Engineering @ Jesus, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

Engineering Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: basic mechanics, specific subject question; Interview 2: maths/problem-solving questions

Best preparation

ENGAA textbook

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

Know your personal statement, practise interviews at home, and think out loud in your interview!

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

Skype interview: No

Time between interviews: On the same day, with a few hours between them, and I had a test in between, to take to my 2nd interview

Length of first interview: Around 15-30 minutes; Length of second interview: Around 15-30 minutes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In the first interview, I was asked one basic mechanics question I could do, then a question on physics that I had to work through out loud (as I had never covered it before). Both questions had me speaking out loud as I thought about my answer, and the interviewers assisted me in working out the answer.

Between interviews I had a maths/problem-solving exam which involved applying maths to solve problems in ways that I could do, but that I hadn’t done before. I had 20 minutes to do part of it, and then I brought it into my second interview, where I was questioned on why I had done what I did.

How did you prepare?

ENGAA textbook on Amazon

What advice do you have for future applicants?

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

Believe in yourself. If you know nobody at university and want personal advice, consider reaching out to university societies on Facebook. Personally, I wasn’t asked about my personal statement but make sure you know what you talked about in yours, and the topics you mentioned studying in your SAQ form.

Practise interviews with anyone you can, from your little sibling at home to your school teachers. The interviewers will ask questions they KNOW you can’t answer - they want to see how you apply what you can do to a new situation. Finally: talk out loud while you think during the interview.