National Admissions Test for Law, 4x interviews
Interview 1: Discussion of a pre-read court of appeals case or explanation of a case, Application of the judgment in different scenarios; Interview 2: Application of law in different scenarios, No pre-read material
Went over personal statement
Prepared a set structure for essays
Speak through your though process aloud
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:
Number of interviews: 4
Time between interviews: 30 minutes
Length of interviews: 25 minutes
Online interview: Yes
I had four interviews at two different colleges. There were two distinct types of interview at both.
First one: got given a case, either a court of appeals case or an explanation of a case (all simplified and in understandable terms). Given it twenty minutes beforehand. Then, they asked me to summarise it briefly. Then, they asked questions about it. Then, they would create different scenarios and you would have to say how the judgment might be applied. Of course, they would ask questions as well about your explanations.
Second one: nothing given beforehand. They talk through a scenario and give you a piece of the law and they ask how different scenarios could be applied to it. They keep stretching you!
My different tips:
1) When I found out who would be interviewing me, I tried to find a video of them speaking to hear what they sounded like - this helps you to feel a little less daunted as it’s one less thing that’s an uncertainty, knowing their voice in advance makes it seem like you’ve already met them and therefore less scary!
2) Know your personal statement inside out and be prepared to talk about anything you mention in it (for me, they mostly asked questions about my extracurriculars and not the main bulk of the PS)
3) Try not to read too much into any of your interviews and how they went and whether you get picked to do a second round of interviews (I thought one of my interviews went really badly and yet it was all okay in the end). Remember you don’t know how other people have done so why try to compare your performance?
Loads of practice questions under timed conditions (timing is tight in the exam so get used to thinking quickly!) Practice essays and also planning of essays for lots of different types of questions.
My best tip? Have a set, go-to structure for your essay, the same phrases/sentence starters and after a few times, it will feel like you could write the essay in your sleep ;)
Speak aloud - by this I mean saying things like “I’m thinking that because … this would mean … however …. When it says … this changes my view” Be proud of yourself - you’ve got an interview!!!!