MML Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.
Interview 1: discussion of cultures, brief conversation in target language; Interview 2: discussing a text on current affairs
Researched books mentioned on personal statement.
Used practice papers.
Be adaptable to the interviewers' views and suggestions!
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: MML Admissions Assessmen
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 3 hours
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: No
We talked a lot about Hispanic and Lusophone culture! I was asked questions about my personal statement but mainly more abstract ones with no right answer. I was also given a text to discuss before the interview which was in Spanish. In the interview I had to read out a paragraph and we discussed it in Spanish, but this part didn't last too long don't worry! The text was on current affairs in Spain, and I was asked about my own knowledge of this area so try to read some newspapers before you go to your interview or you might be left a bit embarrassed!
The interviews were nowhere near as stressful as I anticipated - both of mine were one-on-one and so they were much more like conversations than interviews! The interviewers really put me at ease, asking me very easy questions about my interest in the subject to start with which is very reassuring!
I looked up Oxbridge interview questions and practiced answering them - even questions for different subjects (but still humanities) to see what sort of things they could ask. I also read journal articles and academic papers on the books I had mentioned in my personal statement so I could bring in these if asked about them. This was very useful as my interview was actually very similar to a
Do as much research as you can!! You truly cannot prepare enough for an application to Oxbridge - read as much as you can, think about interview questions and practice aptitude tests. It will, at the very least, make the process far less stressful if you know what to expect. Also, be adaptable to the interviewer's views - it is fine to disagree with their opinion but absolutely show that you have considered it! You want to some across as teachable!