Natural Sciences (Physical) @ Churchill, Cambridge in 2018

Interview format

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment; 1x interview.

Interview content

Problems that involved chemistry, physics/mechanics, and math.

Best preparation

Watching Cambridge's example interview (YouTube), revising maths and physics.

Final thoughts

Focus on problem-solving, not fact memorisation, during interview prep. Take the interview seriously but don't get too stressed.

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: 1
Length of interviews: About 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

It was basically a mini supervision.

The first few minutes were explanations of who my interviewers were and what to expect, and then they just gave me science questions. It started of with a list of maths questions. I got to pick one, and then one was assigned to me. The chemistry interviewer then asked me to explain a concept, after which I had to solve a problem using that concept.

Lastly, I got a mechanics question, with a lot of maths focus for the physics part. Worth noting is that I chose the chemistry questions in the pre-interview test, which is likely why I got chemistry questions when others didn't (I think, based on nothing but asking people around me).

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I watched the Cambridge YouTube channel's example interview to know what to expect, and I really tried to revise all of my maths and physics so that it would be fresh in my mind.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Revising the notes from my IB courses, and doing a few practice papers. But I didn't feel like I had prepared enough...

What advice would you give to future applicants?

I really didn't think I'd get in, so I didn't spend a lot of time preparing. This meant that I felt a bit panicky when the day of my interview arrived. So, take it seriously, and actually believe it will happen!

But I do think it was an advantage that I wasn't as stressed, so get some sort of middle ground.

Also, focus on problem solving and not facts when preparing.