After breakfast we got ready and waited in the JCR for our interviews. The students there were available to show us the way to the interview rooms. I had two interviews: a Chemistry/Physics one and a Maths/Physics one. Both had two interviewers.

In the Chem/Physics interview I was asked to solve a mechanics problem and one related to electric charges. I thought both of these were pretty standard A level (CIE) questions. I was then asked to compare two different fuels. I was really nervousduring this interview and managed to get quite a few elements of this wrong.

I walked into the second interview convinced that I wasn’t getting into Cambridge so I was pretty relaxed. Here I was guided through a pretty lengthy statistics problem which used some calculus I hadn't seen before. I was then asked some questions about simple harmonic motion. This also extended beyond the regular A level questions. Since I was relaxed during this interview it went really well!

I contacted an ex-studentfrom my school who was at Cambridge. He set me up with the Islamic Society who were conducting mock interviews. I found this interview to be really helpful and it gave me a good idea of what was to come.

It’s easier said than done but it helps a lot to be relaxed! If you’re nervous you can’t think properly and all the interviewers want to see is how you think. I’m not sure if the number of interviews is subject-specific or college-specific but I would say it really helps to have more than one interview so that even if you mess up one you can still ace the other one.