Engineering @ Emmanuel, Cambridge in 2011

Interview format

2x interviews (30 mins); 1x test

Interview content

Various areas of maths which were conceptually challenging

Best preparation

Mock interview

Final thoughts

Difficulty due to syllabus being different

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.

Interview Format

2x30 min interviews: 1 technical interview on mostly maths - 2 interviewers & 1 open interview about motivations with some physics theory - 1 interviewer.

I also had 1 computer based multiple choice question test - to test critical thinking.

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Complex numbers, Archimedes principle, Newton's laws - conceptually challenging.

How did you prepare?

Mock interview with physics teacher

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

I did the IB so my syllabus was quite different to A level so there was some content they asked me that I had not learnt at all [Editor's Note: if the interviews seem to assume you know something you don't, let them know you've not covered that yet - they understand different curriculums cover content at different stages].