Mathematics And Computer Science @ St Anne's, Oxford in 2018

Interview format

4 x 30 min interviews

Interview content

Graphing, logic problems, and population models

Best preparation

I practised doing STEP questions aloud in my room

Final thoughts

The interviews are to see how you learn, not what you already know, and don't be afraid to ask them to repeat the question

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: Mathematics Admissions Test (MAT)
Number of interviews: 4
Time between interviews: 4 hours to 1 day
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: No

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

We discussed questions based on graphing in both the real and complex planes in my maths interviews, and a mixture of logic problems and population models in my computer science interviews. The tutors were friendly and the atmosphere would have been relaxed if I wasn't so worried! I settled into most of my interviews quickly and they went so fast. The tutors at anne's would wait just long enough for you to feel like you had enough thinking time before giving hints, so it didn't feel awkward or like they had cut off your train of thought. In two interviews we briefly touched on my personal statement at the start or end, but it wasn't the focus of the interview.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I practised doing STEP questions aloud in my room. I also made sure I vocalised my thoughts on all my homework tasks for a month or so before the interviews so I was comfortable explaining my thought process as I go. Also revised recent further maths topics and reviewed my personal statement.

If you took a test, how did you prepare?

Did all the practice papers, and got a teacher to mark and go through the most recent two or three with me. Also used some hard questions from Dr Frost Maths

What advice would you give to future applicants?

Relax, make sure you feel confident with current material but don't stress about any gaps in your knowledge - the interviews are to see how you learn, not what you already know. Interviewers want you to do well, so just give something your best guess and work off their hints if you don't get the question the first time. Don't be afraid to ask them to repeat the question either, you don't want to waste your chance to show them what you've got.