Chemistry @ St Anne's, Oxford in 2019

Interview format

4 x 20-30 min interviews

Interview content

All of my interviews focused purely on my subject (i.e. not my personal statement) with one being maths/physical, one organic, and one inorganic.

Best preparation

Revising A-Level content and a mock interview

Test preparation

Practice papers for the TSA, a lot of the test is common sense so cant

Final thoughts

Talk through what you are thinking even if you are worried it is wrong

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: Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA)
Number of interviews: 4
Time between interviews: I stayed for 3 night, two interviews on the first full day one the next and one the day after at another college.
Length of interviews: 20-30 mins
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

There were two tutors in each of my interview who introduced themselves at the start and then did roughly half the interview each. All of my interviews focused purely on my subject (i.e. not my personal statement) with one being maths/physical, one organic, and one inorganic. Generally, the tutors tried to relax me as much as possible to allow me to show my knowledge on the subject. When I got things wrong or became stuck they gave me a little hint which usually helped and if it didn't they gave me another.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

Just general revision and knowing everything I had covered so far at A-level as well as looking for ways the A level content could be taken further. I also was lucky enough to have a practice interview put on by my college which really helped show me what to expect and that if I just forgot about being in an interview and focused on my subject it would be okay.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Mainly just used practice papers for the TSA, a lot of the test is common sense so cant be prepared for.

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Talk through what you are thinking even if you are worried it is wrong, because the interviewers need to know what you are thinking so they can try and help point you in the right direction. There is no shame in getting anything wrong - you're expected to! But don't worry about taking a couple of seconds of silence or a sip of water immediately after the question just to organise your thoughts.