English @ Homerton, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT); 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: unseen prose passage, personal statement; Interview 2: unseen poem, submitted work

Best preparation

Made notes on general topics of interest within literature

Test preparation

Used Silvae Rhetorica website for literary devices

Final thoughts

There are no wrong answers, just different interpretations!

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: English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: None
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In my first interview, I was given an unseen prose passage to annotate for 15 minutes before the interview. After discussing this, I was asked a few questions about things I mentioned on my personal statement.

My second interview started with a similar structure, with an unseen poem sequence. After discussing this we then talked about the written work I had sent in.

I was very nervous in my first interview and admittedly there were many awkward silences on my part which made the interviewers feel awkward too. In the second one I decided to make up for it, and didn't hold back. The conversation flowed and the interviewers seemed very engaged with what I was saying. The point is, once I got myself to relax by the second interview and really let go of worries about what the academics were thinking of me, I was able to say things of interest and engage with the discussion, and this is all that really matters in an interview. It is to show them your engagement with the subject you are applying to study. The power really is in your own hands to set the tone and if you relax so will the interviewers. Also, it shows that you get two shots and can make up for an interview that you feel didn't go well in the next one. If you have potential, they will pick up on it.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I went over my personal statement and made sure I had things to say about all the books and activities I mentioned on it. I also re-read the written work I had sent in as part of the application (two of my A-level essays). I had made lots of notes on books and general topics in literature that I was interested in (postcolonialism, linguistics) and was prepared to talk about them.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

I went through all of the ELAT past papers and sample scripts on their websites. I used websites such as Silvae Rhetorica to make lists of literary devices and basically just tried to be more perceptive to them every time I read anything leading up to the exam. Making lots of notes on literary devices and grammar rules helped.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

I'd say don't focus on what the interviewer is thinking, and instead focus on your own thoughts on the topic you're discussing. If you stumble, they'll try to prompt you. There are no wrong answers in English per se, so if you say something and they respond with a counter-argument or challenge, it's not to catch you out but really just to get you to continue talking or to guide you to a closer reading of the text under discussion.