So You Want to Go to Oxbridge? 3rd edition
Tell Me About a Banana…


By Rachel Spedding & Jane Welsh
December 2010
Oxbridge Applications
Distrubuted by Trans-Atlantic Publications Inc.
ISBN: 9780955079726
256 pages, Illustrated
$27.50 Paper Original


'So...you/your child/your student has decided to apply to Oxbridge? Tell me, what I can do to prepare...' When all applicants are outstanding on paper, what marks out those who succeed from those who fail? With record numbers of students achieving excellent grades at A Level or equivalent, competition for places increases every year, with only one in five likely to be successful. What exactly are admissions tutors looking for when they ask questions about fruit? Why do you have to sit a test which asks you about how the weather affects historical events? How do I prepare for a test I know nothing about? Founded by Oxbridge graduates in 1999, with just these questions in mind, "Oxbridge Applications" has now helped over 45,000 students apply to Oxbridge. The company now works with local councils and over 200 schools. The company has a success rate of twice the average and over 90 per cent of those students who attended one of our interviews and/or admissions test events said they felt more prepared and informed about the interview process.

Following the great success of the first two editions, and underpinned by over ten year's experience of research and experience, "Oxbridge Applications" is publishing an improved and updated third edition of how to navigate the application process. This edition is focussed on providing essential, practical advice and tips for our readers. Through interactive content with real questions and real answers, exercises for students to test their intelligence and lateral thinking skills, this is a fact(and fun) - based, accessible compendium, for all students, parents and teachers facing the Oxbridge application process.

Key Topics in "Tell me about a Banana" will answer: how to excel at each hurdle in the selection process - from writing a winning personal statement to planning and incorporating outside reading, excelling at admissions tests and at interview; what to expect at the admissions test - we will give practical advice, and sample questions for all subjects; essential tips and advice, from those who have gone through the process and succeeded; what Oxbridge interviews are really like - with real past subject questions and suggested answers/ideas; and detailed advice on tackling the psychological and communicational aspects of interview questions. It also includes engaging ideas and concepts to get students really thinking about their subject - helping to develop their subject knowledge, beyond their A Level syllabus and to think independently and creatively.

We want to empower students, asking them questions they would never have previously considered - e.g. What is the relationship between English and History - this book will help them re-discover and connect with their subject. This book's content will be structured so that applicants, parents and teachers can learn from it. Our advice will be accessible, with rigorous insights, underpinned by in-depth research. The book aim is to motivate and inspire our readers, to do all that they can, to give themselves the best shot at applying to these two Universities. Written in an engaging and humorous style, applicants, parents, teachers, graduates and undergraduates will find this compelling reading. For those who want to find out what really goes on in the Oxbridge selection process from the people who have helped thousands to get where they want to go, this book is for them.

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