Architecture Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.
Discussion of themes mentioned in the personal statement; discussion of the portfolio.
Watching YouTube videos and reading journal articles; studying articles of buildings they were interested in; evaluating and annotating the works of RIBA prizewinners; practising talking about their portfolio.
Looked at test specifications; made use of preparation done for the interview; doing timed writing in response to self-created questions.
Don't be afraid to ask for a question or point to be repeated; think out loud to show the interviewers how you think.
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: Architecture Admissions Assessment
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 1 hour
Length of interviews: General interview - 20 minutes. Subject interview - around 30 minutes
Online interview: No
Personal statement discussion eased me into the interview allowing them to familiarise themselves with the interests I had stated and link it back to the book I read. I then went through my portfolio and spoke about what interests me, crafting a narrative of why I worked the way I worked. The interviewers asked me questions about some of my art. The atmosphere was relaxed but inquisitive as they tried to understand, for example, the way I thought about light or sustainable architectures themes I had discussed in my personal statement. I also answered with points which allowed me to push the questions in a direction I was interested in.
I used Dezeen and TED talk videos on YouTube, articles that engaged with my interest found in Google Scholar and journals on JSTOR. I also read an architectural theory book which i noted down things I learnt, criticisms and evaluated the texts. I studied articles of buildings I was interested in and researched into the social, cultural and economic contexts to get a well-rounded understanding of the architecture. I also kept up to date with the latest RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) prizewinners and always evaluated the precedents by annotating my own thoughts on the built form. I emailed
I used the Cambridge-wide specification provided online detailing what the tests entailed.
For the writing assessment, I used my interview preparation research to help inform my arguments and points in the essay. The research incorporated reading interesting articles, RIBA prize-winner analysis, JSTOR journals, watching Dezeen videos, and researching designers and their own projects and then evaluating them. I noted these ideas down, heavily annotating articles and scrawling down thoughts which allowed me to already form well-though out explanations and arguments during the test as I had both evidence and opinions to discuss about them. Two in one!
I also constructed made up questions similar to the example question on the online specification and self-timed myself to write 3 concise paragraphs and a conclusion!
Don't panic! Breathe and enjoy the process. I would