all souls college essay examples

AnOxfordHistorian.com

• Mar 23, 2021

The World's Hardest Exam: All Souls, Oxford

Updated: Aug 9, 2021

All Souls College at the University of Oxford University is widely accepted to have the hardest exam in the world its entry test. How many questions can you answer ?

All Souls College, Oxford

All Souls, one of the colleges at the University of Oxford, is unlike any other. It is open only to those with an undergraduate degree, and prospective students are subjected to a special extra set of exams. Successful candidates are made fellows, and provided with huge benefits, including tuition and accommodation paid for in whole, and an annual stipend.

Sound ideal? Bear in mind, they admit only two candidates a year...

It's important to note this is a special case, and a VOLUNTARY set of exams - normal admission at any level is nothing like this process. Don't let this extreme example put you off from applying to Oxford - attending Oxford is an attainable goal for everyone, and you don't need to be able to answer any of these questions to go. That having been said, they're good fun to have a think-through to get the old brain-cogs going, and that's the aim of this article, rather than to scare anyone off.

This article isn't going to attempt to answer the questions for you. For one, I doubt I would be able to provide satisfactory answers. But secondly, the point of these questions is they are a personal response - a reflection of you as a person, the way your brain works and the way you reason. A lot of the questions here are not inherently difficult to answer badly - anyone could have a stab at them. What they are is difficult to answer extremely well, precisely because they require you to personally and convincingly engage with the material.

All Souls Exam - The Subject Papers

Entry to All Souls requires completing 12 hours worth of grueling exams. Firstly, candidates need to sit two 3-hour subject-specific papers, available in 7 options: Classics, Economics, English, History, Law, Philosophy, or Politics.

Does trust have a history?

Rehabilitate ‘Romanization’

Is the current economics curriculum fit for purpose?

Ted Hughes or Sylvia Plath?

What gives Beckett hope?

Does law claim authority?

Should we try to define art?

Have we seen the end of the ‘end of ideology’ ideology?

All Souls Exam - The General Papers

Candidates then sit a further set of two 3-hour exams called the General Paper, designed to test the rational argument skills of candidates in areas they are less familiar with. Past examples include:

‘To photograph is to confer importance’ (SUSAN SONTAG). Discuss.

Which concept is more fundamental, shape or colour?

Are there any unanswerable questions?

‘We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection’ (ANAÏS NIN). Discuss.

If Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela had died on the same day, whose death should the BBC have reported as its top story?

All Souls Exam - The One Word Essay

Be happy that the third set of essays has now been removed. Originally, candidates were also asked to write an hour essay based on a single word given to them. In past years, the page included simply one of the following :

Following 12 hours of exams, successful candidates are invited back for a viva, where they are questioned on their written answers by a panel of up to 50 fellows. Completed all of this with flying colours? Then congratulations, you have achieved the ultimate bragging rights and aced the hardest exam in the world.

More information, including full past papers, is available on All Soul's website here: https://www.asc.ox.ac.uk/examination-fellowships-general-information

And, again as a final note, remember that this exam reflects the very best, very hardest (post-graduate) exam at Oxford; the university is open to every0ne, and nobody should be put off applying by what they see here!

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All Souls’ one word exam: gone

All Souls College has decided to scrap the famous one-word essay question from its Fellows exam.

In the past, candidates have been given three hours to write, on no more than six sides of paper, about one word. Past essays have been on subjects such as “miracles”, “water” and “innocence”.

All Souls Warden John Vickers said the decision was the result of the exam’s ineffectiveness.

“For quite a number of years, how candidates did on the essay was not playing much of a role in assessing their analytical ability, and was just not that helpful,” Vickers said. “Another strand in the decision was that we thought we’d have a better balance between the subject papers and general papers without the essay.”

Vickers went on to acknowledge: “When it’s been a tradition for so long, there’s always some regret in coming to a decision like this.”

A second year undergraduate considering applying for one of the fellowships next year said: “Writing on a single word is highly subjective and very individualistic. If your examiner doesn’t have a background in the region you choose, this immediately places you at a disadvantage.”

