Oxbridge 2024 Entry Part 2

[Lightsabre]

Continuation thread (when old one is full) for those supporting dc through Oxbridge applications. All welcome as we enter the next phase.

It does make one wonder what is wrong with paper exams. And after years of english teachers nagging at them to annotate (and classics teachers for that matter), texts on screen are a pita even when things are working smoothly.

DS had a 5 and 3/4 hour MAT experience, so length of 2 exams
. Totally disrupted his flow.

Jesus that sounds terrible, how awful for the applicants. DS did the TSA yesterday and I realise I don't even know if that was online or not.

What a shambles. As others have said, hard to know how Oxford will be able to take account if the effects were so varied.

I think they will have to interview everyone with appropriate predicted grades. They can't compare the results of those who had little disruption to those who had massive disruption.

I am absolutely furious, how could they get this so wrong!

Yes I've just spoken to my DS about it.

Although his friend did the CAT today and wasn't disrupted.

My son also said he didn't think he got the full time he should have after accounting for the disruptions. It must have been very difficult for the teachers to monitor this as the impact was variable across different students.
He has just said that there's no chance he'll get into the uni he wanted now. 😔 it really threw him and he's normally quite laidback.I feel so upset for him.
I hope there will be some sort of sensible considerations in light of this.

I hadn't realised Oxford tests were online now! What is wrong indeed with an old fashioned written paper - I had 2 of them back in my day!

DS1 sat the NSAA yesterday, and is now feeling very despondent

My son is absolutely miserable this evening. Six hours in an exam room and he thinks it was utterly pointless. I'm really hoping that they interview more people this year, as the MAT is not going to reflect their true capabilities.

Sounds a complete shambles and I have no idea how they will be able to sort it out.

DD has hers tomorrow....am hoping it all goes more smoothly.

What a total shambles！ I am also in favour of pen and paper exams. Ds has had problems with his professional icaew exams where the system crashed 10 mins before the end of the exam.
dd sat the nsaa yesterday and has a horrible cold so she doesn’t think she did that well.

DD said her one yesterday when pen and paper. Disruption at her school with one today but variable by candidate, some sat in full OK, some got kicked out after 5 mins and could not get back in. She said Oxford has issued a statement saying it won't matter.

Do you know where the statement is?
my dc’s mat was very disrupted

I don't know where but DD is very good with these things and think it arrived at her school before noon - maybe it was just sent to schools. But she said one friend on the basis of statement decided to give up at noon as it said it would have no effect on admissions. One did it at noon, having been supposed to start early am.

Hello @futureistoday , yes ds is. He hasn't had any offers yet - waiting on Imperial, Bath, Warwick and Southampton. How about yours?

From what I can see, Oxford changed provider for several of their tests this year, maybe not such a smart decision. This is from the website of the people who administer the BMAT and the TSA (which was on paper):

From 2023 we no longer deliver the following tests on behalf of the University of Oxford:
• Classics Admissions Test (CAT))_
• Oxford ELATT_
• Modern Languages Admissions Test (MLAT))_
• Oriental Languages Aptitude Test (OLAT))_
• Mathematics Admissions Test (MAT))_
• Physics Aptitude Test (PAT))_
• History Aptitude Test (HAT))_
• Philosophy Testt_

Blimey, what an absolute shambles. I feel so sorry for the dc caught up in this. I hope both Universities (and others that need these scores) can sort this out fairly.

Yes change of provider given here and the new provider appears to be running tomorrow's tests.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/admissions-tests

DDs test the TSA is run by a different organisation but its their last year.

Very embarrassing all round

New arrangements for Oxford’s admissions tests
We are delighted to announce that going forward Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will manage the delivery of most of Oxford's admissions tests, which form part of the annual application process for many of our undergraduate courses. This means that from 2023 onwards, Cambridge Admissions Assessment Testing (CAAT) will no longer deliver Oxford's own tests. For one more year, CAAT will deliver as usual the TSA and BMAT tests for the relevant courses.
Dr Samina Khan, Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach says:
‘This new agreement with TCS offers exciting opportunities for the future of our admissions testing, including the possibility of wholly digital delivery and marking. I am confident that our new arrangement with TCS will help in time to modernise how the tests are delivered and over the coming months we will be consulting with a range of stakeholders, including students and schools and colleges, to ensure their views are considered throughout the development phase. We look forward to taking this project forward with all our partners.'
TCS iON’s Global Head , Venguswamy Ramaswamy, says:
The development and delivery of digital assessment within the school setting is a particularly interesting project for TCS, one of the largest IT Service companies in the UK. This work has the potential to transform the paper-based testing environment typically still found in educational settings. TCS iON is an acknowledged leader in transforming large scale, high stakes assessments in India and elsewhere. We are excited to bring our expertise in working with the University of Oxford, one of the biggest names in education, to make digital assessment possible for its admissions tests.

Hope they've got some juicy penalty clauses in that contract 😱

Gosh, feel so sorry for DC’s caught up for hours and hours in the shambolic online tests today. Hope the ones going ahead tomorrow are problem free.

Thank heavens DD is applying for Cambridge and they no longer use the ELAT!!

Disastrous MAT this morning too. What a mess it seems to have been! DS is so deflated 😢

My DS is doing the PAT tomorrow and has received an email from Oxford saying that for unforeseen issues or somesuch phrase his test will be paper based tomorrow. I guess they'll be emailing it to the school to print out.

I'm so relieved for him but still sad for those who had an awful day today.
But Oxford obviously realise what a disaster it's been to be making these changes, so hopefully they'll somehow find a way to be fair to those who have already done their tests.

Wow fair play to them for abandoning their shiny new online system and reverting to paper-based tests with just a few hours' notice. I guess they had that contingency in place and the pdfs all ready to go. I wonder if they will reimburse test centres for printing costs 🤔