Economics Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.
Interview 1: general economics and data analysis problems; Interview 2: game theory and probability problem.
Preparing answers to potential questions, asking family members for interview practice, looking at the first year syllabus.
Don't worry if you mess up, just think through the questions out loud.
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:
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 30 minutes
Length of interviews: 25 minutes
Online interview: No
Interview one: both interviewers asked me a question. The first was quite a general economics question but did not require any knowledge of Econ, just thinking skills. The second was analysing some hypothetical data to determine an outcome.
Interview two: a problem to do with probability and game theory, and then one where I had to 'model' an equation for an economic situation (it was extremely unfamiliar, but the interviewers nudged me in the right direction whenever I wasn't understanding).
Both the interviews were much more problem-based than I had thought. I was expecting them to be more quick-fire questions but it was very much about getting into a few problems in detail to see how the applicant thinks.
Reading tips online, getting my family to ask me questions (where they were able to think of them), preparing detailed answers to any questions they could ask me, looking at the first year syllabus and generally familiarising myself with what it contained, thinking about any personal qualities they could ask about, gaining a broad but basic understanding of Econ since I never studied it in school.
Past papers, a few lunch times going over the syllabus and past papers with the head of the maths department, and reading general tips online
Don't stress too much. You aren't expected to have perfect answers. I started answering a question before the interviewer had asked me anything, and make countless stupid mistakes, but I still got in. Just try to think about everything out loud. Use each question as an opportunity to show-off some knowledge and don't worry if you mess up.