Number of interviews: 2
Online interview: yes

I had 2 interviews, one was a more general interview and the other was subject-specific. In the subject one, I looked at 2 different sources. One was a translated language source and I was asked to think through what was being said and why it might be said in that way. The other was a set of historical sources and I was asked to think about what they showed and what sort of change they might show over time. I was quite nervous and stressed about it, I think that's always in the nature of these things, but the interviewers understand that and are very nice! My interviewers also asked why I chose ASNC in particular, since I had mentioned an interest in language and linguistics in my application, and what was it about this subject that I preferred over other similar ones. From the others I've talked to that seems like a fairly common question, particularly in humanities and more specialised subjects! My general interview was mostly just a chat about my interests and reasons for applying; the questions in both interviews didn't feel scripted, so the conversation flowed well and it didn't feel as scary or interrogation-like as I was expecting!

I looked at some of the suggested reading on the faculty website and read through a couple of chapters that interested me from the books I had or could find in the library. I think this was the most useful thing, since I was able to talk about one of the ideas I'd come across that really interested me and having something to get excited about in the interview helped me feel less nervous and probably made me come across better! I also checked through my personal statements to refresh my memory in case anything from those came up. My school did offer practice interviews, which I did, but because my subject is quite niche the structure of the practice was completely different to my actual interview, so it ended up not being that helpful! I would still recommend doing a practice chat/interview to get a sense of what it's like in a broader sense but I wouldn't get too hung up on exactly what you get asked in a practice interview since the real thing might be quite different!

It's important to know that, particularly in humanities like mine but also sciences, they don't much care about whether you know the right answer, they care about how you think and approach the problem. Saying 'I don't know but it could be.../I'm not sure but it reminds me of...' is often just as good as knowing the answer, if not better! Another piece of advice I would give is, if you can, find a way to talk about something you love or are really interested in related to your subject. Talking about something familiar and interesting helps you feel more relaxed and also shows off to the interviewers how much you care about the subject! The people interviewing you aren't working against you and if they see you are keen to talk about a specific topic related to the course then they will often steer the conversation in that direction to give you a chance to show what you know and are passionate about! Finally, don't panic about how you feel it went - I haven't met a single person yet at Cambridge who came out of it feeling 100% confident, because the interviews are designed to challenge and push you out of your comfort zone a bit! Almost everyone here has an interview 'horror story' of nerves, pre-interview chaos or even walking into a cupboard in front of the interviewer(!), and they still got in, so there is no need to panic if it felt a bit off in some way!