Engineering @ Newnham, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA); 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: proving equations, explaining diagrams; Interview 2: personal statement, physics questions

Best preparation

Prepared answers to common non-technical questions

Test preparation

Practice papers to time

Final thoughts

Try not to stress about getting every question right

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)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 3 hours
Length of interviews: 30 mins
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I was really nervous for my first interview and made lots of silly mistakes. I was asked why I wanted to study engineering and then I was asked to prove some equations which I never managed to do, and then the interviewer told me I ran out of time so I never finished. Then I was shown a diagram and asked to explain it, which I had no clue about. I kept saying the wrong answers and the interviewer had to correct me. After coming out of the first interview I thought I had blown it! So I thought for my second one I would just give it my best shot, because I was really sure I'd not get in.

In my second interview I was asked a little about my personal statement. Then I was asked a physics question and the interviewer lead me to the answer. At the end of the interview I asked a question about geometry. The second interview was much more relaxed but I think that was because I was more relaxed!

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I used the book Professor Povey's Perplexing Problems to think of some answers to the questions. I also looked over my school notes to make sure I knew them really well. I did ask my maths and physics teacher to do a mock interview for me which was really helpful. I also prepared some answers to non technical questions about why I wanted to study engineering etc. I filmed myself speaking these (horrible watching them back but helpful to look at body language etc).

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

I did lots of practise papers mainly from the ENGAA past papers. I mainly concentrated on timing the papers as they were really tight on time for me. I didn't spend long on each question and tried not to rush too much (easier said than done) because I found I could get a higher percentage when I was trying to get more questions done. Quality over quantity but in moderation!

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Be yourself! Be confident and try to show some personality and be a bit different. The main thing that I think helped me was not worrying and stressing about trying to get things right both in the admissions test and the interview.