No admissions test, 3x interviews
Interview 1: Archaeology-based questioning, Discussion of an ancient piece of art; Interview 2: History-based questioning, Discussion of ancient religion and inscriptions; Interview 3: Archaeology- and history-based, Discussion of an ancient text and jewellery
Went over personal statement and notes
N/A (no admissions test taken)
Listen very carefully to the feedback of the tutors
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: None
Number of interviews: 3
Time between interviews: 3 hours
Length of interviews: 30-40 minutes
Online interview: No
My first interview was archaeology-based. I had 10 minutes to look at an image of a wall painting. We discussed what the image was meant to represent (is it mythology? If yes, what myth? If not, what else could it represent?), where it could have been and what its function in the room would have been (Roman aristocracy and society), where the house would be. I said it was probably mythology but did not recognise the scene - the wall painting was very difficult to see. They gave me a photo of a drawing someone did in the 19th century, and it was clear the image was only a small panel on a big wall (we discussed its relation to the other images). I would like to stress that I never figured out the mythological story: this wasn’t a problem.
My second interview was history-based and I had to read inscriptions: We discussed religion in Ancient Greece and then a few questions on my personal statement.
My third was archaeology and history. I read a text from an ancient historian praising a Roman emperor. We discussed the figure of the Roman emperor and its relation to the army. After, they showed me photos and copies of some jewellery and we discussed them.
I revised everything I had written in my personal statement. I reread notes I had on the books I mentioned (in my case one history book about Alexander the Great and another one on women in Greek Comedy), and notes I had taken on online courses I had talked about (again, one about Alexander the Great and one on osteoarchaeology) to make sure I felt comfortable talking about anything on my personal statement.
I also thought about what I would answer to questions such as “Why Oxford?”, “Why CAAH?” etc.
n/a
It does not matter if you don’t know the answer: just use your previous knowledge and think through the question out loud. They are interested in how you think.
Also, listen very carefully to the feedback of the tutors: you need to be able to defend your ideas, but if the tutor gives you a piece of information that genuinely changes your mind, acknowledge that and explain why. They want someone who is teachable as well.