Human, Social And Political Science @ Fitzwilliam, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

HSPSAA; 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement; Interview 2: thought experiment

Best preparation

Mock interviews with teachers and family members

Test preparation

Read a few books from the reading list

Final thoughts

Try reading some books from the reading list to provoke your thoughts

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: HSPSAA
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 1 hour
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

We talked about themes mentioned in my personal statement, discussed my extra-curriculars and how I could transfer skills learned there to my studies. I was asked to conduct a thought experiment by discussing a source, and was asked thought-provoking questions about my subject.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

Mock interview with a teacher at school, read from reading list, looked for help on YouTube, mock interview with family, prepared for possible questions by listing possible answers.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers, readings books from reading list.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

It is enough to read one or two books on the reading list for your subject; mostly these books discuss a multitude of smaller sources inside that can provoke your thoughts well, too. Relax. Remember what you wrote in your personal statement because it might be referred to a lot.