King's College Economics Admissions FAQs

• These notes cover King's College Economics Admissions

Required Coursework

• Applicants need A Level/IB Higher Level Mathematics
• Neither A level economics nor AS Level Further Mathematics is required

Admissions Assessment

• All applicants must take a pre-interview written assessment for Economics
• This assessment will be at an authorised centre local to them
• The assessment is a two-hour exam with two sections:
  • Section 1 is 80 minutes, involves problem-solving and maths for economics
  • Section 2 is 40 minutes, involves writing an essay on an economics topic
• Registration is required in advance, separately from the UCAS application
• The registration deadline is 15 October 2018
• The assessment centre registers you for the pre-interview assessment
• Performance is not considered in isolation, but alongside other elements of the application

Interview

• A half-hour interview is preceded by a one-hour preparation time
• There is a handout with three analytical/mathematical questions and a newspaper article
• Notes can be made during the preparation hour and referred to in the interview
• The first third of the interview discusses the reading
• You will move on to answers/thoughts on the questions from the handout
• You may also be asked to solve new problems
• Calculators are not allowed

Reading Samples Used in Recent Admissions Interviews

• "A hated tax but a fair one" from The Economist, 23 November 2017
• “Will customer ratings for airlines prove as important as those of hotels?” from The Economist, 12 July 2016
• “Know your facts: Poverty numbers" by José Cuesta, Mario Negre, Christoph Lakner, from http://voxeu.org/ 7 November 2016
• “Abnormally normal – For once, oil prices are responding to supply and demand, not OPEC" from The Economist, 14 November 2015
• "What happens when a country goes bust?" from The Economist, 24 November 2014
• "Is Bitcoin about to change the world?” from The Guardian, 25 November 2013

Sample Interview Questions

• Determining Extremum of a Function: Determine if f(x) = xe^(-x) has an extremum and identify it as max or min
• Shortest Path Problem: A city has a square grid with 9 parallel east-west streets and 9 parallel north-south streets
  • With the southwest corner at A = (0, 0) and the northeast corner at B = (8,8), find the length of the shortest path from A to B
  • If C is the street corner (5,3), calculate the length of the shortest path from A to B via C
  • How many different shortest paths from A to B go through C?

Probability Puzzles

• Family Demographics:
  • Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children, and one is John
  • What is the probability that Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two sons?
  • Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children, and the youngest is Helen
  • What is the probability that Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two daughters?

Game Theory Scenarios

• Two-Person Game with Alice and Bob:
  • Alice and Bob take turns for a max of three stages, with the player able to end the game at any stage
  • Stage 1: piles of £1 and £4; Alice goes first
  • Stage 2: piles double to £2 and £8; Bob's turn
  • Stage 3: piles double to £4 and £16; Alice's turn
  • The player chooses a pile and ends the game
  • Alice and Bob want to maximise their own money
• Six-Stage Version of the Game:
• A six-stage version of the above game
• At stages one to five, the player can end the game by keeping one of the piles

Statistical Analysis Question

• Secondary School Exam Analysis:
  • The ministry finds that schools with the highest average scores tend to be small
  • Politicians suggest splitting big schools into smaller ones
  • A statistician warns against overlooking randomness and suggests looking at the lowest performing schools too

Team Formation and Earnings

• Team Production Problem:
  • A, B, and C can form teams, each earning £4 (the non-member gets nothing)
  • They can make binding agreements on how to share earnings
  • Determine what team formation and gain-sharing prevents blocking by another proposal
  • How many different arrangements are there?

Modified Scenario

• The modified scenario has all three individuals can form a team to earn £6

Types of Agents

• What happens if there are two types of agents, left-handeds and right handeds who can earn £2 only as a pair

Graph Plotting

• Plot the function f(x) = (x³ - 4x) / (x³ + 1)

Gambling Game with Coins

• Alice/Bob Gambling Game:
  • Alice owns one fair coin (5p, 10p, or 20p), Bob owns the other two
  • All three coins tossed; tails count zero for the owner, heads count the value
  • Highest score wins all three coins; if all tails, the toss is repeated
  • Consider the role of the coin Alice owns in the game

Probability and Arrival Time

• Trains and Arrival Times:
  • Kate arrives between 3pm - 4pm
  • Ben arrives between 3pm - 4pm
  • The arrival is randomly equally likely
  • They wait 15 minutes
  • What is the probability they will run into each other?

Train Schedules and Commuting

• Commuting with Mr.Jones:
  • Jones takes the train from Cambridge to London
  • Arrival time between 8am and 9am and it is random and equally likely
  • He takes the first train to depart
  • Two train schedules that will allow him to use the second company three times as much

Probability and Deception

• Determining the Truth:
  • If a fair coin is tossed, ask three friends and they each lie 1/3 of the time
  • If all friends say it is heads - what is the probability that it is indeed heads?

Pirate Game

• Pirate Division Problem:
  • Five pirates divide 100 coins
  • The oldest proposes a division, and the pirates vote
  • A proposal accepted if at least half agrees
  • If not, the proposer is excluded, and the next oldest makes a proposal
  • The process continues until a proposal is accepted
  • Which pirate will get the most coins?

Averages and Guessing Game

• Guessing Two-Thirds of the Average Game:
  • People choose integers from 1 to 99 in sealed envelopes
  • The person closest to 2/3 of the average wins a prize
• Identify and explain best strategy

Probability and Circles

• Three points drawn randomly on a circle
• Calculate the probability of the three points laying on the same semi-circle

Friendly vs. Awkward Trios

• Friendly Trios and Awkward Trios:
  • Identify the contrast between a group of three people all of whom know each other and a group of three none of whom know each other
  • In any group of six, there must be a friendly trio or an awkward trio

Commuting

• Commuting Problem:
  • A commuter arrives at the station and gets routinely picked up by his wife at six.
  • On an alternate day, he arrives at half-past five and begins walking home
  • His wife sees him on the way to the station, lets him in the car and arrives home 20 minutes earlier than usual
• Determine how long had the husband been walking

Restaurant preference

• Restaurant Comparison:
  • Ann and Bob try to decide on A and B
  • Restaurants are compared based on menus and simple criterion, then ranked

Theaters and Assigned Seats

• Theatre Seating Problem:
  • In a theatre of 100 seats, one person is drunk
  • What is the probability that the final person will sit in his assigned seat?

Financial Situation

• Mrs. Smith's Financial Problem:
• Smith wants to spend £100 on a plant but only has£10
• Bank account doubles every morning with a deposit every day possible by the husband
• On the way there is a pub costing £3. How many days will it take?

Games

• The Unusual Game:
  • If the pair of dice has a total sum of 1,2,...12 with a probability of each=1/12, how many numbers are on the second dice?