History @ Fitzwilliam, Cambridge in 2021

Interview format

History Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: Questions on submitted work; questions on the practice of history; Interview 2: Questions on personal statement; Questions on an extract

Best preparation

Reviewed personal statement and submitted work; Practice interviews

Test preparation

Completed timed past papers and read InsideUni HAA guide

Final thoughts

Give yourself a moment to breathe and think before you answer a question

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: History Admissions Assessment (HAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 1 hour 30 minutes
Length of interviews: 25-30 minutes
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

My first interview was mostly based on the essays I had submitted. I was asked questions on both the general topics that the essays were on and more specifically about the arguments I made. We also talked about the practice of history more generally.

In my second interview, I first answered questions based on my personal statement. Next, I was given 3-4 minutes to read a primary source extract (about a paragraph long) and we discussed it afterwards.

There were 2 interviewers in each interview and the whole process felt relaxed; the interviewers seemed genuinely interested in the conversation, asking questions they were interested about. I wasn't asked any questions on what I'd learnt in sixth form beyond the scope of the essays I'd submitted, and I wasn't given any pre-reading to prepare for the interviews.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

The most useful preparation I did was picking apart my personal statement, working out how I could expand on the points I made and make links between them.

Re-reading the essays I had previously submitted to refamiliarise myself with the arguments I made was also helpful.

I did some practice interviews too, including one with my teacher, which really helped to make me feel more comfortable expressing my ideas out loud.

Talking about history to other people (even family members), perhaps using an article from a history website, to trigger conversation, was useful and perhaps a good thing to start with before progressing to a more formal practice interview.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

The most helpful thing was doing the three practice papers available on the Cambridge uni website. I started by doing the first untimed and then the other two timed. I also went through a paper with my teacher to help me work out the kind of ideas I could pick and how to structure my essay.

The Oxford HAT past papers were also helpful to use to practise analysing sources, but the HAA past papers were better as they included the comparison element, which is key to the exam. InsideUni's guide to the HAA was very useful as well!

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Remember that the interviewers really are interested in what you have to say and that there isn't any right or wrong answer. Ask them to repeat or clarify a question if that would be helpful, and give yourself a moment to breathe and think before you answer a question.