But a postgraduate historian who took the exam last year thought it was a worthwhile assessment.

“The one word paper was the weirdest, but not necessarily the most difficult part of the selection process. The two general papers asking questions on broad matters of ethics, philosophy and politics were especially tough… the one word exam is sufficiently vague to be turned into talking about whatever you want to do,” he said.

A second year historian from Hertford added: “I think this undermines a brilliant tradition of All Souls College. Next they will be scrapping exams altogether. This is typical. Just typical.”

Vickers argued that the loss of the exam would have no impact on the calibre of the candidates selected this year, saying, “Not carrying on with the essay should be neutral in terms of who gets elected. We felt we were getting a better insight from the other ingredients of the exam process.”

All Souls recruits exclusively from Oxford’s undergraduate finalists and graduates to confer its two seven-year fellowships, which can be held by both academics and non-academics, and come with an annual stipend of £14,783.

Previous fellows have included the philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin and the judge Richard Wilberforce.

The College’s decision means that candidates this autumn will face only four exams, consisting of two specialist subject papers and two general papers.

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Examination Fellowships: General Information

What is the examination fellowship.

Every autumn, All Souls College seeks to elect Examination Fellows, formerly known as Prize Fellows. The College normally elects two from a field of one hundred and fifty or more candidates. The Fellowships last seven years and cannot be renewed.

Examination Fellows are full members of the College's governing body, with a vote, a stipend or scholarship allowance if eligible for scholarship status, free board and single accommodation in College, and various other benefits. The College normally pays the University fees of Examination Fellows who are studying for degrees at Oxford. The level of the stipend or scholarship allowance and other benefits are described in the further particulars for each competition.

What do Examination Fellows do?

Most Examination Fellows follow an academic career. You have seven years of research in ideal conditions, in regular contact with leading scholars in your field, and free from many of the pressures, financial and otherwise, which can afflict graduate students. In seven years you might, for example, be able to complete a doctorate, turn it into a book, and then start on another project. The College also encourages Fellows to get involved in University teaching. So, if you aim for an academic career, the College helps you gain experience of tutorial teaching, and if you give lectures your salary is increased.

Some Examination Fellows pursue careers outside academia in law, finance, journalism, the arts, the Civil Service and so on. If you chose not to do full-time academic work, you would receive a smaller stipend or salary (after the first two years) but keep your status as a Fellow, with a room in College and most of the benefits. If you were working outside academia you would have to maintain active academic interests, albeit in a very part-time fashion. During the first two years of the Fellowship, you would need to pursue a 'course of study or training' approved by the College: you could fulfil this requirement by undertaking a structured programme of independent study or by enrolling on an academic course (a vocational course would not itself be sufficient). In the remaining five years of the Fellowship, you would be expected to make some definite contribution to academic activity or links between academia and public life (interpreted broadly to include the arts as well as, for example, law and public policy). You could fulfil this obligation in many ways: possibilities include undertaking a research project part-time, organising seminars or promoting the dissemination of academic work to a wider audience. You are not expected to have a specific project planned at the time of election, but you would need to submit a proposal for College approval  – and support  – within eighteen months of entering Fellowship. Your 'course of study or training' in the first two years could be directed at the formulation of a workable proposal and the acquisition of any new skills (e.g. languages or statistical methods) that you would need to implement it.

Fellows are expected to play an active part in College life. Again, this can take various forms. In particular, in the first year of Fellowship we hope that you would dine in College at least twenty-eight times each term ('term' being defined to include part of the vacation before and after full term). This helps foster fruitful interactions: you get to know other Fellows and they get to know you. Fellows pursuing non-academic careers can comply with this convention by, for example, working in London or elsewhere during the week and coming to Oxford at term-time weekends.

Who can apply?

The College welcomes applications from candidates of diverse backgrounds. Academic merit in the examination is the sole criterion for assessing candidates.

