Human, Social And Political Science @ King's, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Arts-Humanities Admissions Assessment (AHAA); 1x interview

Interview content

Interview 1: questions relating to the course

Best preparation

Practising mini internal monologues about random topics

Test preparation

Prepared an essay structure in advance

Final thoughts

Make connections with what you already know

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: 1
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

As soon as you walk into that room, the terror and stress disappear and you’re just in the zone. It is a really enjoyable and stimulating experience. The interviewers instantly made me feel calmer; they were absolutely lovely. The atmosphere was quite relaxed and almost encouraging. The questions were challenging. They didn’t ask anything personal, they were all pretty much related to the course. Once again, it’s all about thinking out loud and showing them your thought process. It’s okay to ask them questions. Trust yourself. And smile!

How did you prepare for your interviews?

Asking anybody I could find who had also been interviewed for tips, preferably for my same course. Practiced answering on the spot by having sort of mini internal monologues about random topics. Once again, I ensured I was up to date on current stuff and that I knew my basics. But you can never really know what they’re going to ask you, and chances are they won’t expect you to know the answer. They want to see how you think, how you make connections with what you already know.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Looking at resources available on the site, asking around, looking at online forums to see other people’s tips and experiences, and just staying up to date with the news, reading around a lot, you never know when something can come in handy! Part of the exam was an essay, so making sure I had a good structure and approach figured out regardless of the content of the question.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Just be you. Trust yourself. Think out loud. Make connections with what you already know and demonstrate how you do this verbally. It is COMPLETELY NORMAL to have absolutely no idea what it is they’re asking you about, just try your absolute best to answer the question with what you know and you’ll be fine! And smile!