Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA); 2x interviews.
Questions on physics and maths that started easy but became harder.
Using online resources (isaacphysics.org, i-want-to-study-engineering.org); practising difficult graph-sketching; mock interviews.
Going through the ENGAA syllabus, doing timed questions from question banks (e.g. online resources mentioned under "Best Preparation"), saving ENGAA past papers for closer to the test.
During the interview, think out loud - even when you know you aren't right, explain where you might be wrong. Clarify concepts you're unsure of in the interview. Revise your A-level content beforehand.
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: 2
Time between interviews: 1.5 hours
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: Yes
- Each of my four interviewers asked me maths or physics questions around a certain topic. No discussion of my personal statement whatsover
- I had 3 physics topics, 1 maths, just to give you a sense of the ratio
- In each topic, the questions started easier then got harder. Although they were
- I made a lot of silly mistakes (including on straightforward A-level standard questions) but the interviewers gave me hints to help me get the right answer
- Said mistakes made me very
- I didn't know what a circuit symbol meant, so I asked the interviewer and he told me. In general, if I had knowledge gaps they filled them in so I could proceed with the problem.
- Using isaacphysics.org and i-want-to-study-engineering.org
- Practiced graph sketching, e.g. reciprocals, hard trigonometric functions
- I had four
- Go through the
- Isaacphysics.org and i-want-to-study-engineering.org are good question banks
- The
- Do
- Practice doing math without a calculator (if you're as calculator dependent as me). Like, in maths class, do your sums by hand
- There are very few actual past papers, I saved most to do close to the test (like the week before) because the ENGAA is honestly most a speed test than anything and being fast requires recent practice.
- I always timed myself when doing any practice question
In general, I think the interviewers are testing how well you pick up new concepts and approach (not necessarily solve!) hard problems, not your existing knowledge. Always ‘think aloud’ and explain how you’re solving the problem to the interviewer. Try to give some sort of answer to questions (avoid saying ‘I don’t know’) to show you’re at least trying to solve the problem. If you know your answer can’t be right, it’s even worth saying ‘my first instinct is ___ but I know that’s wrong because ___’.
If you don’t know the meaning of something in the question or haven’t learned the topic, tell the interviewer and they’ll be happy to tell you what it is so you can proceed with the problem
You should absolutely revise your A-level content, especially Year 12! I made a lot of basic mistakes due to not doing this.