Economics @ Sidney Sussex, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

1x interview (30 mins)

Interview content

One maths question, one economics question.

Best preparation

Talking to friends/family

Final thoughts

Relax!

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

The Cambridge interviewers were flown into Singapore, and they interviewed based on subject not by college. It is usually held in one of the Junior Colleges. There was only 1 interviewer and it is fairly short (half an hour ish?), and purely academic. Except for 'any other questions?' at the end, they didn't ask anything personal about why you chose the course/college etc. They give you an academic question and you should talk through your thought processes so that they know *how* you're trying to approach it, even if you can't get the answer yet. Also, you don't need to bring anything in, and they provide pencil & paper. Don't be intimidated if the interviewer types things on his laptop now and then, that's normal.

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

One question was primarily on math and another is on an economic concept (usually micro-economics). For me, the math question was to graph an equation. It had quite a few terms, but how I approached it was to talk through "if I make x tend to infinity..." or "I'm going to differentiate it to find out..." etc. When I got stuck, the interviewer would give some hints.The economic concept was about applying the idea of benefit>cost. He would start with a simple situation and slowly make it more complicated, so you have to build on your previous understanding. The last part was to give an example of this kind of situation in real life.

How did you prepare?

Talking to my friends about Econ concepts - not so much about learning the specific content, but practicing how to process information aloud and work out unfamiliar things in the light of the familiar.

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

Don't act overconfident but don't be too unsure of yourself either! (I was the latter)