Natural Sciences (Physical) @ Jesus, Cambridge in 2019

Interview format

NSAA; 2x interviews.

Interview content

Interview 1: physics, chemistry and maths problems; Interview 2: problem solving questions

Best preparation

Practised Olympiad questions

Test preparation

Practice papers under timed conditions

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?

Talked about physics, chemistry and maths problems - interviewer went through questions with me helping if I got stuck. They didn't talk about my personal statement though others did get asked about it. The atmosphere was relaxed but I was very nervous to start with. As the interview went on I relaxed into it.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

Recapping my Year 12 work and doing questions from Olympiads and the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge. 

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Doing practice papers under timed conditions, and also trying to do school work faster to get used to working at a faster rate which is needed in the NSAA.