So you’ve got an interview for History at Oxford or Cambridge, congratulations! To help you prepare we’ve compiled some of the best advice from real History applicants who went to interview so you can get all the top tips in one place.
“I went over my submitted work (2 essays from AS), my notes covering my submitted work and my personal statement. Going over your submitted essays was super important as we talked extensively on the themes covered and expanded on the ideas I had presented in them.”
History | Downing, Cambridge | Full interview here 🔗.
“I knew my History essay that I submitted would be discussed during the interview, so I reread it a couple of times, and then reread my textbook and notes for the time period that I had used during school when the essay was written. I tried to accrue as much knowledge as I could on the essay’s topic.”
History | St Edmund Hall, Oxford | Full interview here 🔗
“I checked my personal statement for every book I had mentioned and made notes on the key arguments and ideas from them. I made sure I had an opinion on them, not necessarily all positive. Essentially you need to be ready to talk about anything in your personal statement at some length so brush up on it if you are unsure. The most useful prep I did was with my submitted work. I knew exactly what I said, how I could have improved it etc. I also brushed up on the context around the essay I wrote.”
History | Christ’s, Cambridge | Full interview here 🔗.
“First interview, we went over my submitted work, expanded on my ideas. I was then given a visual source to discuss and analyse. Second interview, we covered my personal statement, my interests in history. We also touched on my background, and how that influenced my historical studies.”
History | Downing, Cambridge | Full interview here 🔗.
“One interview was based on an extract we got a few days before - there were around 10 questions that everyone got asked that were mainly about the argument and the persuasiveness of the extract. My second interview I got asked about my submitted work but also about the context in which I had written it (other modules) and I got asked more generally about those. I left both interviews feeling like it had gone really quickly and it was a bit of a blur. I did relax into the interview but in the second one I felt a lot more comfortable, probably because I had then experienced the setting before and the uncertainty around it was removed.”
History | Queen’s, Oxford | Full interview here 🔗
“The first interview was preceded by them sending an extract 20 minutes before which you had to read and analyse. The interviewer then asked me about the key arguments in different sections and asked me to analyse them. At one point they asked me a question to which I did not know the answer - always have a go. The second half of that interview involved another unseen source, this one was a picture. They asked me to describe it, what it could have been used for, what it tells us about the period etc. The second interview started more based on my submitted work. I was asked about my opinions on it and some other questions on the period and the political thought behind it (it made sense for the essay). Then they asked me about how many Histories there are of a particular event.”
History | Christ’s, Cambridge | Full interview here 🔗.
“Almost my entire interview, aside from introductions, was spent discussing the History essay that I had submitted. I was told that we would discuss my personal statement as well afterwards, but we spent so long on the essay that we didn’t have time for it. I was asked many different questions about the essay, and I was challenged on some of my arguments.”
History | St Edmund Hall, Oxford | Full interview here 🔗
“Don’t rush into answering a question, take your time! Also if you don’t know exactly how to answer, just talk through your thinking process and the interviewers will help guide you in the right direction.”
History | Downing, Cambridge | Full interview here 🔗.
“Allow yourself to go back on things that you have said or to try and clarify your thoughts. If you go at it trying to speak your thoughts out loud it can be helpful to try and organise them and directly answer the question after.”
History | Queen’s, Oxford | Full interview here 🔗
“Stay calm if things go wrong, they are very understanding, especially online. Be aware that they will let you just keep talking so make sure to limit your answers and don't start waffling.”
History | Christ’s, Cambridge | Full interview here 🔗.
Mock interview from Jesus College Oxford 🔗 🌟 The Access Fellow at Jesus College has created many video resources for applying to Oxford, and this is a mock interview with a 3rd year History student
History Demonstration Interview from the Oxford History Faculty 🔗 Two Oxford University History tutors explain the interview process, and do a mock interview with a 1st year History student, followed by a commentary about how the interview went
Q and A with students from Keble College Oxford 🔗 History students at Keble give their perspective on their interview experiences
Mock history interview at Caius College Cambridge 🔗 Two History lecturers at Goneville and Caius, Cambridge do a mock interview with an undergraduate student
History Admissions FAQ from Peterhouse, Cambridge 🔗 This interview with a Fellow in History and Admissions Tutor at Peterhouse covers different aspects of the admission process, including interviews
If you would like to read the accounts of History applicants in full, we have thousands of testimonials in the Interviews section of our website. History testimonials can be found here 🔗 for Oxford and here 🔗 for Cambridge. You can find non-course specific information about the interview and how to prepare an Oxbridge application here 🔗.
Information about how to prepare for the History Admissions Test (HAT) at Oxford can be found here 🔗, and information about the History Admissions Assessment (HAA) at Cambridge can be found here 🔗.