Mathematics @ Oriel, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

4x 1 hr interviews, over 2 days

Interview content

All interviews: 1-2 maths problems, increasing in difficulty and complexity

Best preparation

Talk your way through' a MAT paper with a friend

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

Interviewers are testing mathematical intuition, not knowledge.

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: MAT

Number of interviews: 4

Skype interview: No

Interviews spread over 2 days

Length of interviews: 30 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

All my interviews at both colleges (New and St Hugh's) were purely academic, with no small talk besides confirming I was the person they were expecting. Each interview question began with a fairly straightforward premise, for instance working out the next few terms in a given sequence. The questions grew in complexity and difficulty through the interview, and there was a mixture of writing down/working out the answer and discussing my thinking with the interviewer. I got stuck at various points in all my interviews, and the interviewers gave small hints to try and push me back onto the right track.

In two of my interviews, it was just the one question which took the entire half hour. In the other two interviews, the first question took approximately twenty minutes and then another question (with less depth, such as "sketch this graph") took the rest of the time.

I found the first interview very nervewracking, as I didn't know what to expect. The rest of the interviews I found a bit easier, as I knew more or less what was coming.

How did you prepare?

I only did past papers for the MAT in the half term leading up to the exam!

My school also offered me two practice interviews. However, I found the actual interviews felt very different to these. The practice interviews I had were a series of shorter, simpler questions, whereas the actual interviews involved longer, more complex questions. It was definitely still helpful though to practise vocalising my thoughts, so I would recommend "talking" your way through a past entrance exam either on your own, with a peer or with a teacher to get used to speaking rather than writing maths.

On the train to my interviews I also re-read my personal statement, but this didn't come up in my interviews at any point.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

The interviewers are really looking to test your mathematical instinct, rather than knowledge, so I don't think it's valuable trying to cram learn a new topic from textbooks the night before - they know not everyone has learnt all the same material and are interested in how you think, not what you know.