Sixth Term Examination Paper; 2x interviews.
Both interviews: math problems, e.g. graph sketching. The second interview felt more difficult than the first.
Looking at past or sample questions online, graph sketching practice (use online calculators to check your graphs).
Practice interview questions with friends/teachers; ask if you forget a formula; if the interviewer recommends a certain method, use it!
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: 2
Time between interviews: 20 minutes
Length of interviews: 25 minutes
Online interview: No
The first interview went very well. It was with two PhD students (who were quite young) which I think made me more comfortable. I forgot very soon that I was nervous. I was asked NO questions on my personal statement and NO abstract/philosophical questions, just lots of maths questions. Many were quite easy, but some I needed help with. There were questions from various areas of maths (including graph sketching). I was surprised by how many questions we got through (maybe 10 distinct questions?)
The second interview wasn't too different in format, but I definitely found it harder and thought that some of the questions were a bit weirder. There was one moment when I said "I don't know" to something that in retrospect was fairly obvious, but mostly it was OK and I was happy with a lot of my answers. There were some quite interesting questions actually, and in a strange way it was quite enjoyable.
I had a
I looked at many past questions or example questions (my school gave me some, and there are many available online).
I did a lot of graph sketching practice - there are a lot of example graphs online, and you can use a website like https://www.desmos.com/calculator to check your answer.
I also went over my textbook from school, but that didn't really help much because they aren't testing you on definitions.
LOTS of past papers and previous questions; use the website STEP Database to search for questions by topic https://stepdatabase.maths.org/database/index.html. Questions from before 2000 are a bit weird so those should mostly be avoided. Choose strategically if you want to cover any stats or mechanics (I did no stats and only some topics of mechanics).
1. Practice doing interview questions in an interview format (i.e. talking about what you're doing). Ask your teacher or friends for help with this.
2. If you forget something (e.g. a formula), just ask. It's not a memory test.
3. A common mistake is not talking enough in the interview; explain what you're doing.
4. If they say "How about using this method?", then USE THAT METHOD.