Natural Sciences (Biological) @ Sidney Sussex, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

3x interviews (15-20 minutes)

Interview content

First interview was mathematical, second was theory and experiment based.

Best preparation

Youtube videos on the interview process

Final thoughts

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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

My interviews were in early December. I had three in total, 1 general and 2 subject-specific; they were all 15-20 minutes.

The general interview was with a college tutor in which she asked about my reasons for choosing NatSci and some basic educational background. The second and third were each with two college fellows.

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The first subject-specific interview was focused on quantitative reasoning, where I was asked to solve 4-5 math questions, some purely mathematical, others being derived from hypothetical biological situations.

The second was qualitative, involving theoretical argumentation and experimental analysis. Both interviews were fairly straightforward, though my nerves caused me to freeze up once or twice.

How did you prepare?

I watched videos on YouTube about the interview process.

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

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