You are eligible to apply for the 2024 Examination Fellowship if:

• you have a degree (or by 1 October 2024 will have a degree) from the University of Oxford; or have registered (or by 1 October 2024 will have registered) for a higher degree at the University of Oxford; and
• you have completed or are studying for a degree in the Humanities or Social Sciences; and
• you have successfully completed all the examinations necessary for a first BA or equivalent degree whether at the University of Oxford or elsewhere; and,
• normally, you have successfully completed your first degree not more than seven terms before the relevant election, i.e. no earlier than Summer 2022.

If you are over the term limits for exceptional reasons (e.g. prolonged illness), you should write to the College  saying why you think you should be allowed to be a candidate.

What is the deadline for applications?

The precise deadline varies from year to year, but it usually falls in August.

You must complete the online application form by the advertised deadline.

Please find access to the Further Particulars ,  Frequently Asked Questions , and  Disability Policy .  

How are candidates assessed?

The College sets a written examination, consisting of four papers of three hours each. Two of these are in your chosen specialist subject – Classical Studies, Law, History, English Literature, Economics, Politics, or Philosophy. The other two papers are 'general', and contain questions on a wide range of subjects. In previous years, candidates sat a fifth paper, in which they were required to write an essay in response to a single word; this is no longer the case.

PDFs of past examination papers are available at the bottom of this page. See also the Further Particulars for each year's competition. 

Scripts are anonymous: we give you a number to conceal your identity. Any Fellow may read the scripts, but a group of examiners (usually two per subject) takes the lead in the marking and draws up a short-list, usually of about five or six candidates. Other Fellows can add to the short-list if they think the examiners have overlooked a strong candidate. Short-listed candidates are invited to attend a viva voce examination (see below for more details). The election is made by the Fellowship as a whole.

When are the examination and the election?

Each year, the dates of the written examination, the viva and the election are given in the Further particulars, which are posted on the College website.

The examination is usually held over two days the week immediately before 0th week of the autumn term. This is in late September or early October.

The Warden and the Chair of the Examiners hold a meeting for all candidates who wish to attend on the afternoon before the written examination, to explain the examination and to answer any questions.

The viva is on the morning of the last Saturday of October. The election is made on the first Saturday of November. If you were to be elected, you would normally be a Fellow from the next day, and could move into College very soon after. You could, however, apply to defer the start of the Fellowship by up to one year.

What is the College looking for in candidates?

Most candidates have performed outstandingly well in their academic careers thus far, and the examination, including the viva, is designed to allow the College to distinguish among very talented people. We are impressed by thoughtfulness and scholarship beyond the level of Finals, but do not expect candidates to be perfectly right about everything: flexibility and responsiveness to argument count for a lot, both in the written papers and in the viva. The specialist papers contain a broad range of questions within each subject. On those papers, as in a Finals paper, you should write for specialists in your field. In the general papers we look for signs of broad interests and awareness of the relevance of your particular areas of knowledge to wider issues. In the first general paper, you have the opportunity to answer questions on a range of topics including the arts, science, politics, literature, current affairs, and issues in education and sport. These questions are not linked directly to the specialist subjects. In the second general paper, the questions are broadly related to each of the subjects on which there are specialist papers. You can focus on the questions concerning your specialist subject, or answer questions relating to other subjects, or a mixture of the two. In both general papers, you should write for an educated, but non-specialist, readership.

Strong performance on the specialist papers is a prerequisite for election. Providing a candidate's specialist papers are of such a standard, specialist and non-specialist papers have equal weight.

There is no single formula for gaining the Fellowship: the important thing is to write scripts that show you at your best. Bear in mind that you may need to allow yourself more latitude and ambition than usual. In the Fellowship Examination, some risks may yield significant rewards.

What happens in the viva?

