3x 1 hr interviews, 2 hrs between each
Interview 1: graph sketching, estimation; Interview 2: physics; Interview 3: discussion
Practice papers and A-Level content
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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.
Test taken:
Number of interviews: 3
Skype interview: No
Time between each interview: about 2 hours
Length of interviews: 1 hour each
My first interview was predominantly based around sketching a graph, followed by some estimation questions. I was very nervous at the start of this interview but gradually relaxed into it. The topics of the questions varied between Maths, Physics and Chemistry and often we moved onto a new question before I had come up with an answer to the previous one.
My second interview was focussed on Physics and mechanics. In this interview I was asked to solve problems on a whiteboard whilst explaining my reasoning behind each step as I went through the problem. If I became stuck the
In my final interview I was presented with some objects to discuss. I was asked what they might be constructed of and how they could be manufactured, as well as what these objects might be used for. This was much more of an informal discussion, with the tutors clearly not expecting me to just know the answers to all these questions.
To prepare for the
To prepare for the interview, I tried to look over my A-level subjects in detail and practised doing some mental Maths. I would recommend practising talking through problems out loud as you do them, because this is what will be expected of you for most questions.
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