Medicine @ Churchill, Cambridge in 2016

Interview format

Biomedical Admissions Test; 2x Interviews.

Interview content

Interview 1: science-based; Interview 2: ethics-based.

Best preparation

Revise A-level content and practice answering questions in front of family and friends!

Test preparation

Use practice papers and work through BMAT topics that you haven't covered in class.

Final thoughts

Take your time when answering questions in the interviews, and let your interviewer guide you to the right answer!

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: Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 15 minutes
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

There was one interview that was more science-based and one that was more ethics-based. There were prompts for many of the questions I was asked, for a example a graph or picture. I was so nervous at first, but definitely settled in as the interview progressed! There was so much stuff I didn't know, but was actually able to work out some things using basic A-level knowledge and it ended up being sort of fun!

How did you prepare for your interviews?

Having a quick look over notes from A-level and looking over the recent medical news. Prepare an answer to 'why do you want to do medicine' and try practice it in front of some friends/family. One of the most helpful things was that I asked my teacher if she could do a science-style interview, and she did a mini practice interview for me! The real thing turned out a bit different, but it was useful to start to think about how to answer those sorts of questions!

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

I prepared for the BMAT by using the free CGP revision guide, practice papers available from the website, and spending time with other people sitting the BMAT and some helpful teachers (ask your science teachers to spend a few lunchtimes with you!), working through any topics we hadn't learned about in lessons.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Just give yourself some space to think through the questions! It's about your thought process, not getting the right answer straight away, so think out loud and the interviewer will be able to help guide you to the right answer.