English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT); 2x interviews
Interview 1: personal statement, submitted essays; Interview 2: reasons for applying
Prepared to expand on personal statement and submitted essays
Practice papers to see what the test will look like
Interviewers want to see how you think and reason
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.
Test taken:
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: None
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No
I found each of the interviews really challenging but also really enjoyable - it felt more like a conversation than a test. I was asked about my personal statement and submitted essays, as well as why I had chosen to apply to the college that I had, and how I thought I would fit in and make a contribution to college life. They're not there to catch you out - they just want to see how you think.
The first thing I did was to go through my personal statement and submitted essays and made sure that I could talk about and justify the points I'd made - this was really helpful as I ended up being asked about my personal statement and essays a fair amount.
There are practice papers on the internet which you can look at to get a general idea of what the paper might look like. The biggest thing to stress is not to worry too much about the test - it doesn't need to be a perfect answer, they just want to see how you write and how you think.
Don't be nervous! The interviewers aren't scary and they're not there to catch you out - they just want to see how you think and reason.