My interview was in early December. I stayed over at Emmanuel College the night before, which was a great way to get to know the college a bit, meet some friendly faces (students, porters and other interviewees) and experience some of the college's accommodation. I was really well looked after with biscuits in the common room and students taking me to the different rooms.

I went for breakfast in the morning and then had a test which lasted for an hour, consisting of 2 questions. I was given an article in English and then had to comment (in one of the languages I was applying to study) on the author's main points and whether I agreed or disagreed. For the second question, I had to (in English) write about how the author persuades us of his/her point of view with examples. Previous tests can be found online at https://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/applying/how#written.

I then had 2 interviews, one before and one after lunch, each lasting 20 mins. One for each language (both my languages were post A-Level). 20 mins before the interview I was given a text in the foreign language and time to annotate it. In my French interview I was asked to read part of the text aloud and then answer some questions on it/analyse it a bit in French for 5 mins. For the next 15 mins I was asked many questions including ones on my interests re French, things I'd read and some on literature. For my German interview I was asked to read the text aloud and then asked some questions on it in English. I spoke in German for 5 mins, I was asked about some work experience I'd done. Then I was asked a variety of questions on films I'd watched and read and themes/techniques in them etc. In each of the interviews there were 2 fellows, although in one, only one of them spoke my language, so the other remained quite silent!

Both my interviews were challenging but that's not necessarily a bad thing as they obviously think you're good enough to be able to be stretched. I took time answering my questions and sometimes changed my mind on things after consideration or input from my interviewers. I definitely got a few things wrong when it came to discussing the text we were given 20 mins before. For example, I was asked what I thought one piece of vocab meant and I didn't know so said this and then articulated my thought process using context to make a guess. Some of the time I thought I was scraping the barrel answering the previous question and then they asked another on the same topic!

Make sure you're knowledgeable about everything you mention on your personal statement, whatever it is. Even if you haven't read/watched all of it, make sure you have something to say/link it to. I only spoke for 5 out of 20 mins in the foreign language, either discussing/analysing the text or chatting about my work experience and previous trips to Germany. They're not looking for perfection, just show that you can keep talking and answer their questions with relevant information. Try and be as grammaticaly sound as possible (go back and correct yourself if you realise) but don't be so afraid to make an error that you don't speak! I got quite a few literature based questions on how literary works can be displayed (opera, films, books, poetry) as had mentioned a film, book and opera performance on my personal statement. Quite a bit too on my own interests and things I'd done outside A-Level. I thought I'd probably enjoy linguistics more so had read an article or two on the influence of English on these languages for exmaple.

I did two mock interviews through school (not specifically Oxbridge ones) but they helped me to articulate some of my thoughts, think of how I could show off what I'd done without rambling on and also they came up with questions I hadn't thought of. In my head I'd practise answering questions on my way to school! Reading the course content on the website helped me to get excited about what was on offer and display my enthusiasm. I managed to get some work experience (even just 1 or 2 weeks) abroad in the summer which was good to talk about. Watching films was a great way of experiencing literature in the target language as reading is very daunting, time consuming and challenging. If you're interested in politics/history/thought you could select a film accordingly. You don't need to full on study the films but you could apply some analytical techniques from A-Level. Radio snippets or articles from foreign newspapers (le Monde, die Zeit, deutsche Welle). I did the MML masterclass taster day thing in Feb [Editor's Note: different colleges offer these - have a look at resources page/college websites]. Contacting previous students is also a great thing to do. I spoke to my GCSE English teacher with regards to the analysis of English on the test as just wanted to be reassured, having not done A Level English.

Doesn't matter at all what you wear to interview. Smile and show you're interested. Within reason steer questions/your answers to examples or topics you know lots about or really enjoy.