Engineering @ Christ's, Cambridge in 2020

Interview format

Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA); STEP; x2 interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: working through 2-3 questions independently, personal statement; Interview 2: working through problems

Best preparation

mock interviews; rereading personal statement & revision notes

Test preparation

revision of A Level content; past papers

Final thoughts

Try to stay calm and don't panic if your interviewer is giving you hints - they are only trying to help!

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: Took place on separate days 
Length of interviews: Around 30 mins
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In my first interview, I had 30 minutes to work through 2 or 3 questions on my own. This was followed by about 20 minutes of discussion on the answers, as well as looking at one or two things from my personal statement. In the second interview, I was shown a series of problems to work through - the interviewer helped if I was struggling and prompted me if I went down the wrong track.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I had mock interviews organised through school, as well as some practice interview question sessions (which were often non-subject specific). For me, the most helpful thing was rereading my personal statement, making sure I was familiar with the topics mentioned, as well as reading through my maths & physics notes right before to remind me of the key material. Above all else though, I found it really helpful to take a moment to breath and relax before starting, as it helped me calm down and answer the questions more confidently. 

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

For the ENGAA, I focused on revising content from A Level Maths and Physics - with a few gaps being filled in by doing just a couple of past papers. STEP was more demanding, and I needed to work on the foundation modules (which I recommend you start looking at early on) and then using past papers (I only had to do STEP II). 

What advice would you give to future applicants?

My key piece of advice is to try to stay calm, as this will help you speak more clearly and reduce the likelihood that you end up missing important bits of information. Also don't panic if the interviewer is giving you hints, they want you to be able to come up with a solution and also to make sure you can listen to feedback & advice when needed.