MML/Classics at-interview tests; 2x 15 minute interviews.
Interview 1: personal statement, analysing unseen French passage, discussion in French; Interview 2: submitted work, syntax question problem solving, personal statement.
Don’t stress too much, and just be your normal self.
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/Classics at-interview tests
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 2 hours
Length of interviews: 15 minutes
Online interview: No
French Interview: We talked generally about books I mentioned in my personal statement. We then moved onto the portrayal of books in films and how effectively it can be done. Then, we moved onto a French text — I read a passage aloud in French and then I had a few questions on literary techniques. Then we had a basic, 5 minute French discussion at the end of the interview (discussing where I come from, etc).
Latin interview: Latin began with lots of language questions. I was given a Latin passage and had to answer lots of questions on vocabulary and syntax. We had a small discussion about my personal statement and one of the essays I had submitted to a competition about the differences between epics and shorter poetry. I was fairly relaxed throughout both. French seemed to go far better than Latin.
Write a good personal statement which has stuff on it that you can discuss at length in the interview. Practice speaking French, and make sure you know basic vocabulary and grammar for your target languages.
Don’t stress too much, and just be your normal self.