Human, Social and Political Sciences Admissions Assessment (HSPSAA); 2x interviews
Interview 1: questions on pre-reading; Interview 2: personal statement, written work, general motivations
Familiarised myself with the content of my personal statement and written work
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Remember the interviewers want you to do you best
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: Human, Social and Political Sciences Admissions Assessment (HSPSAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Skype interview: no
Time between interviews: 30 minutes
Length of first interview: 20 minutes; Length of second interview: 20 minutes
My first interview was based on a passage I was given 10 minutes to read beforehand. I was asked about its message and whether I thought it was still relevant. The questions then developed based on the responses I gave, mainly involving asking me to justify and expand on my answers.
The second interview was based on what I had submitted as part of the application process: my personal statement, SAQ and written work. I was asked to expand on and develop some of the ideas from my essay and some of the terminology in it. My A Level choices were quite unusual, prompting some questions about why I wanted to study HSPS. FInally, I was asked about the books I had read recently.
There were two interviewers for each and they swapped who was asking the questions halfway through. I was a little nervous before I went in but they were all welcoming. While the questions were obviously designed to make me think, it was a
I prepared for the admissions test by completing past papers from the Cambridge website, as well as some practice questions from a book called ‘The Ultimate HSPSAA guide’, however this didn’t reflect all types of questions in the test. I kept up with the news, especially anything relating to my subject or my interests within it. When I would read articles, I would consider what exactly the author was trying to say. In preparation for the interviews, I made sure I was familiar with the content of my personal statement and submitted written work, and thought about how I could develop some of the ideas I had presented. I also had two
The best thing I did was engaging in stimulating academic discussions with a student applying for a very similar subject, which I would recommend because it was useful practice for articulating my thought process as well as considering different appraoches to a topic. Remember that the interviewers want you to do your best an aren't trying to catch you out, however expect to be challenged.