Cambridge Law Test (CLT); 2x interviews
Interview 1: discussion of a document on a recent court case. Interview 2: a personal statement question, then scenario-based questions on what constituted a particular crime
Background readings (What is law?' and 'Is Eating People Wrong?'); YouTube videos by previous applicants; mock interviews.
Writing essay plans and essays based on past test questions.
Don't panic if you don't know an answer instantly. Explain your thought process and the interviewer may help you in the right direciton.
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: Cambridge Law Test (CLT)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 20 minutes
Length of interviews: A bit over half an hour (they were meant to last half an hour)
Online interview: Yes
My first interview relied on a document I had been sent 25 minutes before, outlining the arguments put forth during a recent case, the outcome, and the reasoning of the court. I was asked to sum up the document, and then discuss in more depth each of the arguments and why they were accepted or dismissed.
During my second interview, I was asked one question based on my personal statement, though it was more about how the law progresses with society rather than a personal one (i.e. I was not asked about interests, why I wanted to study there, etc.). I was then given a definition for a particular crime, and the interviewers proceeded to describe various scenarios to me, which I had to decide if they fit the criteria for the crime. They would sometimes move from one scenario to the other, but they would also slightly alter some scenarios, so paying attention to how these changes influenced whether the scenario was a crime or not was crucial.
As I had never studied law at school, I did some background reading from recommended books, such as 'What is law?' and 'Is Eating People Wrong?'.
I also watched YouTube videos of previous applicants talking about their own experiences, and the advice that was repeatedly given was to keep calm in order to think clearly and ensure you are answering the question, which is definitely the most important part.
I also received quite a bit of
I wrote essay plans and some entire essays based on past test questions which had been published.
Don't panic if you don't immediately know the answer, and don't make the mistake of only starting to answer when you've worked out everything you want to say; if you explain your thought process from the beginning, the interviewers will be able to understand how you've arrived at your conclusion, and if you get stuck along the way, they'll be able to help you proceed in the right direction by asking questions from where you've left off.