Human, Social And Political Science @ Downing, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

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

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement; Interview 2: current affairs

Best preparation

Wrote notes on relevant books and documentaries

Test preparation

Practise papers

Final thoughts

Be prepared to expand on the interests mentioned in your personal statement

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: 20 mins
Length of interviews: 25 mins
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I was asked a few questions based on my personal statement, and then just general discussions about current topics, eg. climate change and social media.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

Wrote out the relevant books/documentaries I’d already read/ watched to figure out what I’d be happy talking about. Then annotated them with things I’d found interesting. Also did 3 mock interviews.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practise papers online and the AHAA practise book from Amazon.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Make sure you only write about something on your personal statement if you are genuinely interested in it and will show a natural interest when talking about it in the interview.