Engineering @ Peterhouse, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

ENGAA; 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: maths and mechanics; Interview 2: same plus personal statement discussion

Best preparation

ENGAA past papers, https://i-want-to-study-engineering.org/

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

Try not to panic, the interview will probably not be as bad as you think

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: ENGAA

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: no

Time between interviews: 3 hours

Length of interviews: 30 minutes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The first interview was scary. I had done a problem sheet where I picked two (one mechanics and another maths) of four questions to answer before hand and we discussed those for the duration of the interview. The interviewers were nice enough but had an air about them which didn’t help me to relax at all.

The second interview was much nicer, the first half was discussing my personal statement and the second half was a maths and then a mechanics question. The interviewers were much more friendly and it was almost enjoyable at some points. It felt like it went much better so my day ended well.

How did you prepare?

I did past ENGAA papers (some with my physics teacher and others timed) and used https://i-want-to-study-engineering.org/ which has hundreds of practice questions.

Look for any interview practice you can get. I was lucky enough that my school had a trip for oxbridge applicants where we had mock interviews with subject specialists. It helped a lot and the feedback was great for my actual interview. If you do constant question practice (an hour or two a day) up until your interview you’ll have nothing to worry about when doing the question later they give you.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

Just take it slow to avoid simple mistakes and remember that the interviewers are just people. As useless as it may sound on the day, don’t panic or stress about the interview as it isn’t too bad once you get going. And drink lots of water. My mouth went very dry for my first interview so having water is super useful.