Information for OppOx Digital offer holders

Opportunity Oxford supports offer holders as they move from school or college to undergraduate study at Oxford. OppOx Digital is a free, fully online academic preparation course designed to help students strengthen core academic skills and feel confident, prepared and ready to succeed.

Throughout the course, students will:

• Learn effective study strategies
• Gain insights from current Oxford students
• Build a practical toolkit of academic skills
• Develop time management and independent learning skills
• Connect with future classmates and University staff

By completing the course before starting their degree, students can develop essential academic skills at their own pace, while receiving guidance and support from tutors and current undergraduates.

Participation in OppOx Digital is by invitation only. Due to limited capacity, invitations cannot be extended to all offer holders.

Each year, over 300 students are offered the chance to participate in OppOx Digital. Students participate in a structured programme which includes:

• An online information and welcome event for all participants and supporters
• A supportive online academic course in the summer during July and August
• Ongoing feedback from Oxford tutors and interaction with current undergraduate students.

You can find more information about each component of the OppOx Digital programme below.

“The Opportunity Oxford Digital course is offered to about 17% of offer holders each year, from across all subjects and colleges. In selecting students for invitation to the programme, we use postcode and school data to focus targeted academic support for those students whose prior education may not have offered very many opportunities for such support. The tutors who selected you for an Oxford place are subject specialists and experts in their field and recognise your excellent academic potential; the online courses are designed by tutors to help you realise that potential. 

The aim of the digital courses is to maximise the skills that you have already developed at school or college, and to support you as you get ready for university study.”
Academic Programme Lead, Opportunity Oxford

Programme timeline

“The programme introduced me to the kind of work I would be doing at Oxford, helping me develop key skills like critical thinking, essay writing, note-taking and independent study. This made the step up to university-level learning feel much more manageable and familiar. I felt like I knew how to approach the work that my tutors had set me immediately after I arrived. The online course exceeded my initial expectation as I was not expecting such detailed feedback from my tutor, nor did I think I would read about such a variety of topics. I also gained more reassurance and motivation from watching the Q&A sessions with students who had completed the course before coming to Oxford.”
Eleanor, Modern Languages

“What I found most helpful was the feedback I got from the academics, when I submitted my work. And I think I was both surprised and relieved by the amount of feedback I got in response to my answers that I submitted, because that meant I had a lot of insight into what I could do to improve, and that the tutors care a lot about the work you submit.”
Isabella, Law

If you have received an invitation to take part in OppOx Digital, you and your family and supporters are invited to attend our online information and welcome event.

This evening session in March is your chance to: 

• Meet fellow students who will be joining you on the programme
• Chat with our student ambassadors who have experienced the programme themselves
• Learn more about the online course and what to expect from university life
• Ask all your questions in a friendly and supportive environment.

If you have received an invitation to OppOx Digital but are unsure whether to sign up, we strongly encourage you to join the event. This session will give you an understanding of how the online course can help you develop high-level academic skills and prepare for university study.

“Starting an undergraduate degree can feel overwhelming, but OppOx Digital is here to help you. These online courses build on the hard work that got you to Oxford, giving you the confidence and skills to thrive on course. Many past participants have found it a great boost for their studies and we hope you will too! We’re excited to support you on this journey and can’t wait to meet you."
Academic Programme Lead, Opportunity Oxford

“I found the course useful in challenging me with hard concepts and readings. I believed the course would teach me skills needed for university and I believe it did do that as I was able to hone my note-taking skills and practise doing large amounts of difficult reading.”
Rebecca, Classical Archaeology

"My advice to future students is to embrace the programme with an open mind. It’s designed to support you, not test you, so don’t feel like you have to prove yourself—your offer already shows that you deserve to be here! Also, I would advise students to engage fully with the academic work, as it will give you a great head start and help you adjust to university-level study. At first, I did have some reservations about Opportunity Oxford. I wasn’t sure what to make of a voluntary online bridging programme. Looking back now, I can confidently say that Opportunity Oxford was an incredibly valuable experience. The academic work helped me feel so much more confident in my abilities.”
Taeja, History and Politics

The OppOx Digital courses have been expertly designed by our academic tutors and consist of structured, in-depth, problem-based tasks. These courses will help you bridge the gap between school and university study by refining the skills you've already developed.

OppOx Digital students follow one of four tailored online courses, depending on your future degree subject:

• Humanities – Enhance your critical thinking and analytical skills
• Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) – Develop problem-solving techniques for scientific inquiry
• Medical Sciences – Refine your approach to critical analysis, data interpretation, and problem-based learning
• Social Sciences – Strengthen your research and data analysis capabilities

At the end of the course you’ll have developed a toolkit of useful core academic skills ready for the start of your undergraduate degree course.

“I can't stress the value of OppOx enough for incoming offer-holders. The programme offers students one-to-one feedback on essay writing: invaluable for those who may have done STEM-based A levels, and feel less confident with it, but it's useful too for those who might not have written in an explicitly interdisciplinary way before, blending music, history, philosophy, sociology, and literature. Many students feel anxious but OppOx tutors provide an approachable introduction to their course and students benefit from the head start that OppOx provides. Most importantly, though, the course is intellectually stimulating and fun; it allows you to build study skills before term has even begun.”
Dr Oliver Chandler – Humanities tutor, Opportunity Oxford

Flexible Learning – Study at Your Own Pace

The online course launches in early July and will take around two weeks to complete. We understand that the summer before university is a busy time, so the course is designed to be flexible and manageable, allowing you to complete it at your own pace.

There are no in-person or residential requirements and the online course remains open for six weeks, meaning you can easily fit your studies around work, holidays, and other commitments.

“The course helped consolidate my knowledge of my A level content by applying it to a more advanced task. It went even further then by introducing me to new, more complex ideas and areas of research, and in doing so highlighted the areas of improvement I would need to make to improve my academic life.”
Harrison, Biochemistry

“It was self-led so I was able to work flexibly, and the summaries were very effective in allowing me to make sure I remembered important parts of each section. Quizzes were short so it didn't feel daunting every time I had to complete one.”
Jesika, Mechanical Engineering

All eligible participants will receive an email with everything they need to get started.

Please see our About Opportunity Oxford page to find out more about who is invited to take part in OppOx Digital.

Unfortunately, OppOx Digital is available exclusively to students who have received an official invitation. If you are not invited to OppOx Digital, there are plenty of other fantastic resources to help you with your academic journey and university transition. Check out these resources designed to support you:

• Oxplore: Explore this great platform for engaging with thought-provoking topics and further academic reading
• Further Reading: Build on your knowledge with a selection of further reading lists curated by Oxford
• Study Skills Resources: Whether you're looking to improve your time management, writing, or research skills, these resources are here to help.

“There was plenty of time to complete the course. The feedback from the tutors also made it possible to improve my skills in formulating arguments over the course of the programme. I found that it helped make me feel more prepared for starting university, as I could get used to this new style of work in a less pressured environment. I enjoyed building on some of the content from A-level in a more detailed way, and I found the feedback most useful, as it allowed me to have a focus in each of my tasks of something that I could work on improving from the previous task."
Isabella, Human Sciences

“Overall, I found the work manageable and based off tutor feedback I received, I am more confident than ever going into the course. The feedback was informative and easy to understand and reassured me that my responses were still strong. I believe every task developed me as a student.”
Sonny, Law