Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP); 1x interviews
Interview 1: discussion of pre-interview test
STEP papers
Get familiar with explaining concepts as well as generally understanding them
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.
Test taken:
Number of interviews: 1
Length of interviews: 45 minutes
Online interview: No
First I sat a one hour written paper, which pretty much felt like an exam. This was nice for me as I didn't feel pressured to come up with solutions on the spot, I had the time to relax and explore ideas (but obviously not relax too much). This was followed by a discussion about my solutions in the interview. Both interviewers were very nice and guided me to explain my solutions, correct mistakes and answer some of the other problems, and the way they did so helped me feel relaxed.
I found it useful to talk through solution to practise questions with a
To other applicants, I would say that the interviewers are looking not just for accuracy but understanding, and the better you can explain something, naturally the better you understand it.