Human, Social And Political Science @ Newnham, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

Arts-Humanities Admissions Assessment (AHAA); 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: discussion of extract, EPQ; Interview 2: personal statement, current affairs

Best preparation

Talking informally about the subject with others

Final thoughts

If you're excited and curious about the questions posed in the interview, that's what is most important!

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: Arts-Humanities Admissions Assessment (AHAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 1 hour
Length of interviews: 1 hour
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

At first I was given some time to look over an unnamed extract. We then discussed that text and my ideas on it with the interviewer pointing out specific lines to ask me what I thought about them. We also talked about my personal statement and my EPQ.

In one of my interviews, the interviewer asked me to relate a specific argument in my personal statement to current affairs. I was also asked more generally about any recent books I’d read which had impacted me.

How did you prepare?

To prepare for the Arts-Humanities Admissions Assessment (AHAA), I did some of the practice essay questions available on the website and asked my teacher to look over them. Past AS Critical Thinking papers were also helpful.

For the interview, I spoke to my subject teacher for advice, and watched a couple videos on YouTube about the interview process. But I think the most useful preparation I did was just finding people to talk to informally about my subject even if they weren't that interested or informed on it themselves.

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

I think in the interview it's most important to show that you have a sincere enjoyment and love for your subject, rather than trying to prove that you already know it all. I never believed people when they said they enjoyed their interview, but the truth is the interviewer is looking for someone they would want to teach, not necessarily the person who knows the most, so if you're excited and curious about the questions presented to you at interview, that's what's most important!