Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.
Interview 1: Chemistry based; Interview 2: area of science mentioned in personal statement.
Be prepared to talk about topics from your personal statement, re-cap A level material.
Re-cap GCSE material , attempt specimen papers.
Work with the interviewers and talk about your thought process!
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: Several hours.
Length of interviews: 30 minutes.
Online interview: No
In my first interview, I was asked a Chemistry related question. I was asked questions about a molecule that I should already know the answers to based upon what I learned so far. We then moved into less familiar territory and I was asked a question that I wouldn't be expected to know the answer to. When I didn't know how to get to an answer or I was confused, I was able to seek guidance from the interviewer who would walk me in the right direction. This helped me feel more comfortable going into the second interview since I had a better idea of what to expect.
My second interview was based around physiology, an area that I expressed interest in on my personal statement. I was shown a photo and had to try to explain what the problem was with the photo and potential solutions to the problem. Again, when I got confused and became
Overall, my interviews went better than I thought they would, though I still came out unsure about how well I had done. The most stressful part of the interviews probably ended up being the anticipation!
I had a look at my notes to recap the course content in preparation for being asked any questions related directly to the subjects I had taken to A-level. I also re-read my personal statement, making sure I could remember what I had talked about in case I was asked about anything I had mentioned.
I attempted specimen papers and past papers found on the Cambridge University website, using the answer keys and explained solutions (which were more useful as I was able to better see where I went wrong) to check. I also had a look over some notes from GCSE and my A-Levels so far to recap any course-related content that could come up in the non-Maths sections of the papers.
The interviewers are looking for you to work with them through a problem, they are not expecting you to get everything right so as long as you communicate with them through the interview and tell them your thought process you're doing the right thing! It will most likely be a stressful time but once it's over you'll be able to look back at it and think that it wasn't as bad as you thought it was going to be!