3x 30 min interviews, over 1 day
Interview 1: maths and physics problems, personal statement; Interview 2: article given beforehand, physics problem, questions on materials; Interview 3: personal statement, chemistry problems, maths and physics problems
Do lots of past papers; be able to back up everything on personal statement
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Be calm and don't worry if you find the interviews difficult.
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
Skype interview: No
Interviews spread over 1 day
Length of interviews: 30 minutes each
In the first interview, I had maths and physics based problems to solve. I had paper and a pen to work these out. I then had a question about materials loosely based on part of my personal statement.
Before the second interview I had to read a short article about graphene and then discussed this in the interview. I had physics problems to work through on a board with one of the interviewers. Then they got a few different materials and asked me to discuss what they were and how they were manufactured.
The final interview started with questions from my personal statement, then some chemistry based questions. Then I worked through some physics and maths based problems on the board.
I did LOTS of practice papers and
I used 'Physics and Maths Tutor' (website) for worked solutions to prepare for the
I also read 'Stuff Matters' and other similar texts, these were nice to get more familiar with materials but are not the most technical. I also made sure to be very familiar with my personal statement and I was able to back up everything I wrote in it (very important). I also tried to speak to
Be calm and prepared. If you can’t answer a question or you're unsure, it’s completely okay to say this to the interviewers, just give them something and justify your reasoning. I was expecting the interviews to be challenging and they were, so don’t feel knocked down because you didn’t fly through them.