Maths @ Homerton, Cambridge in 2021

Interview format

Sixth Term Examination Paper; 2x interviews

Interview content

Both Interviews: Entirely mathematical questions

Best preparation

Practised explaining and elaborating ideas and thinking

Test preparation

1 hour preparation per day

Final thoughts

Push for your best and put in hard work

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: Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP)
Number of interviews: 2
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

We simply did maths problems for both interviews. No introductions, no "why did you apply here", just straight into maths. I was assigned a question, and then I had to answer it to the best of my ability.

Every time I made a logical step, my interviewers repeatedly pressed for elaboration on why the result/step I obtained worked and where I was going with my thinking.

They occasionally gave me hints when I got stuck. It was quite stressful and tight for time, but they were all quite nice.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I had a practice interview with my A-level maths teacher, and recorded myself doing interview-style maths problems, making sure I fully elaborated my ideas and thinking out loud.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Spent at least 1 hour of preparation a day for the 6 months leading up to the exam. Many people do much more work than I did though.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Do more practice interviews, do more practice STEP papers. That's really the only way to ensure success. There are literally no shortcuts - you have to do honest work, and a lot of it consistently. If you aren't able to do that, then perhaps Cambridge isn't for you, and that's still okay! As long as you always push for your best, then that is all that matters.