Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA); 2x interviews
Interview 1: maths problem solving questions; Interview 2: organic chemistry
Revised A Level content
Used Isaac Physics
When you are there, try not to focus on what other people are doing.
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: 4 hours
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No
At Corpus for Physical Natural Sciences, you can choose to be interviewed for Physics or Chemistry (with both there will be some maths). I chose Chemistry. It started with a personal statement question and then moved onto maths which was an extended problem solving type question. I had no idea how to get to the answer at the start, but they'll guide you through. Then for the second half of the interview it was chemical bonding and bond angles.
In the second interview it was all chemistry, this one had an estimation question (so more maths!) and was more focused on organic chemistry. In the first interview I was
I mainly revised my A Level content especially the more recent content. I spoke to my teachers and they were really nice and helped to do a
Past papers for NSAA, ENGAA and PAT (Oxford); revised A Level and GCSE content (mainly from revision guides and maths and physics tutor); Isaac Physics is really useful
Don't stress about the whole process too much, there is only so much you can do to prepare. They are not looking for encyclopaedic knowledge, just to see that you enjoy your subject and are teachable. If you enjoy learning about your subject, you're 90% of the way already. When you are there, try not to focus on what other people are doing when you get there - I has lunch with some other people being interviewed for my course and I thought they seemed so much smarter and doing things that were much more difficult or complex than the things I knew. And after its all done, try not too overthink everything too much, you'll probably wake up one day and think of something you could have said but you can't change anything after the interview is done!