Destination Education
00:18:00 · Barbara Lestak
[00:18:00] S1: Yeah, absolutely. So competitive edge, what do we mean by that? So what I mean by that and when I work with students is you are academically bright. You should be meeting the minimum requirements of the subjects that you want to apply to. That's not your problem, if that makes sense. So that's not the challenge. The challenge is That's the basics. That's the basics. You've got that, fantastic. We're not gonna worry about that foundation. What we do need to worry about is what are you doing to show your love for that subject? So what you done that's relevant in shadowing or work experience, in reading, in discussions, in finding out or researching even yourself, writing an EPQ or an EPQ based research paper? What have you done that A) kind of tests your love, your passion for that subject and B) expands your learning for it. So as an example, I'll give two examples actually. One I will do as myself. So I studied archaeology and ancient history, so I actually did a dual undergraduate. But it's a very niche subject, right? And you have to know whether or not you will fall in love with that if that is the path that you want to go down. And so what I did is classically I started to watch Time Team. I absolutely fell in love with it. It was my jam every Sunday evening I would watch that. But also I signed up for a Bronze Age archaeological dig and they accepted me. And I went back for two, three years in a row because it was an international project. And I was very, very proud of that. But it also gave me a chance to support in writing a paper on it. So I actually helped in writing some of the papers on it and I translated a book on it. And this is all whilst I'm a student. You know, continuously doing reading and writing, going to lectures and things like that. So the Royal Society, for example, I went to a lot of them. I highly advise students to go to them. They're free in person and online. And it really solidified my love for archaeology and ancient history. And so I knew that, okay, I'm going to love this no matter what. And I could then tie that into my personal statement and my interview and, you know, and everything else that I kind of did. And obviously, you know, that really helped because they could see that was shining through me and my willingness to then learn even more.
00:20:41 · Barbara Lestak
Another student that I recently had, he was applying for PPE in Oxford, is going there this October, which is fantastic. And what he had done is, again, he had gone to many sort of lectures, but also he'd started a debate club in his school, which they didn't have before. You know, he got a lot of students coming into that, which was fantastic. He also joined a number of different competitions, but ones that he wanted to go to, because it was a tick box exercise, but because he just felt it was interesting. And essay competitions, so like the John Locke, and it just unlocked a whole other level of soft skills for him that he didn't have beforehand. And the most important thing that he did is again, he wrote a research paper and actually his focus was on philosophy and economics and philosophy specifically. So sort of financials and philosophy. And it was very interesting, even I read it and I was like, this is really good. But you know, he then took that and spoke to academics and what do you think and had those conversations. And again, it just shone through him.
00:21:56 · Ruth Benny, Barbara Lestak
[00:21:56] S0: Sat down with him. Impressive. I want to ask you though, Barbara, because obviously that's all well and good. I mean, process, the way that the university will actually evaluate a student is first they'll see their personal statement, which we'll come to in a moment. And they'll also see their predicted grades. But I know that a lot of the universities have these standardized tests now. Should we talk about those a little bit as well? Because they've got to pass or even ace these standardized tests before everything else will be considered. Could you just talk a little bit about those tests? Because I know there's also been some changes this year, I believe. [00:22:32] S1: Yeah, absolutely. So you have a number of different universities that request admission tests. Those tests, they are all now done in Pearson VUE Centre. So I highly recommend that you check where your local Pearson VUE Centre is. But also check school and, oh sorry, which university and which subject requires which admissions test. So as an example, this year there is a new test coming in called TARA, like the name T A R A. We believe it's going to so not much information has been released about that yet. It's going to be released at the end of this month. But from what we understand and know from a UCAS Open Day and a number of other sources is that it's going to resonate the TSA. And the TSA is utilised by Oxford for Economics and Management and PPE. And it's critical thinking. So that's a brand new test and that will actually be used
00:22:32 · Barbara Lestak, Ruth Benny
[00:22:32] S1: Yeah, absolutely. So you have a number of different universities that request admission tests. Those tests, they are all now done in Pearson VUE Centre. So I highly recommend that you check where your local Pearson VUE Centre is. But also check school and, oh sorry, which university and which subject requires which admissions test. So as an example, this year there is a new test coming in called TARA, like the name T A R A. We believe it's going to so not much information has been released about that yet. It's going to be released at the end of this month. But from what we understand and know from a UCAS Open Day and a number of other sources is that it's going to resonate the TSA. And the TSA is utilised by Oxford for Economics and Management and PPE. And it's critical thinking. So that's a brand new test and that will actually be used [00:23:33] S0: It's going going to replace the TSA, did you say? No,
00:23:33 · Ruth Benny, Barbara Lestak
[00:23:33] S0: It's going going to replace the TSA, did you say? No, [00:23:37] S1: no. It won't replace TSA. TSA still stands for Oxford, but the Tara will be used with UCL at the moment, as far as we're aware, and we're expecting a couple of other G5 universities to come into that too. And that's a critical thinking based admissions test. So if you're worried about it, you can find some information on the UCL website already. You can take a look. We have an article as well. So if you want to have it, it's on there and it explains everything we know so far. And if you wanted to have a look and see what that test is like, I highly recommend going onto the Oxford site, having a look at the TSA pass papers, and it will probably give you a pretty good idea of what that's going to be. That's a brand So new [00:24:30] S0: what I'm hearing is that these tests, that the process is always changing. It's always evolving and the iterations, but it's really so, so important that you're getting the right guidance, whether that's from school or you're doing your own research or you're engaging an external consultant. Yeah, it's not as straightforward. I mean, it can be rather straightforward, but depending on what universities you're applying to, I mean, I suppose for a lot of our parents and their children, they're super ambitious. And so if they are applying to the very top universities in The UK, it is super competitive. And so the process is becoming more complicated. Would you agree?
00:25:08 · Barbara Lestak
[00:25:08] S1: Yes. Yeah, exactly that. And yeah, it's exactly that. So students who have admissions tests, they have to prepare almost, if you imagine a year in advance at least, of all of the other students who are sort of doing normal UCAS applications that just require a personal statement. It's an added layer. It's the layer where universities like to use that because it's the one area that's fair game for all students. So every student will sit the same test, every student will have the same environment, etcetera, etcetera. So there's no sort of way that you can go into that, you know, or ask someone to do it for you, you know, it doesn't work. So you have to go and go through that as every other applicant. And every single year, those raw scores do go just an inch higher, a little bit higher, a little bit higher. And so the most important aspect is you've got to, as you said, Ruth, you've got to ace it. You need to absolutely maximise those points and there are ways of doing that. So timing strategies, looking at the questions that can maximise your points on, going back to the ones that you're not certain about but they have minimal points. So, looking at that and being able to digest that, it's not easy, especially under really pressured time conditions. That's hard to do for anybody. Even I get stressed if I have to do a timed exam now. You know, for somebody who's also going through all of the school curriculum and all of that, it is a lot, which is why that preparation, that run up as early as you can start is so, so valuable.