PAT, 2x interviews
Interview 1: projectiles, materials; Interview 2: personal statement, maths and physics
PAT questions, personal statement, maths and physics questions
Practice papers, PMT website
The interviewers are there to see how great you are.
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.
Test taken: Physics Aptitude Test (PAT)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: As they were online I had around 5 hours
Length of interviews: 20 mins
Online interview: Yes
In the first one they asked me two physics questions on projectiles and on materials - they were okay and the interviewers were friendly and guided me if I went wrong or if I started working down the wrong route of the question, they then asked me some questions about the course and why I wanted to do engineering. In the second interview, they asked me a question about my personal statement and I had to explain something and then I had a maths question and a physics questions where again the interviewer were friendly and tried to get you to show how good you are
I practised PAT questions again and went through my personal statement, making sure I could talk about each aspect I’d put on there. I also tried finding some other maths questions and physics questions to do just so my mind was warmed up for the interview and also tried to come up with answers to generic questions like why I wanted to study the course
I did all the test papers and then re-did questions which I couldn’t do at first. The Physics and Maths Tutor website was very useful. Also did a bit of practice with the Cambridge admissions test and the Olympiad but not much (wasn’t necessary)
Don’t do it all last minute, and speak your thoughts especially when doing questions and don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat a question. It’s normal to be nervous and the interviewers will know you are nervous so you can take some time to process and answer the questions. The interviewers are there to see how great you are.