Natural Sciences (Physical) @ St Catharine's, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment; 2x interviews.

Interview content

Problem-solving questions which were not personal statement related.

Best preparation

Revise your A-Level notes and use resources like 'Tell me about a banana'.

Test preparation

Practice papers.

Final thoughts

Have topics of interest in mind which you can comment on during the interview to demonstrate your understanding!

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: 15 minutes
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In both interviews, they had set questions they wanted me to work through that had nothing to do with my personal statement.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I had a quick flick through the book ‘Tell me about a banana’ and looked over my Year 12 notes to make sure I would not be surprised by topics I was supposed to already know well.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Make sure you have a favourite topic in mind for each area of study e.g. chemistry, so that if they do ask you what your favourite topic is you can answer with a topic you are prepared to be asked questions on.