3x 30 min interviews (+reading time) over 2 days
Interview 1: choice of sources; Interview 2: personal statement discussion; Interview 3: source
Used sample questions and went over personal statement and submitted work
Don't worry about the tutors' reactions to your answers
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:
Number of interviews: 3
Time between interviews: Two on the first day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and then one two days later
Length of interviews: 30 minutes each with 30 minutes with a source before one and two and a half hours with a source before another
Online interview: No
In my first interview, I had an extract to read and then I answered questions on it. We could choose between two extracts so it was less stressful because you could pick whichever made you more comfortable. The
In my second interview, I was asked about my personal statement and the things that I studied at A-level. It wasn't something I was expecting and was a bit daunting at first but they were friendly too, and made it easy to talk.
My third interview didn't go very well at all. I was in a different college and the extract that I got was harder. The interview was in a tutor's room so it was more scary and there were 4 tutors which made me feel much
I looked online for a list of possible interview questions which may pop up and then talked through them on my own or with my parents. (I had a long drive with my Dad to get to interviews so it was a great use of that time). Almost none of the questions actually came up but it was useful to get used to thinking on your feet, and it made me a bit more confident. I also made sure that I had reread everything that I mentioned in my personal statement and the work that I submitted in case they asked anything about it.
I used the Oxford Univeristy website to find some past papers and mark schemes. I wrote the test in my own time and then asked my teacher at my college to mark them for me. Neither of us really had much of an idea about what was supposed to be in the answer but it was still useful to give it a try and get a bit of feedback.
Don't worry too much about the