Oxford Physics Aptitude test

The PAT

The Physics Aptitude Test (P.A.T) is a an admissions test set by Oxford, which is used to short-list and judge candidates (for more info click here).

According to Oxford, it's a much better predictor of future academic success than GCSE results, ye well no shit. I mean seriously, GCSE's have been so dummed down that its becoming increasingly difficult not to get an A* in any of the Sciences.

So, after doing 10 GCSE's, 4-5 sets of AS level examinations, before your January round of A2's, Oxford have decided to rape you with yet another exam and rape you it will.

Despite being an absolutely appalling test, with almost no bearing on any sort of Physics ability, the P.A.T manages to trip up hundreds upon hundreds of great candidates every year. A bad test result can mean a thorn in the backside of an otherwise great application. However, with the right attitude and a few tips, you should be able to turn this ship around to your favour.

The Test

The test is unlike anything you've ever seen before. Whist the problems are rarely difficult in the way that STEP of AEA (mathematics) would be, the questions are often tricky, long, strangely phrased and you are under extensive time pressure. Do not under any circumstances underestimate it. Don't get cocky. On first glance, the test looks like a complete piss-take. This is utterly misleading. The multiple choice has very similar but subtly different answers, often what the longer questions are asking for is not that obvious. They may require a lot of thought and care. Remember that answering the questions in the late afternoon, totally relaxed, your mind will be in a completely different and more flexible state than when your actually sitting it at 9:15, your entire Oxford application depending on your performance.

How to Prepare

Before you go an burn your P.A.T past paper supply, look through the Physics Olympiad AS papers. They start off with 10 marks of multiple choice questions, practically identical in style and difficulty to those set by Oxford. They've also got a really extensive set of mark schemes (unlike the P.A.T), which will really help to improve your understanding and your intuition. I would further recommend working through the calculator parts without a calculator just to get into the right mindset.

Make sure you've got good notes covering all the ground. Your AS notes should be a good start, re-write and condense them. There will be things on their that you may not have ever looked, for example phases of the moon, never learnt them in my life. Did them a few days before the test and discarded it the next day, shame it came up in my interview.. Other stuff such as Levers, Pulley's and other elementary machines also came under that bracket for me. For those of in Sixth form, you may not start learning about Capacitors until post January modules, that won't stop them coming up in the November test. Make sure you've supplemented your notes with their sylabbus.

Ensure that you have your c1 & c2 bases completely covered. I found the notes posted in my maths section particularly helpful.

When going through your P.A.T papers, be absolutely strict with yourself. Treat every single paper as though it were the real thing, see how far you get and in how much time, that will really show you where your at and allow you to improve your technique for the real deal. Furthermore, once you've done the papers, check the entire maths section with a calculator. Then check all your answers with other applicants/teachers/tutors who are willing to do so. You'd be surprised how many questions you were certain you got right were actually wrong. It's incredibly easy to misread a question.

There will be a few techniques you will learn whilst doing the papers. This whole idea of symmetry comes up again and again. The circles in the triangle, it all becomes pretty obvious when you realize that since the triangle is equilateral and that since the circle touches on both ends of the interior, that the bisector must have an angle of 30 degrees, the opposite being the radius of the circle r. Then you have the entire logic based area's. All they're really asking you do to is to set up simultaneous equations and solve them. When something is proportional to something it follows the form a = kb where k is a constant and b could be raised to any power n (I.e for area n would be two, volume n would be 3 etc..) clearly if something is all the same shape, I.e different sized ducks or w/e, the constant of proportionality will be equal for all the equations and thus cancel.

On the day of the Test

If you hit a brick wall, don't panic. If you realize that you've made a howling error, don't panic. I walked into my Aptitude test, tired and stressed. Bogged up on nurofen and emotionally drained from a phone call the night before, I hobbled into the room and needed to go to the toilet twice before starting. I raced through the initial part of the maths problems, only to come stuck at one on which I made no progress whatsoever. As I moved into the physics, I realized there were about 2 written answers I couldn't do and when in the final question, I was asked to show that the two answers I’d gotten were equivalent and they weren't, I knew I was fucked. I crossed out my entire attempt at the last question and in the last five minutes, re-did it, along with another written answer and the maths question I didn't get.

Those last 5 minutes bumped my score up to 90, securing my offer from Oxford. I don't think I can say any more to show that you don't need a good start to end up with a good finish. Good luck.