boxes, is it worth listening to his advice before making a choice,
assuming that he has your interests at heart? Can the friend ever see 1100? Thats not
exactly right, something along those lines anyway ECONOMICS. 20 mins to think
about problem based on auctions. System where the highest bidder wins the item, but
pays the amount bid by the second highest bidder. It is a secret auction. Will this
system encourage honest valuations from the bidders? (i.e. will they bid what they
value the item to be rather than exaggerating/undervaluing) Answer is yes. Compare
to other systems of bidding.
General Questions: None. Nothing on personal statement or essays. Only asked
about the problems set and the passage.

Subject: PPE
Date: 3/12/2007
Place: Corpus Christi College, Oxford
No of interviewers: four in all, two in each of my two interviews
Academic Questions: In Economics: Looked at a graph and discussed possible
reasons for the increasing difference between the average earnings of high school
graduates and college graduates in China- talked about the development of industries
requiring greater levels of expertise, then was asked more generally about trade and
globalisation. then on the other side of the sheet was a question with a game theory
problem, where there were two players and a sum of money and one player had to
guess a number for the amount of money, the sum they guess would go to the person
with the money whilst they would get the remainder, and the idea was for the player
guessing to profit maximise. The questions they asked were similar for all the
candidates at the college. 10 minutes. In Philosophy: had a discussion about rights
and the difference between rights and interests, and could I think of any cases in
which my interests did not overlap with my rights. 10 minutes. In Politics: began
with something from my personal statement, Joseph Stigllitz's Globalisation and its

Discontents, went on to discuss the political impacts of Globalisation for the rest of
the interview, which was very much directed by the interviewer and he seemed to
have a clear idea of where he wanted to go.
General Questions: None

Subject: PPE
Date: Dec 2007
Place: Oxford, St Peters
No of interviewers: 2 in first and second, 3 in third
Academic Questions: Politics: What is your earliest political memory? Explain the
relevance of that and how it affected politics at the time? Ask any question about
politics that interests you? Now answer that question. What is leadership?
Philosophy: What reading have you done about philosophy? Little talk about that. Do
you believe in God? Explain why (logically or rationally). Now argue the opposite
argument. Economics: Discuss the main article in the economist last week?
(Something on the weakening US dollar). What have you been studying at school?
Discussion about oligopoly and whether in the supermarket industry it is the
preferable structure for the food market at the moment. Lots of UNIT 4. PPE
interview: Is taxation the same as slavery? They basically managed to make me agree
after much cleverness that it was. What History have you been discussing at school?
Why do you enjoy it? Puzzles: they gave me two simple arguments structured exactly
the same way that worked and then gave me another that didn't and asked me to
discuss why it didn't work. Venn diagrams popped up. They asked me to go through
and explain a piece of text on economics which had some very simple maths, about
whether one firm would enter the market if the other firm did various things to try and
dissuade them. Stuff on firms objectives, limit, predatory pricing.
Subject: Economics
Date: 10/12/2007
Place: Fitzwilliam, Cambridge
No of interviewers: 2
Academic Questions: they showed me 3 graphs about lending, borrowing and
interest rates and then they asked me to explain any relations between the graphs.
Then they asked me to relate this to the U.K economy in the past. Then they asked me
about monopolies and stuff.
General Questions: No general questions. They just asked me about maths and
development economics. They said I have got an article here, I am not going to show
it to you, but it is about climate change and how it affects the rich and the poor

differently. They asked me to explain what the article could be about. And they kept
on switching between maths and economics
Subject: PPE
Date: 3/12/06 to 6/12/06
Place: Oxford, Univ. College
No of interviewers: 2 people in each of the two interviews
Academic Questions: Dividing a cake: what is the fairest way to divide a cake
between two people if they are indifferent to who cuts and who chooses. What's
wrong with the system of I cut, you choose? Should governments be obliged to go to
war, based entirely around an article/passage. Is war mainly governed by self interest?
Variation on the Doctor's Dilemma in Economics, this time a drugs test at an airport.
Also the inheritance game: mother wants to give an heirloom to one of her 7
daughters, but doesn't know what they value it at, what's the best system to produce an
honest answer from all of them?
General Questions: None, entirely academic and nothing from personal
statement/books read
Subject: economics
Date: 4.12.06
Place: Cambridge, Trinity
No of interviewers: two separate interviews, one on one in each.
Academic Questions: Are there any benefits of child labour? If university is simply a
screening device for employers rather than an addition to pupils' capital, then does
that make a difference to who should pay for university? Then was given a graph
showing the ratio of wages of the top decile to the bottom decile for men and women,
and asked why inequality had increased more in the case of men than for women.
General Questions: None.

