2 x 20 min interviews
A practical question about a seed pod, interpreting a graph of seabirds, and looking at a phylogenetic tree. Fieldwork questions.
Mock interview and going over A-Level notes
Take more time to go over difficult subjects, arrive in the JCR in plenty of time, and talk to fellow applicants
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.
Test taken: None
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: One day
Length of interviews: About twenty minutes
Online interview: No
A practical question about a seed pod, interpreting a graph of seabirds, and looking at a phylogenetic tree. The atmosphere was encouraging, but the last question I definitely get we weren’t understanding each other and I ran out of ways to rephrase. The second interview was more based on my personal statement so more ecology, fieldwork based. It was a more comfortable topic for me but again it took a while to cycle to the right answer, but they really don’t mind that as long as you articulate your thoughts and, in the immortal words of the interviewer, “don’t touch the cactus” you will be fine. I also got lost but that doesn’t matter
I read through all the notes I’d made for A-Level biology because I was a very thorough note-taker, or I tried to. I also went over the more difficult topics twice and my school was nice enough to let me do a mock interview. I also made sure I’d read some recent news articles
Take more time to go over difficult subjects, arrive in the