Engineering @ Queens', Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

Engineering Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement, subject questions; Interiew 2: subject questions

Best preparation

Doing practice questions

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

Wearing clothes you're comfortable in

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: about 2 hours

Length of each interview: about 30-40 minutes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In the first interview, we started by talking about my personal statement, they wanted to see my enthusiasm for engineering. I talked about some work experience I'd had with an engineering company. We then did 3 pure maths questions on a range of topics. The interviewer checked that I'd done the topic before giving me the questions. This interview felt really relaxed and they weren't looking for me to get the correct answer right away, they were looking to see what methods I used and how I thought about the questions.

The second interview was largely physics based. I did 3 questions which were mathematical but in a physics context. Two were mechanics based and one was on electricity. This interview was a little more tense but I think that was party due to the fact that the room was so much darker!! It felt like there was more pressure to get the correct answers than in interview 1 but I think that was just based on the vibe I got, not any actual evidence.

How did you prepare?

To prepare for the test, I did official past papers. Even though our year was the first year of a new test, they were still useful.

For the interview I googled my interviewers to see what their specialities were. For me this was just because I didn't want to mention stuff that they were experts on!! I reread my personal statement quite a few times and did some deeper research into any specific engineering that I mentioned, so I was able to talk about them at length.

I did loads and loads of extra maths and physics questions. My school was really good with arranging extension classes and STEP prep classes which I went along to, even though I didn't have to do STEP. This really helped as it increased my speed and fluency in the type of questions they used. I completed a booklet of advanced mathematics as well, which helped me to understand how to tackle such problems.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

Revision and preparation wise you need to do what works for you. I find that last minute revision helps me because I feel as prepared as I can be but a lot of people hate it as it stresses them out. Try not to stress too much when you're in the interview about getting the right answer - they want to see how you tackle problems that you don't understand straight away.

Also wear whatever you feel comfortable in!! Don't let yourself be forced into wearing smart clothes if it makes you uncomfortable - they care about your brain not your clothes!