History (Ancient And Modern) @ St Anne's, Oxford in 2019

Interview format

2x 20 min interviews, a day apart

Interview content

Interview 1: personal statement; Interview 2: sources and general discussion

Best preparation

Notes on personal statement's books

Final thoughts

Try to stay relaxed

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: HAT
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: A day
Length of interviews: 20 mins
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The first interview was mostly personal statement based, discussing one of the topics I had included in there. I was a bit nervous beforehand but as soon as I was talking about the subject I relaxed quite quickly.

My second interview involved looking at some sources linked to one of the topics on my personal statement, as well as a more general/theoretical discussion of my subject as a whole. I didn't feel nervous at all for this one.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I was on a gap year and on my 2nd time applying to Oxford. I had had 2 practise interviews the previous time around but nothing much this year save for some emails with teachers and rereading everything I put in my personal statement. I made some notes on the books that I had put on my statement in case they were discussed in more detail.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Looked over some of the practise papers on the oxford history website

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Prepare yourself and make sure understand what you've written on your statement, but don't get wound up guessing what they will ask as it's pretty much impossible. Having an immediate answer to every question is unlikely, so if you're struggling take a moment to think it over and stay calm. The tutors aren't trying to catch you out and asking them to repeat/rephrase a question isn't going to kill your interview. If you find it difficult, most other people will too. Staying relaxed and not getting obsessive would be my top tip.