Classics (3 Years) @ Christ's, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

3x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: discussing a given translation; Interview 2: topics of interest; Interview 3: translating a poem

Best preparation

Looked over relevant Sixth Form notes

Final thoughts

Practise speaking and answering clearly

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: None
Number of interviews: 3
Time between interviews: About 1.5/2 hours
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

For one of my interviews I was given a translation to look at 10 minutes before and then spoke about that and then linked it to my personal statement interests.

In my second interview, the interviewers started on my sixth form reading/ work and then developed around my general topics of interest.

In my last one, I was given an excerpt of a poem to translate in front of the interviewer, and then some brief questions, like what I wanted to do within the course.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I looked over my notes for my relevant Sixth Form subjects to see what I was interested in/ had learnt. I did some of my own independent reading about different areas of the subject. I also thought of example questions and tried to think of small bullet points to mention. I also did a little bit of practice of talking and answering clearly, etc.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Practice speaking and answering clearly with the points you want to make, even just in front of a mirror. Think about what topics within the subject and specific course you like. Use any useful experience from school/ outside that, and do your own independent reading to get more facts and analysis/ opinions on different topics.