Background
I'm a current student at a Grammar School in the UK, studying Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics.
I'm applying for the Joint Honours Mathematics and Computer Science course at Oxford in 2026.
My UCAS predicted grades are 4 A*s.
MAT practice papers sat so far in the order I did them (later papers generally considered harder):
2007 - 80/100
2009 - 77/100
2010 - 67/100
2013 - 60/100 (first timed paper - rest are all timed)
2015 - 48/100
Specimen 1 - 89/100
2019 - 50/100
Specimen 2 - 93/100
2022 - 64/100
Market only resolves yes if I get in next year, not if I reapply for the following year.
Ask any questions and I will answer.
I will not bet on this market
This is an AI-generated summary of things mentioned in my personal statement so far (removed the full version as I was told it's not recommended to post online):
Explored Grover’s algorithm and the quantum circuit model, including quantum search and teleportation.
Learned Qiskit and implemented quantum circuits.
Visited the Diamond Light Source Synchrotron and learned about AI in protein structure determination.
Learned partial differentiation.
Derived backpropagation and programmed a neural network from scratch in NumPy.
Improved neural network accuracy by experimenting with architectures, implementing ReLU, and L2 Regularization.
Researched Convolutional Neural Networks and explored convolutions in statistics.
Investigated the central limit theorem through repeated convolutions.
Researched the RSA algorithm and programmed it in Python.
Investigated modular arithmetic and Euler’s totient function.
Researched Shor’s algorithm and implemented the Quantum Fourier Transform in Qiskit.
Studied 3Blue1Brown’s linear algebra series.
Coded shaders in GLSL and rendered multiple reflective spheres.
Implemented raymarching and reflections in GLSL.
Rendered the Mandelbrot set using GLSL and complex numbers.
Achieved a distinction in the 2023 Perse Coding Challenge Round 1 (top 5% and best in school).
Achieved a Merit in the Perse Coding Challenge final.
Ranked in the top 25% of the 2023 British Informatics Olympiad.
Coded a pitch recognition training program.
Built an automatic solver for a Rubik’s Pyramid using brute force search.
Explored algorithmic stock trading with an API and used Pandas for data analysis.
Studied the Busy Beaver problem.
Completed Kevin Buzzard’s Natural Numbers Game to learn Lean.
Used Peano’s axioms to prove statements rigorously in Lean.
GCSE Grades:
A in:
Additional Mathematics (A is the highest grade awarded)
9s in:
Mathematics
Geography
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Computing
8s in:
Spanish
Economics
English Language
English Literature
Study plan for until MAT (won't update market description when I do stuff, but I have stayed on schedule so far and will almost definitely until the MAT is complete):
Week 1:
MAT MCQs ✅
Step Support * 4 ✅✅✅✅
TMUA paper ✅
Additional MAT questions * 2 ✅✅
Siklos problem * 3✅✅✅
Week 2:
MAT paper✅
Step Support * 2✅✅
Additional MAT questions * 3✅✅✅
STEP 1 Problem * 5 ✅✅✅✅✅
Week 3:
MAT specimen paper✅
Step Support * 3✅✅✅
TMUA paper✅
Additional MAT questions * 2✅✅
Siklos problem * 2✅✅
Week 4:
MAT MCQs✅
Step Support * 2✅✅
Additional MAT questions * 3✅✅✅
Week 5:
MAT paper✅
TMUA paper * 2✅✅
Additional MAT questions * 2✅
Step Support * 2✅✅
Week 6:
MAT specimen paper✅
TMUA paper * 2✅✅
Additional MAT questions * 2✅✅
Step Support * 2✅✅
Mixed STEP Pure * 3✅✅✅
Week 7:
MAT MCQs✅
Siklos problem * 2✅✅
Week 8:
TMUA paper * 2✅✅
MAT Paper✅
MAT MCQs
Additional MAT questions * 2
Review past paper * 3
Siklos problem * 3✅✅✅
Week 9:
MAT paper
TMUA paper * 2
Additional MAT questions * 2
Review past paper * 4
Siklos problem
Week 10:
MAT paper
Additional MAT questions * 3
Review past paper * 3
Siklos problem * 2
Week 11:
MAT paper
TMUA paper * 2
Additional MAT questions * 2
Review past paper * 4
Week 12:
MAT paper
Redo 2023 paper
Additional MAT questions * 3
Review past paper * 3
Week 13:
MAT papers * 2
TMUA paper * 2
Additional MAT questions * 3
Review past paper * 4
Week 14:
TMUA paper * 2
14th October - TMUA
MAT papers * 4
Additional MAT questions * 3
Review past paper * 3
Week 15:
MAT papers * 2
Review past paper * 2
23d October - MAT
@traders Forgot to update for a while - just updated description with MAT scores as well as my study plan for until the test.
