Natural Sciences (Physical) @ Robinson, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.

Interview content

Interview 1: unseen question; Interview 2: long multi-part question, graph sketching.

Best preparation

Strengthen your math, physics, and graph-sketching skills.

Final thoughts

Engage with your interviewers; don't stress too much about getting in.

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: Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 5 minutes
Length of interviews: Around 20 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The first interview was a general interview, mixed in with an unseen question loosely based on what I had discussed in my personal statement, although I know others have gotten generic, mechanics-style questions.

My second interview had an in-depth supervision-style question, starting from the very basics and scientific principles and building on them step by step. My second question was a graph sketching question.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I prepared by going over my physics notes from the previous year, making sure my maths and further maths skills were up to scratch, practising common graph sketching problems (they really like those!), and making sure I had a good answer to why I wanted to study at Robinson in particular (though I don't think they cared that much).

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers on the NSAA website, Isaac physics (though this wasn't as helpful), https://i-want-to-study-engineering.org/, as well as just brushing up on my physics, mechanics and quick maths skills.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Don't stress it! The interviewers are people too and they are looking for people who are excited to be there so don't get so nervous that you don't engage with them. They want to know if you're the kind of student who would work well and engage with the supervision system, whilst also making sure you care about the subject and are smart enough to get in. I personally had already got some offers before my interview, so it put me more at ease knowing that even if I didn't get in I had some great other places lined up.

Don't pin all your hopes and dreams on getting into Cambridge because of two reasons. Firstly, Cambridge is extremely tough and plenty of people who do get in find that they would enjoy their university experience more in a less high pressure environment. Secondly, I haven't got a single friend who goes to any other Russell group university who isn't really glad they ended up going there and made great friends there. Wherever you end up, you'll enjoy it so just see a Cambridge application as a "why not, if I get in that's amazing and if not, there's so many other amazing places to go as well".