Natural Sciences (Biological) @ Emmanuel, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA); 2x interviews.

Interview content

Interviews: questions about personal statement or subject-related topics.

Best preparation

Doing past papers and revising schoolwork.

Final thoughts

Remain calm and try to enjoy the interview; remember your interviewers are human too.

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.

Interview Format

Test taken: Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: They were in the same morning, an hour or two apart
Length of interviews: Half an hour, roughly.
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I arrived into the room for both interviews and was made to feel comfortable. They didn't ask me any 'ease in' questions like 'where did you come from?', it was quite quickly down to the interview. 

Generally it was two people in the room with me, and one would ask a minimal question about my personal statement or a topic I was asked to select in advance. Then, either the questions flowed from that point, much like a discussion, or the other person would ask, what I found to be, a harder question.

It was a relatively relaxed interview. I was of course stressed but felt largely comfortable and even managed to have a laugh a few times. The questions were of course a challenge but it wasn't meant to be exceptionally difficult and I was encouraged to ask questions and speak my thoughts. It was almost a group effort to get the answers (at least that's how it felt). It is a cliche but I really did enjoy it so don't let interviews put you off applying!

How did you prepare?

I had a look through the past papers available and did them where possible. More than that I just focused on my school work and made sure the stuff on the past papers wasn't too far beyond me. My plan was to just stay positive with it and not be scared of the format.

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

Just try to remain calm. It's really hard to not get stressed but the process isn't meant to assess your intelligence or your ability, it is more to try and get a sense of how you think and if the Cambridge environment is right for you.  That has no real bearing on you as a person.  Furthermore, the interviews are conversations with amazing people with similar interests and if you can focus on that and how exciting that is then it can be more enjoyable.

It is also worth mentioning that in terms of preparation it is good to look up your interviewers and have some sense of what you are going into. It tends to humanise them and that makes you feel much better.

The best piece of advice is to just try and enjoy it and if you can do that then you're thinking and working through the questions and enjoying them. That is the most important thing.