2x interviews
Interview 1: mechanics and maths; Interview 2: electrical circuits
Used 'i-want-to-study-engineering.org'
Practising applying your knowledge to real-world problems
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: None
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 2 hours
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No
Both interviews were technical: one was focused on mechanics and maths, and the other one on mechanics and electrical circuits. Each question started with some basic theory and became progressively more difficult. I was quite
I prepared by going over problems on the ‘I want to study Engineering’ website. It was a collection of physics and maths questions that were quite similar to the ones in the interview. I also made sure I was very comfortable sketching functions.
My advice is to prepare the basics as well as you can - graph sketching, mechanics and electrical theory. Be ready to stretch your knowledge to real-world applications. The interviewers are trying to see how you think. Looking back, I realise they are really not trying to catch you out, but rather to see how well you are able to apply current knowledge to unfamiliar problems.