I had two interviews in one day. I was met at the Plodge by a student, given a map, and taken to the bar to wait. I had to make my own way to the interview rooms, but they were clearly signposted.

The first was with a chemist, and consisted of personal and scientific questions. The second was with three biologists of different fields, who all set one biological question each. The two interviews probably lasted 30 minutes each (but my memory may be wrong there).

The first, personal and chemical interview covered a bit about my work experience and personal statement, but this was fairly minor. The chemistry questions were an extension of my syllabus, looking at acid strengths. It was new applications, but we worked through it together.

The second, biological interview worked through mostly problem solving tasks, based around my A level. I had to solve some purely logic puzzles about DNA & enzymes, without really needed to understand the biology. Several of these I was stuck on, but kept suggesting possible answers until I struck the right one, then was made to explain why. The other two were course-based, but just required me to work through a problem to find an equation relating to blood flow. I hadn’t seen this before, but was able to work it out, given several hints.

Overall, I didn’t need to enter the room with any specialist, pre-prepared knowledge. It was mostly from my syllabus, but required me to think just beyond it!

The advice I was given was to read widely and have at least 2 science-related news stories to talk about. This turned out to be useless, as all of my questions were extensions of A level problems.I simply read the part of my textbook I did longest ago, and made sure I was calm and collected before entering. The interview wasn't about what I knew, but how I thought.

Once I had made it into the uni, I realised that you don’t need to be the next Einstein. We are all passionate about our own subject, and that is enough.