Classics (3 Years) @ Newnham, Cambridge in 2021

Interview format

2 online interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: engaging with textual and historical sources then unseen Latin translation; Interview 2: engaging with textual and historical sources then questions about personal statement

Best preparation

Reread EPQ and personal statement and practice engaging with visual and literary sources.

Final thoughts

Check your technology is all okay before an online interview and don't overthink the interviewer's reactions.

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

Number of interviews: 2
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

For the first half of each interview, I was given half an hour to look at an unseen source - one textual and the other historical (so a mix of text + pictures) - and try to analyse them, thinking about any techniques I recognised or historical context etc. This was nerve-wracking because I had no idea whether I was 'right' but I settled into it for the second one and stopped worrying about being 'correct'. In the first interview, I was then given a bit of unseen Latin text and we talked through how I would translate it, and in the second interview, we talked about my personal statement. I was very nervous and blurted out a few answers, and missed a few interesting things I could have said, but I was engaging with the interviewers and found both interviews genuinely interesting.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

The most useful thing I did was rereading my EPQ and my personal statement so that I was able to draw on them and felt confident answering questions about both. I did a practice interview with a teacher that went very badly but ended up being very useful because it taught me to not be afraid to ask clarifying questions. For the Classics interviews specifically, practising unseen visual analysis as well as unseen literary analysis was super useful as that is what both of my interviews consisted of.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

I would have made sure that the computer I was using (I did the interviews at school and online) was working because it caused some unnecessary stress before the interview! I think that interviewers are looking for you to be engaged in what they are asking. Your answers do not need to be groundbreaking, they just need to be reasonably argued and able to be justified from your own perspective. A few of my interviewers were quite blunt which I now understand was just their style of teaching, so don't worry if it seems like they don't like you - although the rest of them were very nice and put me at ease. Everyone understands that this is not going to be your best engagement, given the nerves and new situation so don't worry too much afterwards about not saying everything you possibly could have.