English @ Murray Edwards, Cambridge in 2015

Interview format

2x interviews (one group, one individual); 1x test.

Interview content

Very specific questions about books I mentioned in my personal statement.

Best preparation

Read a lot; revise the books referred to in your personal statement; close reading.

Final thoughts

Don't worry if the interviewers are sounding unimpressed or if you struggle. It might be better than you thought!

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

First interview (the college one I applied to) was at Kings College. It was a test followed by a group interview and then an individual one. I barely finished the test and throughout felt like I did crap but still got pooled so your impression isn't everything! The group interview was practical criticism, analysing an extract as a group - it felt a bit scary as I'm not the most confident and everyone else seemed to act like they knew what they were doing a lot more but again - don't worry if you think you've not done well confidence isn't everything! The individual interview was with two interviewers, one from the college and one from Downing College.

My Murray Edwards pool interview was 2 individual interviews with 2 interviewers in each one - they were all very nice and reassuring!

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I can't remember exactly but they asked very specific questions about books I mentioned in my personal statement so make sure you know stuff you talk about inside out and are comfortable about going into the specifics. For example I mentioned Hamlet and one question was something about the relationships between two of the characters.

How did you prepare?

I read a lot in the summer before applying and revised the books I put in my personal statement almost like I was revising for an exam on them - I think that and just paying attention when you're doing close reading in class is the most important stuff!

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

Don't worry if interviewers are constantly looking for and sounding unimpressed or if you struggle - I left my interview convinced it was gonna be a straight out rejection but it turned out to have gone a lot better than I thought it had!