I had 2 interviews almost back-to-back in the morning (30 minute gap between the two). One of them was a “subject” interview with two HSPS fellows and another was a “general” interview with an admissions tutor (though I think this has now changed so there’s no longer a general interview and only two subject interviews). Each interview was about 30 minutes long; for the subject interview I also had 30 minutes of reading time immediately before the interview to read one page of text to discuss for about half of the interview.

The general interview was quite straightforward and questions were not difficult to answer (nor were they intended to be). I started off by explaining why I wanted to study HSPS and then it moved to a more general discussion about my style of work, so the interviewer could ascertain whether or not I’d be suited to study under the significant Cambridge workload.

For For the subject interview, se spent the first 15 minutes or so related to discussing the text I’d been given 30 minutes to read beforehand; we moved through the text chronologically, starting with more direct questions (“summarise the first paragraph”) to more discursive ones based on particular phrases/sentences picked out from the text. They then asked me some questions about my written work (an A-Level essay I’d submitted a month before my interview) and something from my personal statement. Both were about political theory so the interviewers encouraged me to apply this theory to reality and contemporary politics, sometimes explicitly challenging my arguments when doing so.The interview was most challenging when it was most discursive - more so in the second half than the first half about the text - i.e. where there was back and forth on a particular question. But at the same time the interviewers did try really hard not to be intimidating - they never phrased challenges as “what you’ve said is wrong because...” but instead encouraged me to “take a different perspective” or “if you think about xyz situation”. The questions weren’t easy, but the interviewers really help you to try and answer them as best you can.

Genuinely just putting myself in an interview setting as often as I could - not necessarily having explicit mock interviews, but just practicing the sorts of discussions you’d likely have in an interview with other people. This can range from discussing contemporary politics, discussing class essays with your teacher for 10 minutes, or just debating with friends about the weekend’s football - anything which involves structured discussion which forces you to articulate arguments and respond to the inputs of other people without just dismissing them! The main thing is to do this sort of “practice” with other people so you have inputs to respond to, rather than just by yourself in front of a mirror (though you should prepare like this for the “why HSPS” question you’ll inevitably get at some point).

Be enthusiastic!! The interviewers aren’t evil people trying to catch you out - they are looking for reasons to give you an offer, not reasons to reject you. If you can come across as interested and engaged in the discussion, it comes across really well. The interview is an opportunity, not an ordeal.