English @ Peterhouse, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT); 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement, unseen extract; Interview 2: submitted essays

Best preparation

Did some more research around the books mentioned on personal statement

Test preparation

Practice papers

Final thoughts

Focus on quality not quantity when mentioning books on your personal statement

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: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Before each interview, I was given a small extract from a text (with no context) and had 15 minutes to annotate and come up with ideas. These extracts were the starting point for both of my interviews - the interviewers just wanted to know how you think! This definitely is a good way to ease you into the interview. In my first interview, a lot of the questions were around the books I mentioned in my personal statement, though I was caught off-guard by a random question about texts in translation (I hadn’t done any I’d this before Cambridge). The second interview had more questions about my coursework and the essays I submitted.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I obviously had to read quite a few books which I mentioned in my personal statement. I made sure to re-read them so I knew the texts inside out. I also bought a membership to MASSOLIT - it’s sort of an online site specifically for A Level students with mini lectures from uni professors across the country. I made sure to watch a few lectures on the texts I had previously mentioned so I could talk about a few more informed ideas. I think this definitely helped with my anxiety at least, I knew I could go in there and would have some solid points to talk about. I also would recommend reading through the essays you submitted again! I didn’t do this and was caught out when I got asked about my coursework which I had completed a year before and couldn’t remember fully.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers on the Cambridge website.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Make sure to re-read the essays you submit as it probably has been some time since you write them! I also would say it isn’t about the quantity of books you mention in your personal statement but how well you know the material - don’t write something down which you don’t intend to read. Finally just relax (I know easier said than done), the interviewers are humans and you can talk to them a bit like they’re normal (I remember talking to my professor about how nice the windows are in his office!). And don’t be afraid to ask questions or ask the interviewers to repeat themselves. If you don’t understand a question, you might just need it rephrasing!