Veterinary Medicine @ Jesus, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA); 3x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: identifying a bone; Interview 2: calculations based on a graph; Interview 3: questions beyond the A Level syllabus

Best preparation

Recapped A Level content

Test preparation

Practice papers

Final thoughts

The interviewers are not there to trip you up!

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: 3
Time between interviews: 30 minutes
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I was given a bone and asked to identify it. They also asked some questions about a graph where I had to calculate something. There were a lot of questions where they would go beyond the A Level topics and it was more about my thought process than actual answer. 

How did you prepare for your interviews?

Teachers did a practice one and I bought a book on practice questions. I think the teacher's interview helped but buying the book didn't. I recovered my uni application forms and recapped the A level content I had learnt so far.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers and bought a book of similar questions. Other than that revised A level content.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

The interviewers are not there to trip you up. Just try your best. Cambridge is an amazing place but it is very hard work. They are looking for a specific type of person that is very teachable. If you don't get an offer it in no way means you are not insanely intelligent.