No admissions test, 2x interviews
Interview 1: Questions on personal statement and supporting work; Interview 2: Blind reaction to art pieces
Printed and annotated personal statement and submitted work
N/A (no admissions test taken)
Make sure you eat something before the interview!
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: None
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: <5 minutes
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: Yes
So my interviews were split up into Interview 1: personal statement and discussing supporting work, and Interview 2: blind reaction to random art pieces they have chosen. I had 4 different tutors, 2 in each interview.
They talked A LOT about my personal statement, but I know that it differs between interviewers, as some other successful applicants have said they weren't asked anything at all about theirs. My personal statement discussed 3 different subjects, as I was applying to a variety of degrees on UCAS, so they tried to ask questions that bridged all the subjects together.
At first I was really tense, because I was sitting across (on a screen) from very knowledgeable experts in their field, and I was terrified I was answering the questions wrong, especially because I had never studied Art History before. But as time progressed, I eased into it, and I did tell them I didn't know the answers to some of their out-of-the-left-field questions, to that they encouraged me to think out loud about my opinion.
The overall energy of the interviews was quite laid back, and felt like an open discussion, rather than an interrogation I was anxiously preparing for. At the end of the day, Oxbridge are not purely looking for freakishly smart experts in the subject, they are also looking for someone who is enthusiastic about the content, and excited to learn more.
I scoured the internet trying to find model interviews for History of Art, but couldn't find any. The best best best thing I did was
This differs with every subject and what they required you to provide in your application, but for me, I also printed out my personal statement, my supporting pieces of work and the chosen artwork that I submitted and had them next to me for easy referencing.Turns out, the interviewers had done the exact same thing and we both held up our printouts and had a laugh!
Make sure you have thoroughly read the information you submitted, as they may ask really obscure questions relating to it to throw you off (and don't lie about anything!!).
Make sure you eat something, don't go in with an empty anxious belly that may make sounds in the interview. Do not go to the depths of the internet for possible interview content, these tutors are most likely to switch up questions, problem sheets, and source materials with each different applicant each year.
For humanities, do not worry about not knowing every single answer, try and form an original opinion, because it may shock them enough to want to accept you :)