Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA); 2x interviews
Interview 1: biology questions, mental maths; Interview 2: chemistry, organic molecules
Mock interview at Sixth Form
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Try to be confident and relaxed
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: Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Skype interview: no
Time between interviews: 5 hours
Length of first interview: 30 minutes; Length of second interview: 30 minutes
The first interview was focused on biology, not at all related to my personal statement. I was asked questions which expanded on content from A Level Biology, including questions relating to some images taken by different microscopes, as well as some mental maths. The interviewers seemed
My second interview was based on chemistry and was split into an inorganic and organic section. Once again it was expanding on A Level content about periodicity and polarity of organic molecules. The interviewers were friendly and open, so I was a lot more confident and was able to correct myself when I misunderstood the question. Initially I was very nervous before both interviews, as I had only done one
I prepared for the admissions assessment by completing the official practice papers on the Cambridge NSAA page. For the interview itself, I had one
Interview practice isn't really necessary, especially if this isn't available to you, and the interviewers don't expect any prior experience of an interview situation. I think the key is feeling confident, which will enable you to display the best of your ability in interview.