@traders Description updated with gcse grades and latest MAT practise paper. Not a great score -summer holidays start now and I'm going to try to do some prep every day.
@traders Unfortunate score of 67 on the 2010 paper - likely a fluke though as I made lots of silly mistakes in the longer form questions
in terms of your ps, you should show rather than tell - personally i don't like the tone that, e.g., "This deepened my understanding of matrix unitarity, inner products, and abstract vector spaces" conveys -- you say that it "deepened my understanding of..." but when would you have encountered this before, or had to deeply engage with it before? these are things you only really study and understand seriously in first/second year at university, so i would have expected you to say that you've learned about them there (granted you'd have probably known inner products from A levels though)
more generally, i think your personal statement would benefit from reflecting more on the things you mention (rather than the bulk volume of things that are mentioned) -- this lets you directly demonstrate that you have an understanding of these things. the current instances of doing this are vague to the point of vacuosity, e.g. "...Mandelbrot set, consolidating my Further Maths knowledge of complex numbers." ok? consolidated how? what did it clarify? what new insights did it give? i can say that looking at the mona lisa clarified my knowledge of painting beautifully -- but i'd need to say something more substantive if i want that to have weight
in spite of my harshness i do think that the underlying content is very good, there's quite a breadth of different things that you've talked about and they're all quite fun and interesting corners of maths, and demonstrate the characteristic oxbridge enthusiasm/excitement for the subject - so long as you are sharp in the interview, able to hold your ground during the actual MAT, you should have pretty good odds (and if not then you'll probably end up going to warwick, ranking top 5, and doing part iii instead...)
@Waffloid Thank you for the feedback! You're right about how I said "deepened my understanding," I'll change it to say how I was introduced to those concepts instead, and try to focus more on what I did.
It's a shame there's not more space to let me go into depth about everything I've done, but I'll definitely see what I can do with the phrasing of the evaluative bits to make them less vague. I feel like the breadth is what I'm trying to impress them with but there are a few points that I think are less strong so if needs be I can remove things like the AI ethics talk to give me more free characters. I'll try to qualify the statements about what I've learned more specifically as well.
The MAT is the probably the biggest factor left that's gonna determine whether or not I get in so that's where I'll be focusing my efforts. Thanks for your vote of confidence!
@BastiaanVorster Yep, the character constraint is a devilish one. I understand the motivation behind trying to dazzle with breadth, but the converse point is that anyone can name-drop interesting topics. I can say that Fourier series excite me, and that I was intrigued by projective varieties in Algebraic Geometry, which deepened my understanding of inversion, say. But I could have said this from looking at random wiki pages for 5 minutes and in fact have no clue about these things beyond the fact they're cool math things. My gut feeling when I see these things without context is an equal mix of suspicion together with warmth towards the comments.
On the other hand, if I were to say that Fourier series are exciting because their existence is unintuitive, in that they let us approximate all sorts of complicated functions through a linear combination of well-behaved, periodic functions (sine waves), and then proceeded to talk about some physics stuff, then I'd have really demonstrated some reflection which shows off the fact I've actually thought about this stuff meaningfully (and shown it in a way that's more immediately convincing than pawning off this demonstration to a claim of having done or created something which requires this knowledge)
So I do really think that aiming to dazzle with breadth is a mistake. A topic mentioned without a good justification doesn't add much, because it can't be taken very seriously. On the other hand, I think it's possible for you to have your cake and eat it too. You can be a lot more economical with your language and that'd allow you to include most, if not all of those points. Conversely if you find that you're struggling to justify/meditate convincingly on one of the points, then maybe it was best not included after all. It's sort of a win-win.
@Waffloid That is true - though I have tried to include something concrete I've done to back up all the things I've said I find interesting. The examples you gave definitely do give a good idea of the style/tone of writing that is needed so thank you.
@traders Just got 77/100 on the 2009 paper (not in timed conditions and probably spent a bit too long on it)
Brit gang 💪