Classics Aptitude Test; 2x interviews
Interview 1: ordering classical objects; Interview 2: discussing art, personal statement
Analysed unseen texts
Revised Latin grammar and vocab
Try to get a basic knowledge of different classical fields
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: Classics Aptitude Test
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 5 hours
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: No
I was expecting to be panicking during my interview but it was actually surprisingly relaxed. First, I got given some cards with events/objects from the Classical world and told to put them in chronological order. One object was really elaborate so I suggested a relatively late date. The interviewer told me the actual date which was much earlier, and I just said something like: "Oh wow that's cool, I didn't know they could do that". I was then given a poem and asked to translate it. I managed to do that fairly well but then they asked me if I had anything interesting to say about it. Mind blank. After that I was asked about my personal statement or something and I gave a response I'd already prepared.
The second interview was better. We discussed some given pieces of Roman art. Next, I was asked about my personal statement which didn't go too badly because I'd prepared for it loads. Bearing in mind my main Classical interests on my personal statements were literature, philosophy and language, most of the questions weren't that relevant to what I knew. I don't think I did very well on the first interview which might be why I ended up being
I read through some unseen texts and tried to do literary analysis on them. I also revised the things I'd talked about in my personal statement.
I found loads of random texts and tried to translate them. In the end though I don't think it was that useful a way to revise for the test, it's probably better just to check up on AS Level grammar and vocab.
Know what you said on your personal statement, and practise by getting a basic knowledge of all fields of classics, so if they ask you to talk about a statue, you know what kinds of thing to say. Above all on the interview day there's no point panicking, just rest well and try and enjoy the experience as much as possible.