2 x 30 min interviews
Questions on A level chemistry topics such as periodicity, equilibria and bonding as well as a maths problem, 3 interviewers and worked through a problem concerning a different branch of chemistry (organic, inorganic and physical) with each one
Chemistry Olympiad problems
Practice papers
Remember that the tutors just want to see how you think - they're not expecting you to have any prior knowledge beyond A level content or to necessarily get any right answers
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: Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: A few hours
Length of interviews: Around half an hour each
Online interview: No
In the first interview I had 2 interviewers and was asked questions on A level chemistry topics such as periodicity, equilibria and bonding as well as a maths problem. In the second interview, I had 3 interviewers and worked through a problem concerning a different branch of chemistry (organic, inorganic and physical) with each one. These problems branched out to more unfamiliar concepts but the interviewers were really friendly and supportive, offering bits of advice when I got stuck. I was also briefly asked about a topic on my personal statement at the end of that interview.
The most useful thing I did was probably past Chemistry Olympiad problems as these helped to develop my problem solving skills. Sometimes I tried to talk through my thoughts out loud as I was doing them to practice for the interview. I also practiced talking about different parts of my personal statement from memory, however this was less useful for my actual interviews as my personal statement wasn't a huge part of either of them.
Doing the practice papers
Try to enjoy the interviews as they are sort of a sample of what it's like being taught by tutors at your college. Remember that the tutors just want to see how you think - they're not expecting you to have any prior knowledge beyond A level content or to necessarily get any right answers. With chemistry in particular, it might be worth revising a bit of maths as well as chemistry as there was some maths in both of my interviews, which I wasn't completely expecting.