Subject: Economics
Date: 5th December 2006
Place: Magdalene, Cambridge

No of interviewers: two interviews, general with one non-economist and academic

with two economists
Academic Questions: economist's solution to climate change. ummarise the stern
report on climate change. what would change the gradient of the AS curve (rather than
shifting it)? what's happening in the foreign exchange market at the moment? (dollar
depreciating) why is this so? give some examples of foreign companies taking over
british businesses. what effect will this have on the UK economy? who else was
nominated for the 2006 economics nobel prize apart from Phelps (the winner)? tell me
about microfinance.
General Questions: asked me a question about the essay i sent in. Looking at
personal statement, asked about my work experience and what i did there. also a few
maths questions, integration and differentiation : integrate 1/x differentiate sinx - cosx
and a couple of other maths things i can't remember of similar standard. what
countries i've travelled to. any questions?

Subject: PPE
Date: December 2006
Place: Oxford, Queens college
No of interviewers: 2 in both interviews
Academic Questions: PPE 1 hour test that you really can not revise for. Two
interviews both twenty minutes, one for economics and politics, one for philosophy.
Both entirely based on questions given before going in to the interview (one question
for each subject), again not really anything you can prepare for. Economics question
about train times/cost vs the opportunity cost of taking the car. Politics question about
various voter preferences and what you should advise candidates to do in order to get
the maximum amount of votes. Meant to use common sense. They seemed to want
you to think out loud and talk through the process. The Philosophy question gave a
definition of acting freely: the ability to have acted otherwise in a given situation.
Then they gave a situation when person A has his hand seized and is forced to turn a
light switch on. Was he acting freely? Whether or not you said yes or no you needed
to argue your case. I said person was not acting freely. Then asked who actually
turned on the light in this situation. I said it was the person whose finger came into
contact with the switch. Then they said that by definition, if the person was wearing a
glove, would it be the glove that turned on the light? I the changed my mind and said
the person who turned it on would be the person who had the idea (in his own head) to
turn it on. Then they counter argued not exactly sure what they meant. Then asked
what is choice/ decision? (answer they gave is that choice is simply choice!) But I
tried to twist their question and answered in terms of what affects choice.
General Questions: Nothing about my personal statement, Nothing about my essays
I sent up, No general questions about current affairs/ books I had read.

Subject: PPE
Date: December 2006
Place: Pembroke College, Oxford
No of interviewers: 3
Academic Questions: Politics: What is the intellectual justification of studying
politics? With the passing of Marxism in the mainstream is liberalism now the
dominant objective towards which all ideas aim? Some extensive discussion about
democracy, comparing Hobbes and Locke, should political ideas be seen in the
context of the period they were developed etc Any country that is democratic with a
GDP per capita over $4,000 has never regressed away from democracy, why? How
does Russia fit into this model? What countries would be considered economically
developed but not democratic (e.g Singapore). Economics: Why is there a business
cycle? Brief discusion of automatic stabilisers and how a government budget changes
through the cycle (comparing golden rule to reality). What are solutions to recession,
specifically how do Keynes and Neo-Liberals differ? Tutor drew a line on a blank
piece of paper with no axis or anything and asked what it meant. Philosophy: How do
I know that you're thinking? Can a computer think? If we could build a computer that
was capable of independent thought and not just able to follow pre-programmed
instructions would it be the same as a human brain? What is the difference between a
belief and knowledge, can we have false knowledge? General Questions: None!

Subject: Politics
Date: 2006
Place: Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2
Academic Questions: "You wrote about Shostakovich in your personal statement, do
you think art can thrive under tyrannical regimes?" followed a discussion about
freedom of expression and the possible tyrannical nature of capitalist rationality.
"Aren't people free to accept or reject it?" "can you really force someone to be free?"
"will global capitalism bring global freedom?" Moved on to discuss globalisation.
Discussed IMF policies ( from essay sent up)
General Questions: none

Subject: Economics

Date: 2006
Place: Lady Margaret Hall Oxford
No of interviewers: 2
Academic Questions: Interviewer had stayed up all night making up a story based
around the simpsons: Why does a queue form outside a free aquarium? (scarce
ressource) What is the cost of queuing? (opportunity cost for people queuing) How
could we eliminate the queue? ( by charging an entry price) What would be the value
of the entry ticket? (if the queue is 30mins long, that time would represent the value
of the ticket) What would be the problem of having a price discriminating system for
entry tickets? (establishing who should pay more and who should pay less). Give an
example of a negative externality in the real world. (pollution). Would we want to
eliminate it altogether? (no). One way of establishing a price for pollution? (tradeable
permits) added problem specific to pollution? (intergenerational problems)
General Questions: none

