Test taken: TSA

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: No

Time between interviews: 1 day

Length of interviews: 20 minutes each

I wasn't asked anything about my personal statement or why I applied to Trinity in either interview. Both were focused on set questions I worked through.

Interviews were split into physical/inorganic and organic. In both interviews the tutors first introduced a concept, asked a few starter questions to get into it, and then presented me with a longer task that I worked through in front of them. If I got stuck they hinted at a method to use or if I couldn't do the question at all, encouraged me to talk through how I think it could be done and then explained the correct method after.

The tutors didn't really 'interrogate' my A-level knowledge, although they asked me where I had got up to in the content. It was much more focused on the problems given in the interview, which built on A-level content.

I did two practice papers timed to get a feel for how it works. These are available on the TSA website. Doing loads of papers won't help, and it's probably more likely to stress you out, one or two is plenty. Mock interviews really helped me I think (I had 2 with teachers at my school), but if you can't do these it might help to ask a friend to interview you on your personal statement and ask other related questions that you haven't seen before. In the end, the tutors who interviewed me were much nicer than my teachers in the mock interviews!

My best advice would be to not stress about reading a million chemistry books or being ahead of your current A-level knowledge. The tutors don't want to test how good you are at revising for your exams, they're seeing how well you adapt to a problem you've never seen before, and how you cope with not knowing the answer. The most important thing is that, even if you think what you're doing is wrong, explain it to them out loud or with diagrams! They want to know how you think through the problem logically. It doesn't matter if you end up with the wrong answer, as long as you explain how you got there.

Interviews are really scary! But the tutors all know this, and they aren't there to intimidate you or trip you up. As long as you're comfortable with your personal statement and current A-level knowledge they can talk you through any problems you can't finish.

The scariest thing about the interview process was probably the time in between. Everyone there is very smart - as expected - but please don't compare yourself to the other people you're going against. Some people are very well read, but can't tackle a problem if they haven't seen it before. The tutors are testing you for your potential to grow and learn and adapt. And at the end of a day, this is a chance to talk to leading researchers in their fields, and prove to them that you're just as interested in chemistry as they are! It's a long degree if you don't enjoy it, so show enthusiasm! I walked out of the interview with far more questions than I came in with, and even looked up a few things they'd mentioned.

They don't give an offer to people they don't think will make it all the way through. So show them your commitment and how willing you are to adapt to new situations and you'll be ok. Good luck x