Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP); 3x interviews
Interview 1: personal statement; Interview 2: maths problems; Interview 3: maths problems
Stayed on top of A Level content
Used maths.org
The interviewers are trying to assess how well you will learn from supervisions
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: 3
Time between interviews: 15 minutes
Length of interviews: 25 minutes
Online interview: No
In my first interview, they asked generic questions and also about stuff in my personal statement, from which we ended up on a tangent about linguistics, which was loosely related to my personal statement.
In the two maths-specific interviews, we sat down with a piece of paper in front of me and first the assistant gave a warm-up task. When I got stuck they gave a hint (I drew a complete blank with the first task I was given, because I didn't know a certain property of integrals that was required, but I was able to complete the task after they told me it). Then when I had done that task the interviewer asked a question which then was elaborated into a different but related question, and then time ran out both times as I was was near the end of answering that question.
I didn't specifically prepare for my interviews really; for Maths at least as long as you're on top of the A-Level content you've learnt so far and have started somewhat to prepare for STEP you oughtn't need to prepare for interview specifically. The way the interviews are conducted you're *supposed* to get stuck so that they can see how you respond to hints. My school did *try* to do a
The STEP preparation stuff on maths.org (website run by the University of Cambridge) was good. Also I attended STEP workshops for state school students run by the University and by the College. I should mention as a caveat here that I actually technically missed my STEP offer, but because the marks were close enough I was accepted without even being pooled. One of the things I *didn't* do but probably should have done was do timed practice papers.
Try to remain calm essentially, and be sure to talk through what you're thinking because it's intentional that you get stuck somewhere – this does not mean you've "failed" – and inevitable. Also please don't try to show off. Remember that what they are trying to assess, at least in maths, is how well you will learn from