English Literature Admissions Test; 1 interview
Questions on unseen poetry; Questions about personal statement and open questions
Revised personal statement; Did a practice interview
Timed practice papers
Know your personal statement extremely well and keep it subject-specific
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: 1
Time between interviews: N/A
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: Yes
I struggled with the unseen poetry part of the interview - it was an extremely difficult poem and I had to be prompted multiple times before I understood it’s meaning.
I think I redeemed myself in the second half, where my interviewers stuck to questions either directly related to my personal statement, or that were nice and open so I could link them back to what I’d read. There were no trick questions, but I have heard that some interviewers do ask these.
I spent a lot of time revising everything that I had written in my personal statement (eg. the plots and analysis of books I’d mentioned).
I did have a
Timed practice papers - my teacher collected the papers from previous students sitting the exam
Keep your personal statement extremely subject specific. Practice for the ELAT in time conditions, setting aside half an hour for reading and planning each time. Know everything on your personal statement inside out before the time you get to interview. If you know everything by the time of interview, just relax and be passionate.
If something goes wrong (like you don’t understand the poem or can’t answer a question) don’t let it phase you or stop your passion and enjoyment for the subject from coming across.