Natural Sciences (Physical) @ Churchill, Cambridge in 2017

Interview format

NSAA; 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: Subject questions; Interview 2: Subject questions.

Best preparation

Practice papers and support from teachers.

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

Don't worry about stupid mistakes.

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

Test taken: Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA)

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: No

Time between interviews: They were on the same day

Length of first interview: 10 minutes; Length of second interview: 10 minutes (this is maybe an underestimation!)

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Nothing was discussed outside of two chemistry questions within each interview, there were 4 questions in total. There was a biologically orientated one and a more thermodynamics one, the remaining two were pure chemistry. As far as I'm concerned they didn't even read my personal statement! I obviously felt nervous about it, but I think you relax into it - just be vocal about what you're thinking!

How did you prepare?

I used both practice papers! My teachers gave me a practice interview at school, they were very helpful with all aspects of applying! I'm dyslexic and struggle to write more than a sentence on anything, so it was really useful to have a teacher to help out with the personal statement and arranging ideas. Apparently the NSAA barely counts for anything as well so just do your best.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

I was terrified that I would have had to have done gold DofE and run the country for three months, volunteered in a hospital and done 20 GCSEs, but it turns out they don't care about ANYTHING that isn't 'how good at science you are' and how passionate you are about it. Don't stress about the interview - if you found it hard, there's a high chance it's because they saw potential and gave harder questions. Don't worry about stupid mistakes, they're very lenient! I pointed at something on a diagram and asked 'what's that?', tried to draw a 3D graph and barely even started a question before time ran out.