Biology @ Keble, Oxford in 2020

Interview format

2x interviews

Interview content

Asked a set of questions that led to a bigger conclusion

Best preparation

Mock interviews, personal statement mind map

Final thoughts

It's not a test of your knowledge

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: None
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: I think they were a day apart?
Length of interviews: Approximately 20 mins I think
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Each interviewer took turns to ask a set of questions that led to a bigger conclusion, which started off easy and ended up with something that really stretched me. For my first interview, it tended to be about my personal statement a little, and then some really tricky questions from the interviewers. One of them was really blunt and scary, one was really positive and helpful, and one was somewhere in between. The final question I completely blanked out and forgot what an *enzyme* was, so thought I had completely bombed the interview and cried afterwards. I got an offer from them. My second interview contained some tricky questions, but also contained a few questions where I was given data, and had to comprehend it and then give a hypothesis or explain the results, or pick apart the experiment, suggesting improvements. I also was asked to design an alternative experiment. This felt easier and less scary.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I had done two or three practice interviews with school staff, which had raised with me the parts of my personal statement that I had forgotten about, or what I wanted to get in, etc. I ended up becoming very familiar with my personal statement, and mind-mapped which questions may arise relating to it, and then also studied each interviewer (I was told them when I was told I would have an interview, a few days before). From studying the interviewers, I looked at what they specialised in and tried to predict what I would be asked, and I ended up getting one or two questions relating to their subjects, which thankfully I had read up on a little. I didn't learn anything new, just revised what I already knew.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Expect it to feel like you have failed. Every peer I've spoken to who got in has said that they thought they hadn't. It shows you care enough to have got in. Also, they aren't looking for what you know, but whether you fit the Oxbridge mould, and whether the style of learning they offer fits you - the interview is essentially a tutorial session, so they want to see if you handle the session well and can put together knowledge to come to the right conclusions. It's not a test of your knowledge. They want to understand your logical processes