College specific history test; 2x interviews
Interview 1: personal statement, abstract discussion of history; Interview 2: discussion of written exam
Practise interviews at a nearby school
Practised analysing unseen sources
The interviewers want to see that you can think and analyse for yourself!
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: College specific history test
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: A few hours
Length of interviews: 20-30 minutes
Online interview: No
I had one interview about my personal statement and essays which I enjoyed. It was basically them giving you a chance to show off and prove you knew your stuff - they asked me one or two questions based on my personal statement but then we talked more abstractly about history.
In my second interview, we talked through the written exam I’d just completed (unseen sources with comprehension questions and an essay). I really enjoyed being able to basically have a nice chat with a professor about my thoughts on the sources - he was excellent in steering discussion and guiding me when I was not quite getting a question right. It was an opportunity to voice my thought process to my answers.
I had a
I practised looking at unseen sources that my teachers were kind enough to prepare for me!
Be your wonderful and amazing self. They don’t want to know how many clever books you’ve read, but rather that you know how to think and analyse for yourself!