No Admissions Test; 2x interviews
Interview 1: more general questioning about education; Interview 2: track-specific questioning
Prepared answers to possible questions; re-read personal statement and SAQ
N/A (no test taken)
Practise answering interview-style questions with teachers, friends, or family
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: None
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 1 day
Length of interviews: 35 minutes
Online interview: Yes
Both of my interviews were nice—it felt more like an academic conversation than an intense interview.
My first interview was more general: I had 2 interviewers who asked me questions to do with Education and the current system.
My second interview was more track-specific. Since I had chosen to apply for the Psychology & Learning track, this interview had more technical Psychology questions and asked more about scientific concepts and experiments. The questions were challenging, in that I had to think before giving an answer instead of saying something straight away, but the interviewers were very receptive and just wanted to see and understand my thought process rather than being critical and expecting a perfect, flawless answer.
Personally, I enjoyed my interview experience: all my interviewers were nice and friendly, and we even laughed and joked towards the end which made me feel very comfortable and pleased with my performance.
I did lots of
I also prepared answers to possible questions the interviewers could have posed and read over this several times before the interview making sure I could answer them confidently.
Lastly, I re-read my personal statement and
Mock interviews are the most useful thing you can do to prepare for your interviews so take advantage of them if this opportunity is offered by teachers at your school.
If not, even practising with family and friends can be helpful as it will make you feel more confident about answering questions, and ensure that your knowledge of your subject is secure so that you can explain yourself and your thinking well.