I had 2 interviews on the 8th December. I had to arrive by 8:30 for pre-reading but actually arrived at about 8:15 and sat in a waiting room for a while. There was only 2 interviewees by that point but plenty of student ambassadors that made us feel really welcome. At 8:30 a student ambassador took us both upstairs to a room for the prereading. Another student handed us an envelope with a text in and sent us into a silent reading room. I had been given a poem - there was no date or writer's name but it seemed quite old. I had about 25 minutes to analyse it, after which another student ambassador came and walked me to my first interview. A note on the door said to knock on the door but not to go in until they said. When they called me in, they were very welcoming. The whole interview was about 25-30 minutes long.

I then repeated the whole process after a 30 minute break in the college cafe (the Roost) - I wanted to go over my notes for the next interview and I didn't think I would be able to in the other waiting room with so many other people around. So I had another pre-reading session with another poem - this time with a date and writer's name - analysed it for 25 minutes, then was walked to my second interview. This one was a little over 30 minutes long. After that, I was done for the day.

In both interviews, the first half was about the poem I had been given and the second half was about my personal statement. Both interviews asked me about the poem I'd been given and what I thought of it. They pushed me to think of alternative interpretations and focused mainly on syntax, meter, rhythm and rhyme and what I thought of specific lines. It was just close analysis but rather than writing an essay I expressed my thoughts verbally. Definitely not at much of a higher level than A Level other than being encouraged to think out of the box or being asked more probing questions than an A Level paper.

Both felt less like an interview than just a discussion - the interviewers seemed genuinely interested in what I thought about the poems as opposed to looking for a 'right' answer. Overall, it was an enjoyable discussion in both interviews and I actually walked away having had a good time, which I definitely wasn't expecting.

I had a mock interview at school which encouraged me to 'think out loud' when looking at texts. However, this mock interview was SO much harder than the real thing! If anything, though, it encouraged me to get to know the texts I mentioned in my personal statement inside out, as well as everything else I mentioned e.g. my EPQ. Not all of this preparation actually came in useful in that I was asked specifically about it, but it definitely helped with my confidence going in.

Also, practising close analysis was a good idea. I tried to find random poems/bits of prose to practise with so I would be used to picking interesting things out. I also used the online ELAT resources and past papers to find texts to look at and analyse - this ultimately really worked out in my favour because the poems I was given at interview were a similar length and level of difficulty.

The interview can be enjoyable if you let it be! Just settle into it, and answer the questions genuinely and passionately. Don't try and plan answers or slip impressive things into the conversation. Just be yourself.

(Also, don't get intimidated by other people in the waiting room!)