English @ Clare, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT); 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: unseen poetry; Interview 2: personal statement

Best preparation

Preparing to talk about a few books in depth

Test preparation

Practised unseen work

Final thoughts

Read the books you claimed to have read!

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: 3 hours
Length of interviews: 40 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Each interview followed the same rough structure. I was given an unseen poem to read for ten minutes before the interview, and the first half of the interview involved questions on this. I really liked this, as it gave me something to talk about and helped break the ice. The second half of the interview was on the books I had said I liked, and on my personal statement.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

My college had asked me to send a list of books I'd be happy to talk about, so most of my interview preparation was reading these carefully. I'd recommend that you do this; the questions that ended up being asked on them were very detailed, focusing on symbolism and narrative structure. For this reason, I'd recommend putting down fewer books but knowing them well. Don't just put books you think look impressive, put something you'd be happy to talk about in depth.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

I did a few practice papers, but to be honest, the exam was so similar to the unseens you do as part of the A-Level that we were also kind of preparing in class. So I would recommend you do some unseen work.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Read the books you said you've read! If you lie, they will know.