Medicine @ Pembroke, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Biomedical Admissions Test; 2x Interviews.

Interview content

Questions about work experience and medicine.

Best preparation

Make mindmaps on possible topics of discussion at the interview!

Test preparation

Use a book with practice questions.

Final thoughts

Show the interviewers your thought process and critical thinking skills.

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: 2-3 hours
Length of interviews: 20-25 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In the first interview I got a short question about my work experience and after that I was given a device and, through asking questions and analysing a graph, I had to deduce the function of the device in clinical medicine. The last question I was asked was science-based and required a bit more lateral thinking than the previous ones.  All in all they were testing critical thinking and scientific problem solving, requiring no previous knowledge.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I made mindmaps with some central topics of discussion, e.g current news in the medical field, my work experience etc., which I kept at the back of my head during the interviews.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Use a book with practice questions.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Show the interviewers your thinking process, step by step. You might evaluate by mentioning limitations or alternative theories in relation to a question.