English @ Wolfson, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT); 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement, submitted essays; Interview 2: reasons for applying

Best preparation

Prepared to expand on personal statement and submitted essays

Test preparation

Practice papers to see what the test will look like

Final thoughts

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.

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?

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.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

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.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

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.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

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.