Natural Sciences (Physical) @ Pembroke, Cambridge in 2022

Interview format

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA); 1x interview

Interview content

Questions about personal statement, then questions on Chemistry and Physics.

Best preparation

Practice interview, Youtube videos, practice questions, going over personal statement

Test preparation

Practice questions, timed practice

Final thoughts

Keep talking through your thinking, and make sure that if you are given a hint, you use it and move forward

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: 40 minutes
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

My interview started with questions about something I had written in my personal statement, which I was a bit unprepared for! I made sure to say things that I was thinking of, rather than not saying anything, which I think is more important - it definitely wasn't about knowing all the answers but being able to keep going and seeing your thinking process. This definitely depends on the interviewer/what you wrote in your personal statement, as friends applying for the same subject weren't asked anything about theirs. I wasn't asked why I wanted to study the subject, but that may be useful to think of a quick answer to, as it's easy to go blank in the actual interview.

We then had some questions on Chemistry which I honestly could hardly answer despite the fact that I don't think they were that hard. Then a different interviewer asked some questions about Physics - fairly basic mechanics, and I spent the whole time thinking it was an easy question but I was answering it very slowly because I was so stressed. I would say the key thing is to keep talking aloud about what you're thinking - I thought the interview was awful and I was very surprised when I got my offer, so it definitely isn't about knowing all the answers. I think if you did, they would move straight to harder questions because they want to know how you react when you get something wrong. Other people in my college got asked questions about completely different things than I did, so it isn't a straight comparison between how well you answer the question.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

My school had a really good Head of Enrichment, who organised weekly sessions to help prepare for Oxbridge Admissions, so a lot was done for me really. I would make sure that you have watched all the videos from Cambridge that explain what happens in interviews and what they want, and also see if you can speak to anyone who has gone there recently. The main thing was my school organised a practice interview with an Oxford professor (because my school was in Oxford), which was useful. However, you are much less stressed for a practice interview than a real interview, as there isn't anything riding on how well you do, so I feel like there is a limit to how similar it can be - so don't be overconfident on the basis of a practice interview!

I think better preparation than revising notes would be to practice Olympiad questions, which would have the same style of problem-solving as there is in the interview questions. I had done the Year 12 Cambridge Chemistry Challenge. The more used you are to problem solving using your A-level knowledge rather than just recalling it, the better, as that is much more what you do during the degree. I would also make sure you understand everything that you've put in your personal statement and be prepared to answer questions on it.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practice papers from the university website, you can also do e.g. UKMT maths challenge questions which are fairly similar to the questions in the maths section of the NSAA. The main issue in the test is the time pressure, the questions are fairly easy but you have very little time to complete them, so basically all practice should be in timed conditions. I would start a bit earlier (closer to the start of the year) and then do say a paper a week or something similar, rather than trying to cram in practice in the last couple of weeks before the test.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

I would start preparing for the admissions test much earlier, as this will make it much less stressful. The NSAA is mostly about time pressure, so extra practice should make quite a big difference in how well you do. I would also practice answering questions on your personal statement, so you can start the interview with questions you are confident on, rather than ones that throw you off. Practicing problem-solving Olympiad-style questions would also be useful.

If you get stressed in interviews, you probably won't be thinking as clearly as usual, but you shouldn't panic about this. Keep talking through your thinking, and make sure that if you are given a hint, you use it and move forward through the question, rather than eg becoming defensive. Their criteria is not just the smartest possible students, but those that will work well in supervisions, so you need to be able to take feedback on board - they will want to see how you act when something is difficult for you, so don't be surprised when the questions are hard!