Classics @ Merton, Oxford in 2016

Interview format

3 x <1 hour interviews, CAT

Interview content

Unseen source analysis, logic problems; Latin and Greek texts with translations and an ancient coin

Best preparation

Went over personal statement and submitted essays, JACT

Test preparation

Quizlet Latin vocab

Final thoughts

My tips would be to say whatever you’re thinking, even if it sounds wrong - you may be right and the tutors will try to help you piece together your thoughts!

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: Classics Admissions Test (CAT)
Number of interviews: 3
Time between interviews: 1-2 days
Length of interviews: Less than an hour
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I had one interview on “Philosophy and Ancient History” which required me to do a bit of unseen source analysis in the first ten minutes, then some logic problems in the second ten minutes. I found the logic problems mind-bendingly difficult and very stressful but I just stuck at it and got through about one and a half of the three questions on the page! I had another interview at St Benet's College, as it happened. I was given some Latin and Greek texts, with translations (one Latin poetry, the other Greek prose) and pictures of two sides of an ancient coin, with half an hour to examine them before my interview started. 

How did you prepare for your interviews?

My main interview ended up being based around my personal statement, which contained references to my reading around my subject - such as a presentation I had done in school on Medusa and mythology, or a module I’d found particularly interesting in Sixth Form. As I had never done Greek before, but I knew the course I was applying for would have me studying Ancient Greek language and literature, I skim-read the Odyssey and I went to a Greek Beginners Course called JACT the summer before my interview. My advice would be to read up on something that interests you about your chosen course of study, using e.g. JSTOR or Google Scholar for articles online. For Classics they also asked me to submit two essays before the interview process - I took these with me to Oxford for the interviews and made sure I was familiar with my points.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

I spent the whole of half term in October on Quizlet trying to memorise 2000 words of Latin because I was so worried. I nearly burned out but it went okay in the end. I found out I was in the second quartile of applicants - so better than average I but not by any means the top results - so it was reassuring that they considered the other parts of my application as well!

What advice would you give to future applicants?

My tips would be to say whatever you’re thinking, even if it sounds wrong - you may be right and the tutors will try to help you piece together your thoughts!