The Oxford Traffic Light System – What You Need To Know

This year, Oxford have created a very useful ‘traffic light’ system for prospective students. The traffic light system helpfully indicates which school subjects are important for each course. Subjects listed as ‘red’ are considered essential for the course, e.g. Maths for a Computer Science degree. Other subjects are listed as ‘yellow’ meaning that they are recommended to pursue in preparation. Finally, courses that are listed under green are considered to be helpful and useful.

Students who are still unsure about their course decision should definitely have a look at which subjects are held at which traffic lights because it may help to whittle down your choices. For those who are finishing up their GCSE’s, this is the perfect time to plan ahead and work out which A-Level, IB and Pre-U subjects are necessary or recommended for courses you are interested in.

Of course, you can find this information on each course page on the Oxford website but to make things a little easier, we have compiled an all-in-one table for you to have a look at which includes whether written work is required.