English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT); 2x interviews
Interview 1: unseen texts, personal statement; Interview 2: unseen texts, submitted work
Practised unseen analysis skills
Studied the mark schemes
The interviews are so interesting in themselves, so try to enjoy the experience!
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: 1 hour
Length of interviews: 15 minutes
Online interview: No
The majority of both my interviews were focused on the unseen texts I had been given, I assume because they were trying to replicate what a
I practised my unseen analysis skills, just annotated random pieces of texts and poems.
I found the mark scheme and studied it. Practised past tests in timed conditions (harder for ELAT as the whole tests are not available online, but I practised two essays). Marked them myself and then tried to improve them with annotations. Practiced unseen texts analysis.
My advice is to enjoy the experiences while they are happening. It makes the whole thing much more valuable to you as a person and helps stop burn out. Appreciate what you’re doing at the time of doing it, not just after when it’s all over. The interviews for example, are so interesting in themselves - I found it really calmed my nerves to just enjoy the experience of talking on this higher level about something I love.