Biomedical Sciences @ St Edmund Hall, Oxford in 2016

Interview format

4x 20-30 min interviews; same day

Interview content

Questions on experiments; personal statement; diagrams

Best preparation

Free online resources

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

Be calm and confident; engage with the interviewers.

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: BMAT

Number of interviews: 4

Skype interview: No

Interview spread: all in one day

Length of interview: 20-30 minutes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I interviewed at two different colleges, which had really different vibes. My first two were at St Hilda's, and felt more relaxed, they just asked me some problem questions that were mainly experimentally based.

My second two were at St Edmund Hall, which felt somewhat more formal (ie. interviewers were wearing suits rather than T shirts), so felt a bit more daunting. These two interviews both had one personal statement question, and some other questions based on diagrams that I was given during the interview.

How did you prepare?

I used some online resources that I found available.They have basically published a free online book that covers all the info on the test so I just looked over it, to see what holes I had in my knowledge

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

I did not prepare at all for my interviews, which for me was best as I really feel there would not have been a proper way to prepare for these interviews. It is really true they just want to see how you think; I got quite a basic biology question wrong multiple times in my biomedical interviews and I still got a place, so it is really not about how much you "know".

I think they are just looking for people who can think on their feet and engage with them, so being as calm and confident (but not cocky) really would have helped me a bit more.