Human Sciences @ St John's, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

2x 20-30 min interviews, 1 day apart

Interview content

Interview 1: general discussion, personal statement, evolution; Interview 2: questions on topics and objects

Best preparation

Practise talking about your subject.

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

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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: TSA

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: No

Time between each interview: 1 day

Length of interviews: 20-30 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In my 1st interview there were 3 interviewers. The first asked me general questions related to biology/evolution and some of the stuff mentioned in my personal statement, the 2nd interviewer went step-by-step through some statistics questions, and the third asked more questions on evolution.

In my 2nd interview, there were 2 interviewers. The first interviewer asked lots of questions about the topics we study (background knowledge not really necessary), and the second gave us an object to discuss and deduce information about.

How did you prepare?

I did practice papers and practice questions, for the essays. I also read the news and planned some possible essays.

I prepared with mock interviews and by talking to teachers. I also asked teachers for advice.

I did lots of background pre-reading, not all of it was necessary but it was good to get a deeper understanding of the subject.

Practising talking in an interview-type situation definitely helped, more so than subject specific things as the interviews aren't testing your background knowledge.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

Looking back, what advice would you give to your past self?

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