2x 30 min interviews, over 1 day
Interview 1: maths and physics problems; Interview 2: engineering-focussed questions, general questions
Read A-level physics textbook; did past papers
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Read and watched stuff about interviews online; revised maths and physics.
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:
Number of interviews: 2
Skype interview: No
Interview spread: same day - one at 10:15 and one at 14:00
Length of interviews: 30 minutes each
The first interview was focused on maths and physics questions, mostly drawn from material I learned at school. The interview ended with a sort of extension problem, which I didn’t finish.
The second interview was engineering-focused. Various practical questions were asked, involving controls, electricity, and fluids. I was asked a question which led to a differential equation that I had not finished studying in school. When I hesitated and admitted that I hadn’t covered them yet, we moved on. We also covered some engineering societies I had been involved in, as well as my views on the future of the industry.
I read an A-level physics textbook and did lots of past papers.
I read and watched whatever I could online about interviews and revised maths and physics as I had for the
I didn’t do any formal interview prep (I was the first person from my school to get an interview). However I went to the interviews feeling I’d done enough research online to understand what interviewers were looking for.