Test taken: Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 2 hours 15 minutes
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

In my first interview, the interviewers began by asking me about how I found my school, which I think was in order to warm me up and get me more relaxed. I was shown a micrograph and asked to identify it, and afterwards given a graph I had to interpret (I didn't have to use any actual maths for the interpretation though). I had to do some maths questions based on concepts I had covered at A-level, and although I made a few careless mistakes  I worked through the method to the end. One interviewer asked me about something I'd mentioned in my personal statement that related to her own research which I talked briefly, but I was a bit stressed because I didn't know the topic very in-depth. 

In my second interview I was given a different micrograph picture to interpret and was also given the structure of a molecule to identify and talk about. I was subsequently asked to link together some chemistry concepts in the context of biology in a way that I hadn't thought about before and took a lot of prompting to get to, but the interviewers did keep steering me in the right direction! I was asked about what in science had excited me recently so I talked about one of the nobel prize winning projects, which they seemed to really like.

At the end of both interviews they asked if I had any questions; I asked the first time about the structure and timetabling of the modules in the course I was applying to but didn't ask anything the next time and they didn't mind.

I spoke to my biology and chemistry teachers about my interview and asked them to give me informal interview practice where they asked me questions. This was great for practicing thinking on the spot about unforeseen topics. I googled mock interview questions which I practiced answering in my own time (this was really helpful as I was actually asked one of these, which meant I straight away knew how to approach the question!) I also made sure I knew my personal statement inside out and could actually explain everything I mentioned and knew the key points from the books I read. I also generally revised my A-level content for maths, chemistry, and biology, focusing especially on the areas I knew my interviewers worked in as I looked them up - would definitely recommend this as they're likely to ask you questions on the things they're interested in themselves, especially if you've mentioned anything similar in your personal statement!

I did past papers online and also answered some biology challenge and chemistry challenge questions. General A-level revision and questions from textbooks and past papers was also helpful.

My advice is just to go over A-level content as much as you can, especially the things you've made it clear from your personal statement you're interested in.  Because natural sciences are so broad, your interviewers will likely focus on what you have said you're going to want to study in the interview. Ask teachers/family/friends to practice any possible questions with you, just to get the hang of thinking on the spot and talking through it aloud because it feels very different to writing an answer on an exam. Don't worry if you come out having made mistakes; after my interview I focused on the things I'd answered wrong, and although at first I had thought it was okay I convinced myself I definitely wasn't going to get in because of some (very trivial) mistakes. Try and be enthusiastic; my first interviewer seemed happiest with me when I spoke at the end about what I wanted to study in the course and what I thought I'd end up doing, as I had a clear idea of where I wanted my studies to take me. Also, don't be scared if they come across mean - a lot of interviewers put on a really stern act but then turn out to be really sweet and lovely when you get to college!