Subject: PPE
Date: December 2006
Place: Magdalen Oxford
No of interviewers: three interviews, each with one tutor
Academic Questions: Philosophy: A person with 50 million is rich. For any number
of N,if a person with N number of pounds is rich, a person with N-1 number of
pounds is rich. Therefore a person with 1 pound is rich. It sounds plausible, but the
conclusion is clearly wrong. What is the flaw of the paradox? Politics: There were
three parts to the interview. The first question was about Hotelling Theory. I had a
graph with the x-axis showing a poltical spectrum from left to right and the y-axis
showing the number of people at that particular political bearing. Party A was labelled
on the x-axis and he told me two assumptions of the model. 1. People vote for a party
that is closest to them. 2. The parties are vote maximizers. He asked me where I
would place my party. He also gave me a different graph and asked me the same
question. Then he asked me how realistic the modelling assumptions were. The
second part was about democracy. He asked whether a world we could force everyone
to sit down in front of TV twice a day and vote on every single issue that comes up
would be a better democracy to the system we have currently. The third part was
about current affairs. He asked me what principle we should consider before military
interventions in countries such as Iraq? He specified the question later by asking
whether the opinions of other countries were important in making the decision.
Economics: He just asked me in which topics I was particularly interested. I
answered Development Economics and Theory of Firms. We talked about various
development theories, including prebisch-singer hypothesis. The conversation moved

onto trade and aid. He asked me what my view was on a statement that aid is a
transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
On theory of firms, he asked me what I thought was the biggest flaw of the model
was.
General Questions: None

Subject: PPE
Date: 2005
Place: Jesus, Oxford
No of interviewers: 3 people, 1 interview
Academic Questions: totally based on a passage given 1 1/2 hours before the
interview. Outline what input and output democracy is. What type of model would
you choose out of the two. In what cases is one more applicable than the other. what
are the deficiencies in the two models? what assumptions are made with these
models? if a party was a vote maximiser where would they position themselves on the
left wing right wing divide in relation to their one and only competitior. where would
the best position on the divide for both party a and party b? what about of the voters
had no idea of the positioning of their party? what implicit assumptions are made in
this model? why is it relevant to political debate?
General Questions: none
Subject: PPE
Date: 5 and 6 /12/05
Place: Oxford University- Merton College
No of interviewers: 2 in each of the three interviews
Academic Questions: POLITICS: Talked mainly about the nature and purpose of a
democracy. Is the system meant for ensuring majority rules of otherwise?
ECONOMICS: Started with the problem of imperfect information and the bargaining
power in a deal where one side has all the info. Moved on to inflation and why a low
positive level is deemed good and a high or negative level; bad. Finished with talking
about business and economy class air travel- which types of people use them, and
why is there no class in between. PHILOSOPHY:Spent the whole interview talking
about what types of thing it is 'impossible to intend to do'. Based on a problem called
'The toxin problem'.

General Questions: None. There were no questions that were not academic based.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Economics and History (Modern)
Date: 6 December - 9 December
Place: Merton College, Oxford
No of interviewers: 5
Academic Questions: There were three interviews: one for general history and
personal statement, one on my history essay, and one for economics. In the second
history interview I was asked specific questions concerning my essay (what
improvements I could make etc) and the period I studied. In the economics interview I
was given a question about cost and revenue curves (involving some differentiation),
and then asked 'why do firms exist', 'if you were the government how would you
decide whether to sell a park for a million pounds', and 'what are the effects of
inflation and who controls it'. There was also a 30-minutes written test for economics,
in which there was a maths question and an article on economic history.
General Questions: How do your extracurricular interests help your academic
studies? What improvements could be made to the UN? Talk about the author of one
of the books you've read.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: Economics and Management
Date: 08.12.05
Place: Brasenose College, Oxford
No of interviewers: Two interviews each with two tutors
Academic Questions: They asked about the market for used cars (market for
Lemons) and what price one should offer for a car and what your expected value of
the car is (stats questions). Also i was asked to do integration by parts and
diffrentiation using the chain rule and product rule. I was asked about externalities
and the ways to deal with them (talked about pigouvian tax and bargaining). In the
managemnet interview they gave me an article about supermarkets and asked me
about what effects their market power has on suppliers and consumers.
General Questions: No general questions or anything from the personal statement or
written work was asked.
Subject: PPE

