Natural Sciences (Biological) @ Magdalene, Cambridge in 2010

Interview format

2x interviews; 1x test

Interview content

Chemistry: personal statement & chemistry topic; Biology: described reading & then bio topics

Best preparation

Research on tests; mock interviews

Final thoughts

Think out loud - they want to find people that are teachable

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

Traveled from Kent, on site-accommodation was offered the night before. Students were on hand to help. First day early morning: supervised classroom test. Maths part and essay. I left no stone unturned to find out as much about the test, past questions etc. as I could and thought about how I would answer these questions. Choice of three essays and the one I answered was a variation of one I've seen before - so do your research.

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

2 interviews with 2 interviewers each. Chemistry: asked about personal statement and worked through an organic synthesis mechanism I have not seen before. It was obviously not a test of knowledge but of thinking.

Biology interview was great fun. They first described who they are what they do, then asked the same about me. This set a very conversational tone. They asked me to describe something I've read recently and had a discussion about that. Next we had a picture round type problem in the general field of evolution. The questions built on each other and was basically a puzzle to work out. Involved topics of natural selection, reproduction, etc.

How did you prepare?

Read EVERYTHING I could find about the interviews and tests. Tried to answer them all. Had a school mock interview, paid company mock interview, mock interview with parents (not subject specialists and only 1 went to uni but they were more than qualified to ask why I wanted to do NatSci and why Cambridge, discuss personal statement, etc.)

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

Just be normal, this is not magic. They are normal people looking to see how you do in small group tuition. Take your time, think aloud and be engaging.