Natural Sciences (Biological) @ Selwyn, Cambridge in 2021

Interview format

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA), 3x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: brief 'get to know you' chat; Interviews 2 and 3: extended questions covering a range of biological topics

Best preparation

Getting advice from a teacher

Test preparation

Isaac Physics questions and past paper resources

Final thoughts

See it as an opportunity to have a conversation with a specialist in an academic area you’re really interested in

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: 3
Time between interviews: c.3 hours 
Length of interviews: 10 minute “get to know you” interview, then two 50-minute subject-specific interviews each separated into two parts run by different people.
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

My “get to know you” interview became remarkably biological, but since arriving here it sounds like that was just me - some of my friends just had chats about fiction books they enjoy!

I was much more intimidated by my academic interviews, which were four extended questions distributed between two interviews, intentionally covering a range of biological topics. There was physiology, biotechnology, and ecology covered. I had tried to read up on what all of my interviewers specialised in; while their questions were of the broad theme I expected, it wasn’t actually as specialised to their areas of expertise as I had expected. Even in biology, it was set up for problem-solving, and when I blanked several times and had to ask for questions to be repeated they were very nice about it!

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I found the one Oxbridge graduate teacher at my school and reached out via email to ask for a meeting. As he graduated a good 20 years ago, he was cautious with any advice, but I still found it reassuring to hear about what to expect from Oxbridge in general (I say Oxbridge because he was from Oxford, but I applied to Cambridge)

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

I was lucky to be able to afford a tutor, which was extremely helpful as she taught me a lot of physiology which had been covered at that point in the A-level syllabus, but the IB hadn’t taught me yet. I want to say I had about 8 sessions, once a week in the run-up to the test. Isaac Physics (for maths) and past paper resources were the main practice I got.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Regardless of if you get in, the interview is an opportunity to have a conversation with a specialist in an academic area you’re really interested in. Humanise them and engage with them as people - that in itself is a remarkable opportunity!