Modern And Medieval Languages @ St John's, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

2x interviews.

Interview content

Interview 1: discussion of unseen passage (poetry) in target language; Interview 2: personal statement, general discussion.

Best preparation

Reviewed personal statement; mock interviews.

Final thoughts

Be open to new perspectives.

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: None
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 2-3 hours
Length of interviews: 20 mins
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In my subject interview, we discussed a French poem in both French and English  but, in the general interview, we discussed some of the more minor points on my personal statement and my general interest in my subject.

How did you prepare?

I did a mock interview with my French teacher beforehand. I just really went over the stuff in my personal statement and tried not to worry about it too much.

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

The questions weren't as difficult as I'd expected — they didn't try to catch me out. I understand now that the interviewers were looking for an open-minded individual who could understand different perspectives.