Geography Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.
Interview 1: personal statement, discussion of prior reading; Interview 2: discussion of an article and some maps.
Knowing topics mentioned in the personal statement, thinking of possible interview questions, annotating the prior reading.
Relax, don't be afraid to ask for pointers, and try to think out loud.
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: Geography Admissions Assessment (GAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: About 3 hours
Length of interviews: 30 mins
Online interview: No
In the first one, I was asked why I wanted to study the subject, then had a few questions about a few parts of my personal statement and then we moved on to discuss the prior reading. I was a bit nervous before this one and ended up saying "Russia is chilly" to an expert on Russia! It was a bit
Before the second interview, I was given half an hour to read a short article. At first they asked me a few general questions on my subject and then we discussed the article. Then we moved on to look at and discuss some maps that were put in front of me. The second interview felt really relaxed! The interviewers were really friendly and we sat on sofas. I actually really enjoyed it!
I made sure I knew what I'd written on my personal statement and was able to talk about the things on there if needed. I tried to think outside the box a little bit and think about what weird but slightly-linked questions they could ask. That worked well just to get my brain going but I don't think anything I had thought about actually came up, so don't stress about trying to cover everything in your preparation!
Then I did the prior reading I was sent. I wasn't very organised with it (I only finished it the night before!) but I just tried to get the gist of what was going on as well as highlighting anything that I had questions about or thought was interesting.
Very badly! I had a look at a practice paper for about an hour and then kind of winged it. I didn't even realise the test included a reading comprehension section!.
Relax. I didn't have my hopes set on Cambridge because I came from an area where hardly anyone applies and people rarely get in. So I didn't put too much thought into the whole process. And while this sounds a bit stupid because I felt like I was winging it, I think it worked to my advantage because I wasn't stressing out and they were able to see my true self and not someone who'd crammed loads.
Also don't be afraid to ask questions or say you're not sure on something and ask for a pointer.
And try to think out loud: they want to see how you think and solve problems and they can't do that if you don't talk. Even if you think what you want to say is stupid, don't worry: I ended up saying "Russia is chilly" to an expert on Russia and still got in!