60 minute non-calculator maths test. Marked test in first interview. Second itnerview covered unseen technical problem.
Interviewer focused more on discussion than getting right answers. They expected you to pick up on their hints.
I-want-to-study-engineering.org . A-Level maths / physics practice papers.
It’s fine if the interviewers help you, just make sure to listen to their hints. You don’t need to go in knowing the right answer but you want to see progress.
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.
Upon arrival I was given a slip of paper with my interview schedule and sent to the JCR (Junior Common Room) where I was met by some student reps. There were a few other interviewees (all subjects) so everyone was talking to each other but most people found it pretty tense waiting for their interviews.
My first activity was a
In the first interview we just marked my test. We didn’t mark the questions in order – I think the interviewer just wanted to discuss the hardest ones. We mainly spent time discussing the questions I couldn’t answer. He basically gave me some clues and then would see if I got any closer to the answer. That part of the interview was interview pretty interesting.
The interviewer
The second interview was immediately after and I was given an engineering object and asked to work out it's output power. I started off talking though my thought process and it got off to a good start. The approach I chose was difficult so my interview kept hinting other methods I should try - the answer only required simple approximations using A-Level phsyics energy equations. I was still stressed from my first interview so missed all of these hints (in hindsight he was trying to help) and didn’t make much progress in the second half of the interview.
There was a really good website I used called i-want-to-study-engineering.org . A-Level maths and physics were pretty good preparation for the interviews.
I think the most important thing is not to stress about the interviewers helping you. If you get stuck (which is fine) the interviewers will give you hints and will be impressed if you can ‘learn’ from what they are saying.