MML at interview assessment; 2x interviews
Interview 1: making links between texts, unseen text; Interview 2: speaking in target language, personal statement
Learn a few set phrases which are useful for summarising texts
Make sure you're strong on your personal statement
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 at interview assessment
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: A couple of hours
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: No
I had one interview for each language. They both followed the same theme - I had to read a text, and then discuss my personal statement. Make sure you know your personal statement super well. If you read a book in Y12, or over summer, you probably need to go back over your notes. Also, it helps to have a couple of books in your back pocket - what else have you read, and why did you choose it? There was a lot of making links between texts, so it helps to have a mental list of the main themes / characters in each thing you've read.
Both interviews also had a discussion of a text I hadn't seen before. If they let you make notes on the text, make sure they're legible (I saw them put my copy on a neat pile, not just in the bin). It's important that before you try to think deeply about the text, that you know as far as possible what it literally means. This is especially true where the sentence structure could mislead you. Both interviews took place in an office. One of them was quite cluttered and I was really close to the interviewers. My languages were both post A-Level, so I spoke a bit in both languages. The interviewers were really nice, and especially in my second interview, where
There aren't that many practice papers so it makes sense to do them all. Choose the language you are most confident writing in for the summary section. Read the whole text through first, without writing anything down. Then, split the text into about five sections, and write a simple sentence summarising what each section says. Then write your summary. It helps to learn a few 'set phrases' to elevate your language level, particularly if they use funky grammatical structures.
For the essay in English, the focus is definitely on the content, and not necessarily the structure. Make sure that you're always answering the question. The texts are often a bit out there (as the past papers show), but it's important not to let that throw you. Read the question, and then go over the text again with a fine tooth comb. Make sure you have a really good idea of exactly what the author's point is, as they might throw in red herrings, or otherwise not always be direct about their message. After you do the English essays, see if you can get an
My single biggest piece of advice would be to stay calm. It's very easy to get worked up (I did), especially in the holding room, where you're surrounded by other applicants. I expected more 'trick questions', but there weren't any. If you're strong on everything in your personal statement, and willing to keep trying to answer questions, even if you get it wrong the first (or second or third) time, then you've got a chance.