Janita Hussain (1st Year)
What does a typical day studying Ancient and Modern History at Keble look like?
AMH has very few contact hours, usually 2-3 hours a week, which are in the form of tutorials and lectures. A tutorial is a session in which a tutor and a small group of students (sometimes just 2 of us) come together and discuss the topic we were learning about that week. The basis for the discussion will be the reading we did and our essays. I learn two topics simultaneously, and one of these has a tutorial weekly, the other fortnightly. For each tutorial you write an essay on a given question, and so the majority of the week is spent preparing this essay – by reading items on the reading lists our tutors give us, planning the essay and writing it. My timetable means that I write about 1 and a half essays each week, which are 1500-2500 words long. At the start of my week, I locate the items I’d like to read from the reading list my tutor gives me (we’re usually free to choose whichever resources we find intriguing or helpful for our essay). Then, every day until my tutorial, I spend my day reading to collect information for my essay, planning it and then writing it. I aim to work in the hours of a typical ‘adult’ working day, so from 9am – 5pm, but not continuously. I make sure to take regular short breaks as well as a lunch break. In my breaks I chat with friends and catch up on shows or videos I enjoy. We’re encouraged at Oxford to keep a good work- life balance, which is actually something that took me by surprise. The emphasis on academics doesn’t mean we’re expected to work an unhealthy amount! After I stop working, I spend the evening on personal activities, catching up with people and relaxing.
Why do you like studying Ancient and Modern History at Keble?
One thing I really like about studying AMH at Keble is my tutors. My Keble tutor made tutorials something that I really enjoy. I’ve always liked the idea of simply discussing a topic and bouncing around ideas without the pressure of having to tick off certain boxes on a syllabus like I often had to do at A-Level. Tutorials feel very intellectually stimulating and genuinely eye-opening, rather than just a way to rote learn information. I’m often quite shy when it comes to voicing ideas that I’ve come up with that I’m excited about. My tutor really helps with this, as they often bring up a point that I made well in my essay and encourage me to explain it to my tutorial partners, which I really enjoy as it allows me to elaborate on my ideas but also gives me confidence that I’ve begun to grasp the concepts of the week well in my essay. But there is also no pressure to speak all the time during a tutorial or to be really confident about every topic that we discuss – it’s a great opportunity to learn from your tutor and from your fellow students.
Personal statement advice
A key bit of advice for your personal statement is to remember that it is personal to you, as the title shows. Try to write about things that genuinely interest you, and aspects of history that you find yourself wanting to know more about.
As this is a personal statement for Ancient and Modern history, make sure that you include things about both ancient history and more modern history.
Don’t lie, ever. The tutors will use your personal statement in your interview, and you need to be able to honestly discuss what’s in it.
Read historians’ books whenever you have time alongside your school studies. You can mention interesting points from these and briefly explore your views on them in your personal statement, and any further research this has led you to do.
Show how you’ve taken initiative – did you briefly cover something in school but realise you wanted to know more, so looked into it further? Are there things that you’ve never had the chance to do in school, so you’ve started learning about yourself? What resources have you used to pursue your interests – books, podcasts, documentaries, visiting sites/museums? What have you learned from this research? If you’ve been involved in a unique or enriching experience relating to history, such as visiting a significant historical location, what did this teach you?
You by no means have to do all of these things – just try to get involved with history as much as you can outside of school. Podcasts and documentaries are often easy and free to access, e.g the BBC Radio 4 ‘In Our Time’ series has some fascinating podcasts on quite niche historical topics. Many museums are free to enter, if you have the chance. If you can’t access these though, don’t worry! Just do whatever you can to show you’re passionate and use the resources readily available to you. Be as creative as you can be.
If you like any areas of history which are quite niche, and maybe aren’t covered at school, talk about these. Whatever history you discuss, let the reader know why this interests you, and what you feel you’ve gained from delving further into it.
Try to link your points together – e.g doing X encouraged you to do Y, which was an interesting link/contrast with Z.
Oxford isn’t really super interested in extra-curricular activities, such as sports or clubs. You can simply mention these in a sentence or two, perhaps at the end of your personal statement, and maybe briefly say what kind of skills you gained from them – e.g organisation, etc.
Admissions Test Advice
The important thing to remember is that the HAT is a test of skill, not historical knowledge. You don’t need to know any particular dates or facts going in – they want to get a feel for your ability to engage with a source that you really know nothing about in advance. You will be given one question, based on an extract from a primary source, to answer in one hour. You’ll be assessed for how you deal with the source, how relevantly you answer the question, and your writing style, etc. The best preparation you can do is to try past HAT questions, which you can get online, and just get a feel for what the set-up will be. If you have a teacher that can mark any for you, that would be useful. You can access some here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/tests/hat
Try to stay calm and do your best with the question – it’ll probably be a really unique source, maybe something you’ve never even heard of, and this is in a sense relieving – you are on a level playing field with all of the other applicants. It doesn’t matter what educational background or school you come from, or what you’ve studied at school. This is a good thing. And in the end, the HAT is just one component of many that’s used to determine if you are accepted – this is not to say that you shouldn’t try your best, but to reassure you that your personal statement, interview, written work and predicted grades are also considered alongside it when determining your place.
Interview Advice
As an AMH applicant, I had 3 interviews. These differed in what they focussed on. For example, I had to discuss a pre-given extract in one of them, and in another we mostly discussed my personal statement.
You will usually be interviewed by 2 tutors – one might write things down while the other speaks to you, or they might both speak. Don’t be thrown off by any of this, it’s all normal and you haven’t done anything wrong!
Before going to your interviews, make sure you are very familiar with your personal statement and written work. Either of these could be the focus of your interviews. It might be helpful to look at each of the things you discussed in your personal statement and consider what questions you could be asked about that, or what you would say about this if you were given the chance. Being familiar with your work will give you a bit of extra confidence and reassurance going in.
This is easier said than done but try to be confident! I can fully understand how scary it is being interviewed by academics but remember that you have every reason to be confident – you’ve made it this far, and that in itself is such a great achievement. Remember that the tutors have clearly seen something in you, and they really just want to give you the opportunity to show them that in person. Tutors are usually so nice, and they know you’re nervous, so will probably try to make you feel comfortable!
If you don’t understand something the tutors say, don’t be afraid to ask. They will probably be happy that you’ve engaged enough with the conversation to ask for clarification on something.
If you want to say something to add to the conversation, do! I found myself really wanting to add a point at the end of a discussion in one of my interviews, so I asked if I could, and the tutors were more than happy to hear me out.
Make sure to also head to our YouTube channel for more advice on the interview stage of the admissions process:
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