4 x 30 min interviews over 3 days
Drawing functions
I made sure I was very prepared to answer questions about anything I mentioned in my Personal Statement.
You aren't expected to be able to solve the question as soon as it's handed to you.
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: Mathematics Admissions Test (MAT)
Number of interviews: 4
Time between interviews: I stayed over for 2 nights and the closest two interviews I had were still around 5 hours apart.
Length of interviews: 30 mins
Online interview: No
Out of all 4 interviews there was only one time I was asked a question that wasn't about one of the problems that was put before me. This was a simple "why do you want to study Maths" in one of the interviews and was less than a minute at the start of the interview that felt more like a formality. One of my interviews was on compass and straight edge constructions and the whole interview was exploring what lengths could be made if you are given two lengths a and b. My LMH interview was based on drawing functions. I started with a given f(X) with some key points labelled and went on to sketch f(f(X)), f(f(f(X))), etc, identifying points that didn't change to make it easier to sketch. I can't remember the subject of the other two interviews but one of them I was stood writing on a whiteboard which was the only one like this (all the others were seated with paper and pen).
I made sure I was very prepared to answer questions about anything I mentioned in my Personal Statement. This included looking through my A-level notes and a statistics book I had bought. Apart from that I tried not to look over anything else. I knew if I tried to revise/learn too much I would be less capable of focussing on a problem that was put before me.
Went through past papers with my Maths teacher
You aren't expected to be able to solve the question as soon as it's handed to you. You are meant to struggle and they want to see how you approach the problem not if you get the answer. Don't stress trying to learn subject content before your interviews because ultimately the amount of content you can cover in an hour or two is not worth the pressure you are putting on yourself. Before your interviews have a cup of tea, put some music on, and just try and relax. Don't think about your interview after you have finished it. I reflected a lot on my first interview which really flustered me for my second interview. After this, I just tried to forget about the interviews after they happened and this definitely helped.