Engineering @ Robinson, Cambridge in 2022

Interview format

Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA), 1x interview

Interview content

Questions on A-level Physics topics

Best preparation

Going over A-level topics and interview-style questions

Test preparation

Practice papers and similar questions

Final thoughts

Try to chill out, there's only so much preparation you can do

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: 1
Length of interviews: 30 mins 
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

They covered 2 common A-level Physics topics that everyone would be familiar with and they asked easy-to-understand questions that provoked some thought and weren't questions I'd been asked before, but I got them fairly quickly and then my interviewer said well done and we moved on.

The interviewers were both quite friendly. Even though the interview is very significant in terms of getting into Cambridge, the interview itself couldn't have been more friendly and if the result of the interview hadn't meant so much, it would have been a very comfortable and enjoyable chat. I felt it was going well (probably due to the interviewers being nice) and I relaxed into the interview and finished it with a smile (again, probably due to the interviewers).

How did you prepare for your interviews?

My school ran a practice interview. Otherwise, I made sure I was up to speed on a small amount of general knowledge on topics I like and I looked over my A-level notes on a few random topics. I also found a couple of websites online that gave interview-style questions. The general knowledge and A-level revision were pretty useless for my Cambridge interview (but not for Imperial). 

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers from previous years. Also paid for a book that had similar questions someone had written. I also found a couple of tests someone had written online which again I had to pay a small price for.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Try to chill out. The results of the interview and admissions test do mean a lot if you are certain on Oxbridge but the interview and the test themselves aren't so bad, even if you can't get the answers. So approach them with an 'it is what it is' attitude because there's only so much preparation you can do.