Geography @ Brasenose, Oxford in 2021

Interview format

Thinking Skills Assessment, 2x interviews

Interview content

Questions focussed on discussion and demonstrating passion for the subject

Best preparation

Completed practice interviews

Test preparation

Completed past papers

Final thoughts

Break down problems into their constituent parts

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: Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 3 hours
Length of interviews: 40 minutes
Online interview: Yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Image stimulus, and then your response with interview questions then tailored based on what you said. I was sweating buckets all the way through, but was kinda thrilled to be in them. I just wore a hoodie by the way - they genuinely don't care what you wear. 

Oh, and I disagreed with them sometimes, I think disagreeing or like saying your opinion is fine, even if it's wrong because then you at least get to have a conversation about it.

There was no mention of personal statements, nor did they ask "why did you apply here", it was very much about seeing how a tutorial could work with them, and seeing if you had a passion for your subject.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

It was largely just two practice interviews given by my college

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

All the past papers available online

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Break down problems into their constituent parts. If they give you a hard question they're not necessarily expecting a right answer, just an approach to what would be an answer - they want to see your method. Don't feel like you have to ask a question at the end either. Also don't forget to smile - that can't hurt your chances.