Engineering Science @ Worcester, Oxford in 2019

Interview format

PAT, 2 interviews.

Interview content

1 maths problem, 1 physics problem, discussion about why the student liked engineering.

Best preparation

Practice interviews.

Final thoughts

Practice a few timed, don't be discouraged if you think it went badly.

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: Physics Aptitude Test (PAT)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 3 hours
Length of interviews: 30 mins or less
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

We talked for a few minutes about why I liked engineering and discussed some things I had said in my personal statement, then we worked through 1 maths and 1 physics problem together. I hadn't done all of the mechanics in A-level maths yet but the tutors helped me through anything I didn't understand.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I did a lot of practice interviews with teachers and other adults, focussing on the personal questions because they scared me more. I made notes on what I wanted to say, too.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Lots and lots of practice papers! Physics and maths tutor is a really useful website - it has worked solutions for most of the tests too

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Don't worry about the interviews! It's helpful to have a few practices before so you know what you want to say, but in the end they're not trying to find out what you have already learned, but what you have the potential to learn. Also, everyone feels like it went horribly afterwards, so don't let it discourage you.