Written test (40 minutes). 2 interviews (10 minutes; 30 minutes). All on the same day.
First interview: focus on personal history interests. Second interview: focus on source (given in advance) and personal statement. Test: choice of ten questions.
Practice interview and should have not read student room.
Try not to stress out and enjoy the day as much as possible.
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.
I had 1 written test (40 mins approx), 1 10 min interview, 1 half hour interview with source analysis given 10 mins before.
Overall, I was in Robinson from 10 am to 2 pm, and I spent much of the time between interviews in the cafe with my mum as I found the waiting room quite nerve wracking.
The first interview was on my personal interests - this was quite relaxed and basically revolved around why I'd chosen history and what my interests were. I was also asked to look at some sources, but this was only brief and more discussion based than answering specific questions.
I then took the
My second interview was very intense! It mostly on the source I'd prepared ten minutes previously, but also on some obscure parts of my personal statement (for example, relating something I had written about in the seventeenth century to the present day). This was a bit stressful but nothing too bad! The interviewers would continue asking questions until I ran out of things to say.
I did a
I made the mistake of looking up past interview stories on the Student Room. These were more scary than reassuring and I now believe that a fair few of them are fake, I would not recommend reading them at all!
Not to stress too much! It's important to remember that your interviewers have very strong poker faces, and have done this a million times before. It can seem very intense if, like me, you'd never done any sort of academic interview before but they're honestly just trying to get the best out of you.
It's also important not to let the others waiting for their interviews stress you out! When I was there lots of people were swapping horror stories and generally being invasive (asking about my grades) when I just wanted to do my interview and run away! You don't need to listen to them, just because they have family who've attended before doesn't mean they know all the answers. Likewise, you don't need to sit in silence the whole day when not in interviews - no-one in the waiting room is judging your performance. Relax, and enjoy the chance to talk about the subject you love.