History @ Brasenose, Oxford in 2021

Interview format

History Aptitude Test; 1x interview

Interview content

Interview: submitted written work, personal statement.

Best preparation

Conversations with teachers about personal statement, mock interviews.

Test preparation

Practice papers.

Final thoughts

Even if you think there’s a very slim chance of me getting in, what’s the point, just go for it.

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: 1
Length of interviews: 20 mins
Online interview: yes

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The interview started on a broad topic (retrospectively I know now it was in reference to the Approaches unit) and we discussed our ideas regarding a quote. Then I was asked questions regarding my essay in which my main arguments were pulled apart in front of me and I had to balance justifying them whilst also being receptive to feedback. I then was asked a few questions about my personal statement and the stand-out points in that, that my interviewers wanted to learn more about. I can honestly say I stumbled on my words, I remember mispronouncing hegemony and wanting the ground to swallow me up but again, if you treat it like an academic conversation, not an interrogation then you will be much better off.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

After I got the offer for an interview, I would go to my history teachers and ask them to ask me questions about my personal statement. I approached it as an academic conversation, which I think is the best way to see it. We would have long discussions about ideas and I got much more comfortable with articulating my ideas out loud. I was also lucky enough to be put into contact with a 2nd-year history and politics student who had gone to my school and conducted mock interviews with me and he would ask me a lot of questions about my essay (which was really helpful because I had lots of questions on my essay in my interview) and again it was like a discussion, not an interrogation of my ideas.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

So many practice papers, I did every single one I could find. The timing wasn’t an issue for me so I focused more on grabbing key themes out of the extract offered to me and brainstorming ideas from that. I would then discuss my HAT test with my history teacher who would give his own ideas on the extract (we basically just had a massive conversation about it).

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Even if you think there’s a very slim chance of me getting in, what’s the point, just go for it. I didn’t AT ALL think I would get in but my main motivation was you may as well try and find out. For the actual process in itself, put your A Levels on the back burner for now (obviously keep up with homework) but allow the application process to take up a lot of your time, especially if you do an essay subject, you need to do a lot of thinking about arguments and the points you want to articulate. After doing the interview, I now understand that all the tutors want to see is if you are compatible with their type of teaching, and you are receptive to it. When I met one of my tutors, he said we selected you guys because we see potential, no matter what your starting point is (I had a lot of fellow historians who had done Latin at one point in their lives - it doesn’t set you back I promise).