Natural Sciences (Biological) @ Pembroke, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.

Interview content

Interview 1: examining a graph, maths questions; Interview 2: personal statement, general Biological concepts.

Best preparation

Make sure you're confident in basic Maths skills and re-read your personal statement.

Final thoughts

Practise thinking out loud by having discussions with your family and/or friends.

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: 1 hour
Length of interviews: 20 minutes 
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The first was discussing a graph and a couple of maths questions. I didn't feel massively comfortable with how I answered, I thought it went really badly!

The second was discussing my personal statement and a couple of general biology concepts and went better than the first - the academic was very friendly and I felt more relaxed.

How did you prepare?

I didn't do much preparation, apart from read my personal statement and think of a couple of things extra to say about it. I would definitely revise some basic maths next time, such as converting units, as I freaked out a bit and even that seemed hard!

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

Definitely try and get a couple of practice interviews, or even have a discussion with your family, just try and pretend it's the real thing.