2x interviews (20 mins)
1st: graph sketching, calculation; 2nd: chemistry focus, pre-reading
Graph sketching, reading personal statement, books & online resources
Don't rush, and don't worry if you don't know everything!
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.
Interviews were I think about 20 minutes long, with 15 minutes to read before the chemistry one. I had one chemistry interview, and one more general science interview, plus the
In the general science interview, we started with a graph sketching question, which went fine. They then asked a calculations question which was interesting but I wasn't sure how to tackle. I told them what I was thinking (which was garbage) and they redirected me. They then stopped me before actually calculating anything. At one point I made a ridiculous guess but they didn't seem too fussed, they just corrected me. They also told me the method when the one I was trying was too hard.
After that, I can't remember what happened - I'd accidentally lost a piece of the biro they gave me, and spent all the interview trying to find it on the floor without being obvious. Oh, and I had one integration question, which I tried to rush through, so forgot how to do even though I'd done similar ones before.
In the chemistry specific interview, we discussed the reading, which involved some chemical trends. I was asked about a few pages from about a 4 page booklet, which had some trends and data for different things which we were supposed to rationalise. They then showed me a model and asked a few questions about it.
Graph sketching is a really good one to practise. I did loads of reading for my personal statement, so was revising everything beforehand, but none of it came up. I think the chemistry challenge questions and physics challenge are good to practise thinking about things you aren't used to. I took the xkcd book, "What if?", up to Cambridge with me to read before the interview to calm me down. I don't think it really helped, but I like to think that all of what the book tackles are like the toughest interview questions, but with cartoons. The blog is free and a fun read.
Don't rush, keep asking questions, don't be embarrassed! They aren't selecting by who has memorised the periodic table, whether your