Maths @ Trinity, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP); 1x interview

Interview content

Interview 1: loosely related problem questions

Best preparation

STEP questions

Test preparation

Past STEP papers

Final thoughts

Try to figure out the problems even if you haven't been taught it before

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: Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP), Trinity maths interview test
Number of interviews: 1
Length of interviews: 25 min
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

My only interview was academic. The interviewer posed a question and we worked through it on paper. He had a series of variations on the same question, so after I answered each version he would pose a new version which was harder. Each version used the same trick at its core, and I was familiar with this trick, so I was easily able to answer every version. The last variation confused me a bit and led to an interesting conversation where I tried my best to come off as curious. The interview was meant to last 25 minutes but we ended up going over to about 40.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I didn't prepare for my interview but I should have. Past STEP papers are a good way to prepare, particularly for the interview test. As far as what material you should know, everything on the STEP is a good starting point, but if you are enthusiastic about Maths then hopefully you will have picked up quite a bit through conversations and your own self study.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

For the STEP, I did tons of past papers. It is normal to spend over 100 hours preparing for STEP. For my interview I did not spend much time preparing, figuring my classes had prepared me. This was a mistake, and I did not feel confident in my performance on the interview test. You should prepare for the interview test with any past papers you can find, and if you can't find any then you can use past STEP papers.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Obviously it's important to be ready to do complex maths. You should prepare for the interview test like a maths competition. For the interview itself I think it's more important to have a confident attitude. I applied twice, and my first time in the interview I remember being posed with a problem I didn't know how to do right away and saying, "I haven't been taught how to do that." Particularly with maths, there is always something you can do to figure out a problem and you almost never have to rely on someone more experienced to tell you what's true.