Test taken: History Admissions Assessment (HAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: A few hours. Long enough to relax, get lunch, and chat to my dad.
Length of interviews: About 40 minutes but they absolutely fly by.
Online interview: No

We talked about a piece of text that they got me to read and two essays I'd submitted in my first interview, then my personal statement in the second. I thought the first interview had gone absolutely horribly and I was sure I wouldn't get in, but my second was lovely and I actually enjoyed it, so there's a reason they give you more than one shot at it. The questions they asked were usually about how we do history rather than factual recall - who would you blame for xyz event, can we know the motivation of this figure, etc. I was also asked about my skills and how I could use them to do history.

The atmosphere in the first room was weird, because I was very nervous and it was kinda dark/dusty which put me off, plus we were discussing some pretty high level material! Looking back, I realise they didn't actually expect me to understand all the material, just to show them what I did understand. The second room was much better, because I was a bit more chill (tired, it was dark by then), I'd run out of nervous energy and I was sure I wouldn't get in anyway, which actually helped because I had nothing to lose.

In both interviews, I clarified questions when I didn't understand them, and I didn't leave any questions unanswered even when my answers were a bit shaky and strung together on the spot with whatever information I could think of that was vaguely relevant (i.e. thinking out loud). Having my dad with me in between interviews really helped, just having someone to talk to and help me relax, I'd recommend bringing someone.

For the test, I found the practice papers online really useful, so I did the ones available, especially from the multiple choice section. Otherwise, there's really not much you can do to practice HAA. They're trying to measure how you think. Reading something a bit dense might help, ask a history teacher to pick you out some high level material and just try reading through a few pages to work out what you can gather from it (you won't understand it all, and that's fine).

I used the free month trial of greatcoursesplus to access lectures on Indian history so that I had something to talk about, as well as asking my history teacher to recommend good entry level history books to read for my personal statement/later discuss at interview.

I read a few chapters from two books, 'The Limits of Liberty' by Maldwyn Jones and 'a people's tragedy' by Orlando Figes. I tried to read all of the first one.. that was a bad idea, one or two chapters is fine. Also, focusing on the history you enjoy is way smarter, since you'll be better at talking about it and they will be able to tell. I love American and Russian history, so I chose these books.

I had a practice interview with a teacher, which helped me to learn to come up with answers on the spot. The best thing I did was to think out loud, that definitely helped - for one answer I straight up changed my mind half way through on my opinion because I'd talked myself out of it.

I'd expected it to be more about factual recall than it actually was, it was largely about how you think which is something you can't prepare for as easily but also means you shouldn't tear yourself up learning pages of facts like I did. I would have read a little less, and spent more time thinking about what I read and my opinions on it, if I did it all again. I'd have argued with my friends over what my opinion on some historical issues was, as that's a great way to practice honing your argument.