Engineering @ Newnham, Cambridge in 2020

Interview format

Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA); 2x interviews.

Interview content

Questions on physics and maths that started easy but became harder.

Best preparation

Using online resources (isaacphysics.org, i-want-to-study-engineering.org); practising difficult graph-sketching; mock interviews.

Test preparation

Going through the ENGAA syllabus, doing timed questions from question banks (e.g. online resources mentioned under "Best Preparation"), saving ENGAA past papers for closer to the test.

Final thoughts

During the interview, think out loud - even when you know you aren't right, explain where you might be wrong. Clarify concepts you're unsure of in the interview. Revise your A-level content beforehand.

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: 1.5 hours
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

- Each of my four interviewers asked me maths or physics questions around a certain topic. No discussion of my personal statement whatsover

- I had 3 physics topics, 1 maths, just to give you a sense of the ratio

- In each topic, the questions started easier then got harder. Although they were much easier than I expected actually.

- I made a lot of silly mistakes (including on straightforward A-level standard questions) but the interviewers gave me hints to help me get the right answer

- Said mistakes made me very stressed so the interviewers actually told me to calm down. They were quite nice!

- I didn't know what a circuit symbol meant, so I asked the interviewer and he told me. In general, if I had knowledge gaps they filled them in so I could proceed with the problem.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

- Using isaacphysics.org and i-want-to-study-engineering.org 

- Practiced graph sketching, e.g. reciprocals, hard trigonometric functions

- I had four mock interviews given by two maths teachers and two physics teachers from my school. This was probably the most useful thing.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

- Go through the ENGAA syllabus, it's not too hard but some things weren't on GCSE/A-Level specification.

- Isaacphysics.org and i-want-to-study-engineering.org are good question banks

- The NSAA maths/physics sections have pretty much the same questions as the ENGAA, so I wasted a bit of time looking at those

- Do PAT past papers if you genuinely run out of anything else but keep in mind they're much harder than the ENGAA

- Practice doing math without a calculator (if you're as calculator dependent as me). Like, in maths class, do your sums by hand

- There are very few actual past papers, I saved most to do close to the test (like the week before) because the ENGAA is honestly most a speed test than anything and being fast requires recent practice.

- I always timed myself when doing any practice question

What advice would you give to future applicants?

In general, I think the interviewers are testing how well you pick up new concepts and approach (not necessarily solve!) hard problems, not your existing knowledge. Always ‘think aloud’ and explain how you’re solving the problem to the interviewer. Try to give some sort of answer to questions (avoid saying ‘I don’t know’) to show you’re at least trying to solve the problem. If you know your answer can’t be right, it’s even worth saying ‘my first instinct is ___ but I know that’s wrong because ___’.

If you don’t know the meaning of something in the question or haven’t learned the topic, tell the interviewer and they’ll be happy to tell you what it is so you can proceed with the problem

You should absolutely revise your A-level content, especially Year 12! I made a lot of basic mistakes due to not doing this.