Test taken: Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA)
Number of interviews: 2
Online interview: yes

I'd say it is quite easy with geography to work out which interview will focus more on physical and which will focus more on human by looking up your interviewers online and their specialisms. Of course there is nuance, and in physical you can direct it to human if you decide to but as a general rule this is what I did. Most of my interviews were actually centred around me interpreting a graph or an image that the tutor would show me. Sometimes they would ask specific questions about it but most often it was something like "explain the trend" or "what could be the problems associated with this photo" or simply "describe this image".

I was a bit shocked (and honestly upset) whenever there would be silence after one of my answers, but please do not panic! Something I quickly realised was that this doesn't mean your answer was wrong, they are just trying to test how much you will ramble before you start saying irrelevant things - it is much better to finish your answer and say something like "so that is what I think" than to keep going down a bit of a rabbit hole!

Another thing that I honestly think worked for me (but you have to be careful!) was challenging the tutor if you genuinely believe you have a different stance. For example, in my human geography interview, I was asked to provide a different answer to a question I was asked but I said that actually, I think my answer was important not to ignore as it is a useful point of view for these reasons etc... and then I continued to provide another answer after this. This shows that you are engaged with the discussion and they don't necessarily want people who are going to agree with their views all the time as tutorials would otherwise be boring! Show that you understand their point of view but have your own as well.

To prepare for my interview I watched lots of YouTube videos about current environmental issues. I found that I was quite unsure about some key concepts in geography so this really helped with that. I also took time to read through an atlas the night before (I recommend doing this regularly in the weeks before) as it included maps that showed sets of data and I tried talking aloud and describing the patterns I saw. I made an A4 sheet of notes on each of the books I put in my personal statement and highlighted the things I really wanted to show off with if I got asked about them at interview. In my personal statement, I had also spoken about some interviews I took part in and some super-curricular activities in school (like helping with the sustainability of the school's catering arrangements) so I spoke aloud to myself about everything I could remember about them and found interesting and why I did them etc. In terms of immediate (and emotional) preparation, I found that setting aside an hour before the interview to just relax - or at least try to by watching television or YouTube unrelated to my subject.

Jesus College Oxford YouTube channel was my first go-to. Then I based some essay plan frames around the structure he suggested for paragraphing and chose issues I had seen in the news in the previous year and planned as many as I could. For section one, I mainly just did practice papers.

If I could give any piece of advice I would definitely say please do not be scared of making mistakes! They all know you are nervous and might stumble on your words etc so this is completely normal. They also aren't looking for perfection - if someone was perfect at their subject what would be the point in teaching them? They are looking for people who can challenge ideas every now and then but also can adapt to feedback and accept where they may have been wrong - in other words, they want someone who can engage in a discussion about their passion with them. I cried after my first interview and I was so convinced that I hadn't got in. This therefore leads me to another bit of advice. Please try not to overthink afterwards. Easier said than done, I know. But, something you may think was bad could have been something they loved or saw as a great opportunity to help you develop. Best of luck! :)