Engineering @ Queens', Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

Engineering Admissions Assessment (ENGAA); 2 x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: Based on personal statement, questions about work experience and maths questions; Interview 2: one question on electrcity, and one on kinetics

Best preparation

Practice papers

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

Try to arrange a practice interview, or explain your though processes for problems out loud

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: 40 minutes

Length of first interview: 30 minutes; Length of second interview: 30 minutes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Interview 1: This was based half on my personal statement and half on some maths questions. I had an observer as well as one interviewer in mine. We talked about my personal statement and my engineering project (which they'd asked us to bring in photos off/proof off) and the interviewer said that was all simply to check that I had a real enthusiasm for engineering. I talked about my work experience mainly. We then did 2 maths questions. The interviewer checked I'd done the relevant topics before giving me the questions. I had one on geometry and one on graphs and gradients. The interviewer let me think for a while then I started working through. He would comment and hint if I was veering off the right track. He was super nice about everything and the vibe was very relaxed.

Interview 2: This involved one long question on electricity and one on kinetics. This interview was a lot more tense and I felt more under pressure.I had two interviewers who both asked questions throughout, although they each took the lead on one of the main questions. These interviewers were way less friendly and I think that had a detrimental effect on my performance in that particular interview which is why I ended up being pooled

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How did you prepare?

Practice papers are good prep, but they changed the ENGAA for the year that I took it so I only had 1 or 2 specimen ones. I also used the old style ones as they contained the same physics.

Iwanttostudyengineering is a good website and taking extra/higher level maths/physics sessions at school helped, too.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

My school ran a practice interview for anyone who had an interview at Oxbridge. I was also able to arrange practice interviews with 2 of my teachers who were more than happy to help.

I also did loads of extra maths and physics in the month leading up to the interview so that I was able to at least recognise more complex concepts even if I hadn't learnt and understood them.

< issueIntResearch>I also did research my interviewers and although that was totally unnecessary it made me feel more at ease.

The best thing I did was the practice interviews but obviously these can be hard to arrange in schools with less experience. If you don't have access to them I would recommend doing complex problems and saying your working out loud as that does feel a bit weird at first.