Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews
Interview 1: discussion of pre-prepared topic, Chemistry question, maths questions; Interview 2: short biology questions
Research around topics in your personal statement
Show passion, listen to hints given and ask questions
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: 2 hours
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No
For my first interview I had chosen a question topic in advance. Both of my interviewers welcomed me, and then started with an open question about what I had researched about that topic. This was quite a daunting start, as the question was so open ended. They then asked a chemistry question related to the topic. I was then handed two fairly easy AS level maths questions to solve; I made quite a few silly errors but the interviewers were very kind pointing out where I had made mistakes, obviously aware that this was due to my nerves.
For my second interview I also had two interviewers, who asked me lots of shorter length Biology questions. The first interviewer asking questions had a strong accent that made him hard to understand and his hints were not explained very well. The second interviewer was a lot easier to understand and used a white board to explain his questions with diagrams.
By the time of the second interview, it was dark outside and the room looked out onto a fairground, which was quite distracting. Overall my interviews were friendly and the environments were very pleasant and cosy.
For the Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA), I did practice papers, and revised GCSE/A-Level content.
In preparation for my interview, I researched around topics that I had discussed in my personal statement e.g. wider reading. I looked up mock interviews on youtube.
My school arranged for me to have a
I didn’t really have high expectations going in. I would say interviewers are looking for passion in your subject, and a learning style that matches Cambridge - taking hints, asking questions and not being afraid to be wrong.