Test taken: Modern Languages Admissions Test (MLAT)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 4/5 hours
Length of interviews: 30 minutes prep time, 30 minutes of interview
Online interview: Yes

Interview 1 - Russian (ab initio): I had 30 minutes preparation time with a Russian text that had been translated into English and then a 30 minute interview. The prep time was in a breakout room with one supervisor. They accidentally kicked me out of the meeting instead of moving me to the interview room which was quite stressful, but they were nice and apologetic and let me have a second to get back in the zone. We started with a discussion of the text, then moved on to a Russian linguistics task. They taught me something that I then had to try to apply to some examples. I found this really tough but the interviewer was encouraging and gave me tips along the way. I was then asked a few questions about my general desire to study Russian and some texts I had mentioned on my personal statement. There was one interviewer with her camera on who asked me all of the questions, and someone else who I didn't see or hear who was taking notes.

Interview 2 - French (post A-level): I had half an hour preparation time with a French text in a breakout room before being admitted to the interview room. We started with a discussion (in English) about what I had picked out of the text. I was really nervous but relaxed into it, it felt like we ended up having more of a discussion about the text rather than just being interviewed. I also had to read some of the text in French and then translate a small section. Then we moved on to some closed tasks where I had to fill in the gaps in the sentences with the right word. When she explained what I had to do in that task she used a term to describe the type of word I had to fill the gaps in with. I didn't know what that word meant. When she explained it turned out I did know what she was talking about I just hadn't heard them referred to in that way before. She was really nice about it and didn't talk down to me at all for not understanding originally. Then we had a conversation about some things from my personal statement. Finally she asked me if I had ever been to France in French. The French speaking part of the interview only lasted about a minute and basically felt like small talk.

I spoke about quite a few texts and films in my personal statement. I prioritised revising these, making synopses and picking out key points. I came up with some ideas of what I could say specifically interested me about each text/film in preparation for more general questions. One of my teachers helped me go through some foreign language extracts, working with me on picking out the main points. I kept up to date with what was going on in each country, and it made me feel better to be able to work some current knowledge of French society into an answer. There are loads of websites with sample modern languages interview questions, and while I don't think any of these came up I found it helpful to have some practice speaking through my thought process and made me more confident.

The Cambridge Uni website has links to past papers, the mark scheme and the specification. I would recommend getting familiar with these in order to work out what they're really looking for from your answers. The main skills you have do demonstrate are critical analysis and the ability to discuss multiple sides of an argument. Complete practice answers and get teachers to look through them and make a list of useful discursive phrases to learn.

I was really worried about being made to feel stupid in the interview if I didn't know something, but I found the interviewers to be really encouraging. I would just get used to having a discussion and having to back up your points with evidence. Talking through my thought process felt really unnatural to me but I had been advised that that was what they were looking for, so I would definitely do some practice on that. Just try to remember that ultimately the interviewers are people who share your passion for the subject. They want the best students and so they want you to succeed.