Economics @ Downing, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Economics Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.

Interview content

Interview 1: open-ended economics-related questions; Interview 2: math questions (game theory, statistics).

Best preparation

Reread books mentioned in your personal statement; practice answering sample interview questions with various people.

Final thoughts

Focus on doing your best and being proud of yourself regardless of how far you get.

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: Economics Admissions Assessment (ECAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 30 minutes
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In the first interview, they asked me a very broad question about money and why we use it, which wasn't what I was expecting at all. I went into the interview expecting it to be more personally tailored towards me, with them maybe asking me some questions about my personal statement and why I wanted to do the subject, potentially followed by some more general subject related questions. When my interviewers (who were very friendly) went straight into specific subject questions that were very open ended, I was a bit taken aback, but I tried my best to remember what I'd learnt at A Level and to answer the questions in an interesting way. I don't think my first interview went that well, as I was really nervous still and the questions were quite hard.

In my second interview, it was much more maths-based. I got asked a game-theory related question and a statistics-based question and then some follow up questions. I think it went way better as I was more relaxed and more focused on answering the questions then worrying about what they were thinking about me.

The first interview is always going to be hard and stressful, but as unhelpful as this is, just try your best to focus on answering the questions to the best of your ability, and try to forget that you're in Cambridge (or the other place)!

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I had a mock interview at my sixth form college, which wasn't very helpful in terms of actually helping me prepare for the interview as it was nothing like the actual interview itself, but it was very helpful in that it helped me get used to talking about my subject with someone whom I didn't know at all.

Other than that, I reread my personal statement and the books I talked about in it religiously, and practiced talking to my friends and getting them to ask me mock interview questions so I could further prepare, which was very helpful as well.

Ask other people to help you by asking you mock interview questions, and preferably get someone you don't know as well to ask you some questions to help you prepare even more.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

I used the past papers available on the subject website.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Go into the process being realistic about your chances, as this will help if you get rejected, but don't let that stop you from trying your hardest to prepare and get in. Chances are you might well get rejected, but if the odds are stacked against you that's just even more reason to try your absolute best and prove everyone wrong, especially if some people have told you that you're not good enough to get in.

Don't spend too much time looking at application statistics or overanalysing your chances of getting in like I did, just focus on doing your best and being proud of what you've accomplished in getting however far you get.