History Admissions Assessment (HAA); 2x interviews
Interview 1: discussion of pre-reading, personal statement; Interview 2: submitted essays, abstract question
YouTube videos about interviews
Practice papers
Try to relax and be passionate about your subject
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:
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 30 mins
Length of interviews: 10 minutes
Online interview: No
In my first interview I was asked about a short piece of reading I read beforehand to assess my skills at just analysing a text and inferring details from it. They also asked about my personal statement and what areas of history I was interested in and why. I felt quite relaxed as I kept talking.
My second interview was about some essays I had sent in and that was very relaxing and easy to talk about. They then asked me an abstract question which was really fun to try to answer and discuss with the interviewers.
I spoke to my neighbour who used to be the uni officer at a local sixth form and he helped by doing a
I actually did the past papers for the Oxford and Cambridge History admissions tests to practice
It's not that scary. Yes its nerve-wracking and a big deal, but the idea that it is some terrifying, all-important interview is wrong. You are made to feel at home and are asked to talk about things you like and your own work, so just relax and be passionate.