History @ Queens', Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Arts-Humanities Admissions Assessment (AHAA); 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: sources extracts; Interview 2: personal statement, submitted essays

Best preparation

Reading around the subject

Test preparation

Practice papers

Final thoughts

Try to realise that the interviews are an amazing opportunity

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: Arts-Humanities Admissions Assessment (AHAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 3 hours
Length of interviews: 30-40 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The first one was based on a series of extracts which they asked me questions about. They were mainly historiographical, like how reliable the sources were and what impacted the writing etc. The second one was based on my personal statement and the two essays I sent in, but they then asked me what other books I’d been reading.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

Reading!! I was lucky that my school arranged interview preparation, but the best prep I had was reading a wide variety of books on my subject, including many that weren’t on my personal statement. The broader your knowledge, the more confident you’ll be which will also help how you come across.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers, practice papers, practice papers!

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Love your subject, don’t panic (easier than it sounds) and realise it’s an amazing opportunity. I actually really enjoyed my interviews and I put that down to mainly being really interested in my subject and having read enough around it but also because I somehow managed to rationalise the situation. Your worth isn’t based on your Oxbridge interview and there is a degree of luck involved, so try and make the most of the opportunity to chat with some very interesting people. They’re not out to get you and they’re normally lovely people who want you to do well (remember they’ve got to do tonnes of these things so they want to be engaged). Good luck and don’t panic!!