Philosophy @ Gonville & Caius, Cambridge in 2016

Interview format

At-interview logic test; 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement, mathematical puzzle; Interview 2: logic puzzle

Best preparation

Looked up secondary literature on philosophical books

Final thoughts

Prepare to talk about what you've put on your personal statement

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: At-interview logic test
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 20 minutues
Length of interviews: 25 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

My first interview was based around my personal statement but the interviewer pushed me to consider new things. It ended on giving me a mathematical puzzle about something I had read something about and put in my personal statement. I really enjoyed the first one, the interviewer was friendly and the room was bright and relaxed.

My second interview seemed a bit odd. In hindsight, now know the puzzle I was given was logic related but I left very confused and unsure of how it went. Still, the interviewer was very friendly and created a relaxed environment.

How did you prepare?

For the at-interview assessment, TSA past papers are useful. The logic section used similar skills to this.

For the interview itself, I read quite a lot of books and took the time to reflect on them and think about what I thought. I used to imagine what questions the interviewer might ask. To help with this I would also look up secondary literature on whatever I had read. For example, I wouldn't just read Descartes 'Meditations', I would also look at articles online or even just discussions on Quora to see how people respond to the text and the issues it engages with. I also went to a series of lectures at the Institute of Philosophy in London but that went straight over my head honestly and probably wasn't worth the time.

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

The interviewers want to see your thought process so ask questions, talk through what you're thinking about and make sure you've had a think about what your thoughts are on whatever you've put in your personal statement.