Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA); 2x interviews.
Interviews: Questions on chemistry, biology, and maths/graphs.
Revise related A/AS-Level subjects; be prepared to answer questions on your personal statement.
Keep calm even if you don't get something right; be early to the interview.
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:
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: A few hours
Length of interviews: Over 20 minutes each
Online interview: No
To begin with, we spoke about where I was from/how I was doing to help settle me in.
My interviews had 4 sections (2 interviewers per interview, each asking me one question). My first question was for chemistry and I was asked to explain a diagram. In my next two questions (biology-based), I was given objects (I obviously can't say what they were) and was asked to explain what they were/why I thought that/how they functioned. My final one was maths based and I was asked to draw a graph of what I would expect from the results of a specified scenario.
The interviews developed from my answers to these questions. Don't worry about getting things wrong, I got something very wrong in my maths one, but then, with more information, I eventually got to the answer and that's what they're looking for - your ability to think and develop ideas. They don’t expect you to get everything right. They want to see that you're teachable.
Don't overthink it; it's ok to be worried, but don't let the
The knowledge in the
For the interview, make sure you're prepared to answer questions from information on your personal statements - e.g.: what did you think about a book you included in your personal statement.
Keep calm, remember you don't have to get everything right; the interviewers are looking for your ability to think and understand information, they don't expect you to know everything. That said, make sure you understand the content you've covered in your A Levels/equivalent, they may ask you content on this too.
Be early to the interview, there's nothing worse than rushing last minute when you’re already stressed.
Relax, these interviews are meant to mimic