Date: 4.12.2005
Place: Christ Church, Oxford
No of interviewers: Four and a written test
Academic Questions: "The only proof capable of being given that an object is
visible, is that people actually see it. The only proof that a sound is audible, is that
people hear it. and so of the other sources of our experience. In like manner, I
apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable, is that
people do actually desire it." J.S Mill --> Many philsophers find the reasoning behind
this argument problematic, why? Mountain top mining in the US to extract coal by
detonating mountain tops damages nearby houses, causes flooding and deforestation.
If you were the senator in charge of the state how would you go about assesing the
situation on economic grounds?<BR><BR>Plot the graph y = -x^3 + 5x^2 + 2x + 3
(not quite but something similar, had roots at -1,1 & 3) then find the maximum (which
turned out to need the quadratic formula or completion of the square and was at
something like 1+ 2/sqrt(3))<BR><BR>A town's governor introduces a law stating
that all motorcyclists must wear helmets. Sikhs cannot wear the helmet over their
turban. Is this law just? Does it treat everyone equally? Does the Sikh have grounds to
complain? An advisor to a government minister discovers new information that
suggests that the policy, by which he was elected, to upgrade nuclear power stations
has an attatched health risk. The minister refuses to divulge the information but the
advisor has signed a confidentiality agreement, what should he do?
General Questions: Your A-levels look very science biased why do you want to do
PPE?
Subject: PPE
Date: 5th December 2005
Place: Oxford - St John's
No of interviewers: 2
Academic Questions: I was asked to arrive 30 minutes before the interview proper to
consider an economics puzzle. This turned out to be the 'pirates' problem with three
pirates, about distributing gold coins. In the interview, we went straight into this, and I
answerd the three questions on the sheet correctly. He then expanded the question on
the spot (What if there were more pirates? What if there was only 1 coin?). After we
had had got through a few of these, the politics tutor took over. I had sent up an essay
about the origins of Nazism, and the flow of question went something like this: Could
Nazism conceivable take hold today? Would the EU help in deterring this? Where do
you see the EU in 5 - 10 years? Have you heard of the book the Clash Of
Civilisations? [yes]. Do you agree some global clash between Islam and the West is
inevitable? What would you want to study at Oxford? [role of countries and
governments, rise of China]. Does the rise of China present a destablising force in the
region? After all that, the economics tutor asked one more question (I don't study

economics). Should Americans be worried about the rise of China in an economic

sense?
General Questions: The only general question was at the end - Are you applying for
deferred entry? Other than that, all business.
Subject: PPE
Date: December 2004
Place: Hertford College at Oxford
No of interviewers: Two sessions of two people (one PP, the other E)
Academic Questions: (Economics - first question) You said you've been reading the
Economist - has that helped you with your applied at all? Reply - Unit 3. Have a
discussion about Unit 3. Asked a sequence question in Maths. (The other interviewer)
Asked about the economics essay that I sent in and about the sense of a particular
sentence. (Philosophy and Politics). (Politics - first question) What has been
interesting you in the news recently? Have a discussion about the democratic process
in the Ukraine - if it could be improved and if so how - does Supreme Court ruling
signify legitimacy of the democratic process? (Philosophy) In your personal
statement you said you've been reading Simon Blackburn's Think - was there any bit
in particular that you were interested in? Reply - the self. Discuss the location of the
self and the mind. Shown a piece of paper with a set of questions on it and asked to
identify the flaws in the logic of two arguments?
General Questions: (Philosphy and Politics) Why did you want to go to Hertford
College?
Subject: Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Date: 6/12/04 to 8/12/04
Place: Oxford University, Magdalen College,
No of interviewers: 3 (1 for Philosophy and Economics; 2 for Politics)
Academic Questions: Economics: How would you develop a third-world country?
<BR>Is conditionality the answer? What are your views on monopolies? on X
inefficiency? Philosophy: Why do you want to combine philosophy and economics?
A man with 50,000,000 is rich. So is a person with N pounds and N-1 pounds.
Therefore a person with 1 is rich. What, if anything, is wrong with this argument?
Politics: Should we help other countries establish democracy? Is there an hypocrisy
within the great Western countries to cite problems in other countries political
structures and not accept constructive criticism about their own operations from those
countries? If not/If so why? Should people who not vote be punished?...Why? Should
citizens be educated in citizenship to make democracy more "efficient"?

