English Language And Literature @ St Anne's, Oxford in 2018

Interview format

2x 30 min interviews, 1 day apart

Interview content

Poem given beforehand, personal statement, recent reading

Best preparation

Timed past papers

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Used online resources and books from library on Oxbridge; talked to teachers; watched vlogs on subject; went over literary terminology and personal statement.

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: ELAT

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: No

Time between each interview: 1 day

Length of interviews: 30 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I was given a poem, which I annotated and then talked about with interviewers. I talked about what was on my personal statement, and the books I had recently read and what I thought of them.

How did you prepare?

I practised timed past papers.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

I used lots of online resources and books from my local library on Oxbridge. I talked to teachers at school but didn’t do a practice interview. I just watched people’s vlogs on the subject and made sure I knew my literary terminology and what I had written on my personal statement well.