European And Middle Eastern Languages @ The Queen's, Oxford in 2016

Interview format

MLAT and OLAT; 5x interviews.

Interview content

Responses to sources; discussions about academics and goals. No language knowledge required.

Best preparation

Read some books and knew the basics.

Final thoughts

Be yourself; think out loud.

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: Modern Languages Admissions Test (MLAT), Oriental Languages Aptitude Test (OLAT)
Number of interviews: 5
Time between interviews: Hours
Length of interviews: Half an hour
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Many interviews were about seeing what your response was to literature or historical information, if you could come up with ideas about them. I didn’t need to speak in any of the languages I was applying for. The other discussions were about me and my goals, and why I wanted to study this subject, for example. 

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I read some books about the subject and made sure I knew some basics, but I didn’t really have access to anything else. 

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Practiced past papers

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Know yourself and your motivations, being able to explain why you wanted to do something and why it interests you is important. Thinking of ideas on the spot was important, don’t be afraid to throw out more interesting and less run-of-the-mill answers