General Questions: Very little general questions: Why do want to combine X with Y
(see Philosophy academic questions) Talk to me about a book that you have read
recently, outside school, out of your own personal interest.
Subject: PPE
Date: 5 - 8 December 2004
Place: Merton College, Oxford University
No of interviewers: I had three interviews and was interviewed by two different
people for each one.
Academic Questions: Philosophy: You write in your personal statement that you
have read and enjoyed "Morality" by Bernard Williams; tell me about it. What did you
find particularly enjoyable about it? There are two men, one of them threatens to drop
an atomic bomb over London unless the other one kills his wife. What should the
other one do? A man is cast away on a desert island without hope for rescue. What
could he do to contribute to happiness in the world? (both asked in the context of a
general discussion about utilitarianism) Politics: Is globalisation good or bad? For
whom? What do you think about preemptive strikes and intervention in international
conflicts? What domestic issues are you interested in at the moment? What is your
opinion on the current political situation in Germany? Do you think that Islam is a
threat to Western values and the world as we know it? Economics: Problem solving
(this was given to me shortly before the interview, and the interviewers were guiding
me through it): Mr E auctions his house. All bidders are in one room and call out bids
until only one bidder is left over. Collusion is impossible. The house is sold for the
price that was last called out. How much should each one be prepared to bid? What is
the house price in terms of the bidders' values? Mr F has a different system. Every
bidder submits a bid in a sealed envelope and does not know about the bids everybody
else has submitted. The house is sold to the highest bidder for the price that the
second-highest bidder was prepared to pay. How much should every bidder be
prepared to pay? What is the house price in terms of the bidders' values? Does Mr F's
system raise the profit of the auction? What happens to national income if the
government raises spending? What does the impact depend upon? What happens to
the exchange rate? Do you think there is a solution to Germany's unemployment
problem? If you think there is, of what kind could it be? Draw a line which has the
exact length of the squareroot of 2.
General Questions: Why do you want to study PPE? Why in Oxford? What made
you come to England in the first place? (in Politics) Why do you like playing the
piano? Can you play Beethoven and Mozart? (in Economics)
Subject: Economics and Management
Date: 9/12/04
Place: Oxford-Christ Church

No of interviewers: 2
Academic Questions: I had two interviews. One with 2 economics tutors and one
with 2 management tutors. I wasn't asked to go to any other colleges. I was given a
number of questions to prepare 15 mins before the economics interview. How would
adding another lane on the M25 affect congestion? How would you go about
collecting data in order to confirm your theory? Draw a graph of modulus x +
modulus y = 1. In this interview I was asked some probing questions crtiquing my
theory. Some logic questions. 100 people in a room, how many handshakes are there
if everyone shakes everyone's hand once? In the management one I was asked why
management. Then if models are sufficient to run a company. There was a few maths
questions. How to draw a graph of a certain function? How to draw a line exactly root
5 in length. The interview ended with an extremely abstract question on a piece of art.
I was asked to interpret what the artist was trying to say.
General Questions: No real general questions. They stuck mainly to the subjects that
they were interviewing me for.
Subject: Economics and Management
Date: 9th December
Place: St. Hugh's, Oxford
No of interviewers: Two, but individually
Academic Questions: In my economics/management interview, I was initially to talk
about universities from an economics perspective. He also asked whether I felt that
the world was safer now than five years ago. Then we went on to talk about
globalisation. In my maths interview, I was asked about interest rates and about
differentiation. I was also asked to find the height of a regular tetrahedron with side
length 1. Then he asked a couple of questions taken from my personal statement - i.e.
"explain Coase theorem". General Questions: I was asked why I wanted to apply for
this course at this college. I was also asked what books I had read recently - not
necessarily to do with the subject.
S

ubject: Economics and Management

Date: 8/12/04
Place: Brasenose, Oxford
No of interviewers: 2 pairs of 2
Academic Questions: FIRST INTERVIEW 1. Asked to find the equation of the
tangent of the curve y= x - x^3 at x = -2. Then asked to sketch the curve. so some easy
pure 1. 2. Then asked to define an externality, provide examples of externalities, and

solutions to the problems caused by externalities (these are: direct regulation, coase
theorem, pigouvian tax). 3. Then asked how economics can help management
decisions in firms, more specifically, what are the problems with policies
implemented by management in businesses (eg. profit maximisation, sales
maximisation, revenue maximisation). Good idea to expand on these policies, then go
on to say how it is hard to pinpoint how much should be produced in order to achieve
these policies. SECOND INTERVIEW 1. Asked why low cost airlines profit more
than long-haul traditional airlines, and why they latter are being put out of business by
the former. Mention contestability, keeping your planes in the air all the time. 2.
Asked about 'Lemon's law', and the solutions to the problem. (ask Russell if you think
I am referring to fruit)
General Questions: None whatsoever.