The EFDS Playbook · 2026 edition
How to get an offer for Imperial's Economics, Finance and Data Science, written by a current EFDS student. Eight real personal statements (two in the new UCAS format), the interview broken down question by question, a 60-question practice bank, and a full TMUA prep ladder.
What's inside
How Imperial actually assesses EFDS across grades, personal statement, TMUA and interview.
The realistic bar at GCSE, predicted grades, and the subject combinations that map onto first year.
One fully annotated statement, seven more from offer-holders, two of them in the new three-question UCAS format.
A full prep ladder: what to drill, in what order, and how to build to the score that actually keeps you in contention.
The interview broken down question by question, plus a full model interview from start to finish.
60 real-style questions across Hotelling and spatial competition, applied game theory, macro, data and ethics.
A month-by-month plan you can actually follow, from now to offers day.
Free sample
A short passage from the fully annotated personal statement in chapter three, so you can see the level of detail before you buy.
Excerpt
"Reading Piketty on inequality, I was struck less by his headline claim than by how much of his argument rested on data I couldn't easily interrogate myself. That gap, between the conclusion I was being asked to accept and the workings behind it, is why I want to study a course that treats economics and data science as one discipline, not two."
Why this works
The opener does three things at once: names a real book, signals genuine engagement rather than name-dropping, and turns the reflection into a direct argument for interdisciplinary study. Admissions tutors read hundreds of statements that quote Piketty; almost none of them use the quote to justify the specific course.
The rest of the annotated statement in chapter three breaks down every paragraph like this, plus seven more real statements from offer-holders.
About the author
I'm a current student on Economics, Finance and Data Science at Imperial College London, class of 2028. I sat the same interview you're preparing for, wrote a personal statement that got through, and drilled the TMUA question types until they stopped surprising me.
Alongside EFDS I'm the founder of A* AI, an AI tutoring platform used by 10,000+ UK students. This playbook is the guide I wish existed when I was applying: every stage of the process, in one place, from someone who's just been through it.
FAQ
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Yes, this is the 2026 edition, written for the 2025/26 UCAS cycle and the current three-question personal statement format.
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The EFDS Playbook
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