English @ St John's, Cambridge in 2021

Interview format

English Literature Admissions Test; 1 interview

Interview content

Questions on unseen poetry; Questions about personal statement and open questions

Best preparation

Revised personal statement; Did a practice interview

Test preparation

Timed practice papers

Final thoughts

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.

Interview Format

Test taken: English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT)
Number of interviews: 1
Time between interviews: N/A
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

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.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

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 practice interview with a teacher from my school, but I didn’t find this to be an essential part of my preparation.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Timed practice papers - my teacher collected the papers from previous students sitting the exam

What advice would you give to future applicants?

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.