If you are short-listed, you will be invited to a viva on the morning of the last Saturday of October. The viva lasts for about 25 minutes. You will only be asked about your written work from the examination. It is a good idea to make brief summaries of your answers soon after the examination so that if you are called to a viva you can remind yourself of what you wrote. About fifty Fellows attend the vivas. The examiners who marked your scripts will ask most of the questions, and although any Fellow may question you, usually only a few intervene. Vivas are meant to be friendly, to allow candidates to show themselves at their best.

Where can I find more information?

PDFs of past exam papers may be found here:  Past Examination Papers

If you have any questions about the Examination Fellowship that are not answered here, please contact  [email protected] . 

Examination Fellowships

• General Information
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Past Examination Papers

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Oxford University offers the 'world's hardest test' — here's how to answer the questions

The entrance exam for All Souls College  at Oxford University has  been called  the world's hardest test . 

That's because it's nearly impossible to revise for. The questions are abstract and there are no right or wrong answers. 

Only a twentieth of the Oxford graduates who take the test are invited to continue the process.

The prize is a 7-year fellowship at Oxford University, which typically goes to two students each year.

The test comes up in September, so a new batch of applicants have just run the gauntlet.

We spoke to someone who both passed their own All Souls exam and now grades them. Our source gave us the inside track on what examiners look for. When you're done,  check out all the  past exam questions here .

Students sit two general papers, and two papers from their specific discipline. It's mostly humanities and social science subjects.

Here's the examiner: "All the best candidates demonstrate a strong command of their subjects, and make compelling arguments in clear prose."

"The scripts that really stand out usually have something more that is striking: flashes of wit, sensitivity to detail, argumentative force."

"A significant challenge is to strike a balance between playing to your strengths and stretching beyond your comfort zone."

They aren't yes or no answers, so it's hard to know what constitutes failure: "It's not an exam you can fail, and there's no single way to be elected, so in that sense there are no 'mistakes'."

All subjects are meant to be as difficult as one another: "Though the classicists have the unenviable task of sitting an additional translation exam."

"Usually about 80 candidates sit the exam, and two are elected to fellowship. Occasionally just one candidate is elected."

The subjects are all humanities and social science subjects.

The tiny proportion of candidates that pass an exam are invited to present a viva: A spoken explanation of their answers.

"The viva can be a somewhat bewildering experience, because most of the fellowship (there are about 80 fellows at any one time) attends."

Famous fellows include Isaiah Berlin, while British prime minister Harold Wilson did not pass the exam.

Until 2010, candidates also took an essay, lasting three hours, in which they had to write about just one word, like "innocence" or "error" .

Fellows are elected for seven-year periods, and get a stipend of about £15,000 per year if they're conducting academic work.

That's what one of those unenviable translations looks like for students of Classics.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Poverty in America — A Brief Summary of “All Souls” by Michael Patrick MacDonald

A Brief Summary of "All Souls" by Michael Patrick Macdonald

• Categories: Cultural Anthropology Poverty in America

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Published: Mar 16, 2024

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Summary of All Souls

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All Souls: A Family Story From Southie

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All Souls: A Family Story From Southie

All souls, no upward mobility: all souls and the death of the american dream anonymous college.

In the book All Souls: A Family Story from Southie (MacDonald), the author introduces the reader to an intimate portrait of his mother, siblings, and his community. The reader is drawn in to the specific neighborhood of “Southie,” or South Boston, an area with intensely high poverty among Caucasians. However, Michael Macdonald, the author, focuses on his mother, “Ma,” and the struggles she has with social immobility. Unable to escape Southie, Ma endures the death of four out of her eleven children – whose very existence testifies to the draw of the streets and the way of life that is so tragically common. Ultimately, All Souls: A Family Story from Southie is a story about how, despite the pervasive myth of the American Dream, social mobility in America is virtually impossible for the poor. Further, the story complicates the view of race because it shows how prejudice in America has actually excluded the poor whites in Southie from a great deal of concern or social intervention.

The case study of “Ma” shows how poverty and fear are inextricably intertwined and how they construct identity. The book makes it extremely clear that Ma is a victim of social immobility. The second chapter begins with an episode relaying MacDonald’s...

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