History And Politics @ Sidney Sussex, Cambridge in 2016

Interview format

2x interviews (30-40mins)

Interview content

Wide range of subjects

Best preparation

Revision for school mocks; In Our Time podcast

Final thoughts

Be yourself & flexible with your answers - don't worry about changing

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

I had two interviews, one on history and one on politics, that lasted between 30 and 40 minutes each. In each there were two interviewers. I wasn't asked to read a text beforehand and was instead asked about things I'd said on my personal statement, one of my submitted essays, and the subjects I was covering in college.

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The questions in my interview covered topics as broad as the 1960 Labour government, the civil rights movement, and historical re-enactment! All the interviewers were lovely. The questions that really threw me were in my history interview, as he asked me for some specifics. There was also a fairly tricky one on federalism, although I can't quite remember the wording.

How did you prepare?

My revision for mocks at college really helped me, and a lot of research I'd done so that I could answer more vague questions didn't really come up. However, interviewers have been known to ask these kinds of things and so I'm still glad I prepared for them just in case. The In Our Time podcast was also wonderful.

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

Be yourself! And if you make a mistake or want to change your answer then say so - they're looking for people who will be good in supervisions, which means people who are thinking critically about their own knowledge and are looking to improve.