Natural Sciences (Biological) @ Robinson, Cambridge in 2016

Interview format

2x interviews (45 mins); 2x test

Interview content

Variety of biology subjects, including graph interpretation. Felt quite rough after!

Best preparation

Textbooks, websites, mock interview

Final thoughts

Pre-interview assessment potentially doesn't make too much difference

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

Before the interview, I took two NatSci (Natural Sciences) testsat my 6th Form before the interview. I had two interviews that each lasted 45 minutes and each had two inteviewers. The first interview was based on a paragraph I had to read, while the second only consisted of questions during the interview. Both interviews were subject related.

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Questions touched on a variety of subjects for example animal skeletons and bee genetics. I was then asked to interpret a graph about haemoglobin and derive an equation that was related to cell division. At the time it was stressful. Sometimes it felt quite rough and at other points alright. I remember feeling pretty bad directly after.

How did you prepare?

Textbooks, websites, [Editor's Note: see our Biological Natural Science page for some useful resources] help from teachers and practice interviews, reread my personal statement.

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

My year was the first year they introduced the pre interview assessment so they probably didn't look into it too much. I blanked an entire portion due to lack of time.