Medicine @ Peterhouse, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT); 3x interviews.

Interview content

Interview 1: question sheet; Interview 2: medical/clinical scenarios; Interview 3: science-based.

Best preparation

Research the structure of your interview and tailor your preparation to it.

Test preparation

Use Medify and prepare useful facts for section 3 of the BMAT.

Final thoughts

Prepare well and answer practice questions in advance.

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: 3
Time between interviews: 1-3 hours
Length of interviews: Between 15 and 25 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

First Interview: We had 10 minutes of preparation time with a range of questions to research on the computer. In the interview, questions were randomly picked and discussed, mostly about clinical scenarios. A knowledge of rules and procedures followed by medical practitioners definitely helped here.

Second Interview: This was based on medical/clinical scenarios but required a lot more out-of-the-box thinking. This interview tested your creative thinking and your ability to solve problems that were unfamiliar.

Third Interview: Entirely science-based. This interview was looking to see how you approach problems that you wouldn't know the answer to even if the questions were based around topics covered in A level. A couple of the questions were maths-related but never completely detached from medicine.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I had a mentor through a scheme now called Zero Gravity. He was a Cambridge medic and helped me by going through example interview questions and giving me feedback. I also revised over topics that we had done in school so I had a good grip of all of them in case questions were asked on them. My school put me in contact with a couple of people who got offers for medicine at Cambridge in previous years and I spoke to them for advice. I spent a lot of time researching the structure of the interviews and then tailoring my preparation to that. For me, what you need to remember is that however well you prepare, you need to try to be confident on the day. You need to be brave when you don't know the answers to a question and keep talking to communicate your thoughts and ideas.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

I used Medify and then lots of practice papers. For BMAT section 3, I learned facts that would be applicable to a wide range of questions to back up any points I make.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Prepare well. Research the interview structure and work hard to prepare yourself for that. Go over any content you don't know well from A-levels. If you can get in contact with someone who has been through the interview process (even if it is at a different college!), that could be very helpful. Try to practice answering questions that require problem solving and lateral thinking. On the day, stay calm and be brave. Everyone is nervous, however confident some of them may look. If you don't know an answer, don't panic! Many questions are asked with the knowledge that you won't know it off the top of your head so stay calm and work through the problem logically. Even if you don't get the answer, tell your interviews your thought process (that could impress them more than the right answer). In the interviews try to smile, it makes you come across as friendly and calms your nerves. Relax and do your best so whatever happens, you have no regrets.