Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA); 1x interviews
Interview: Chemistry and engineering-related problems
A whole range of online resources
-
Relax - interviewers are rooting for you, not against you!
Remember this advice isn't official. There is no guarantee it will reflect your experience because university applications can change between years. Check the official Cambridge and Oxford websites for more accurate information on this year's application format and the required tests.
Also, someone else's experience may not reflect your own. Most interviews are more like conversations than tests and like, any conversation, they are quite interactive.
Test taken: Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA)
Number of interviews: 1
Skype interview: no
Time between interviews: N/A
Length of interview: 30 minutes
I entered the interview room quite
I was applying for Chemical Engineering via Engineering, so I was interviewed by 2 people: one for the Engineering aspect and one for the Chemical Engineering aspect. The interviewers were both taking notes throughout.
I sat down and soon relaxed, there were many sharpened pencils and pencil sharpeners on the table and a small stack of paper. I first started with the Engineering side of things (which was really mechanics). The Fellow interviewing me for that part asked whether I had covered a particular concept at school. I had only covered it on my own, I said, and he ensured that I sort of knew what I was talking about by checking I knew the basic formulae for that concept.
I was then given a sheet of paper with a problem that explored a particular case of the concept. The problem was broken down in small questions, and the Fellow told me to work through each at my own rhythm, showing the calculations I was doing on paper.
I was still
The second Fellow then said "all right let's do some chemistry", which really sent my heart pounding because I had not prepared for that at all. We discussed a process for making a certain chemical compound and how to optimise it on an industrial scale. He then asked me to calculate what proportions of certain compounds were obtained at particular points in the network.
The interview finished with them asking me "Do you have any questions?". All I could think of was "Is this already half an hour?”, as the interview went by extremely fast.
I should firstly say that I applied for Chemical Engineering via engineering (not via Natural Sciences). This meant that the whole process was for me similar to that experienced by an Engineering applicant (besides the Chemistry half of my interview).
I was not doing A levels, and I therefore lagged far behind British students in terms of maths and physics content covered. However, King's College had a webpage dedicated to students applying for engineering without having taken A levels, which I used extensively (and still thank for existing).
For Maths, I went on the Exam Solutions website for AQA A Level maths. I covered all of C1 and most of C2, C3, and C4 (these are the core maths modules).
For Physics, I used the book "Nelkon and Parker, Advanced Level Physics", the first few chapters of which give a good overview of mechanics, elasticity (Young's modulus, stress and strain), and electricity (subjects that were unknown to me at the time). I think the first 6 chapters were useful. I also used (very little, but still) Isaac Physics.
You can also simply check the ENGAA content specification, and check that you know it all.
For practice, you should check out the amazing website I Want To Study Engineering, with maths/physics-related challenging interview questions.
I then used the ENGAA sample paper that had been released at the time and did it in timed conditions. There should be more available past papers now, check out the bottom of the Engineering course overview on the university website.
My advice to anyone making it to the interview stage is to relax. Interviewers want you to do your best, they are working with you, not against you. So just focus on doing your best, that's really all you can do, and see how it goes!