Engineering @ Peterhouse, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA), Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP); 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: talking through answers to pre-interview test, personal statement; Interview 2: unseen questions

Best preparation

Extracted possible questions from personal statement

Test preparation

Practice papers

Final thoughts

Use i-want-to-study-engineering.org

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: Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA), Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews:4 hours
Length of interviews: 30 mins
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Before the first interview, I was given a problem sheet with 4 questions, and told to choose 2 and attempt to solve them (the key word here being 'attempt'). In the interview I would explain the way I approached and tried to solve the questions, and they would try to guide me where I was wrong through suggestions and comments. After going through the questions, they asked me questions about my personal statement (they specifically asked about areas of interest I had in the subject).

In the second interview, I was asked to answer questions without prior preparation, and how I would go about answering them.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I looked at sample interview questions, and did mock interviews with teachers. I also looked through my personal statement for potential questions they could ask me, and prepared for them.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers, to get an idea of the question types, and going through questions I could not answer with teachers.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Have clear understanding of anything you put on your personal statement, and try subject specific questions and use resources (like the "i-want-to-study-engineering" website), to prepare for the type of questions they will ask you.