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

My first interview was about some pre-reading I was given 2 weeks before the interview. They asked for my thoughts on it as well as what arguments I thought were being made, which led onto my own opinions about different source types and the reliability of them and things like bias amongst historians.

My next interview was about my personal statement. I actually struggled a bit more with that one because the interviewers focused on something I didn’t think they would, but I still found it answerable. My interviewers were lovely and I could tell that they wanted to allow me to do my best, even though I wasn’t a ‘typical’ Cambridge applicant. I found that I began to relax and almost enjoy talking to them, because they are experts in a subject I am passionate about. I left the interview thinking that, even if I didn’t get in, I still had the amazing experience of speaking to people I really admire about I subject I love.

My school organised mock interviews, so I went into those blind to see what my baseline skill level was. I took the feedback from that and tried to think about how to prepare so I could be better in the real thing. I also read through my personal statement a few times, as well as looked through the things I mentioned in my personal statement (like my EPQ and history notes). I had some pre-reading to do as well, so I printed that off and made notes in the margins when I saw an interesting point. The best thing I did, however, was not to look at standard answers people posted online because that allowed me to think more for myself and not be seen as too generic in comparison to others. They seem to want you to put across your own thoughts, rather than think about what they want to hear.

I looked on the History faculty website, which had past papers and planned out an answer to a few of the essay style questions. The other half of the test is multiple choice, and tests comprehension, so I just tried to use skills I gained from English Literature and History A level.

My main piece of advice is to try to be yourself and put across what you think rather than what you think the interviewers want to hear. I would also say that it’s a good thing to pause and think your answer through if you need to. The interviewers are genuinely interested in what you want to say and they don’t ask trick questions, so trust in your ability to answer and don’t get too panicked. Plus, make sure you look at everything you put on your personal statement because any of it can be used in the interview. Finally, I would say to enjoy it - although it’s easy for me to say because I have already done an interview. I was terrified before my interviews, but I see in hindsight that I actually had conversations with world experts in my favourite subject! That’s pretty awesome and you will always have that whether you get in after interview or not.