English @ Sidney Sussex, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

<p>ELAT; 2 x interviews</p>

Interview content

Interview 1: general discussion about literature; Interview 2: questions on my personal statement

Best preparation

Practice papers and annotating extracts

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Talk to teachers about literature and practise mock interviews with other applicants.

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

Test taken: ELAT

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: no

Time between interviews: 2 hours

Length of first interview: 30 minutes; Length of second interview: 30 minutes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

My first interview was a general discussion about literature e.g. the relationship between music and literature, theatre and literature etc. - the 'big questions' surrounding literature. In my second interview I was challenged on points of view I had expressed on my personal statement.

How did you prepare?

Practice papers - got a teacher to comment on them and suggest improvements, just practiced annotating extracts

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

I spent time after school with a teacher just talking about literature - not mock interviews, just discussions. I did 'mock interviews' between ourselves with two others from my school applying to Cambridge (for maths and law), where I would find suitable extracts and give them to them to give to me etc.