Test taken: Mathematics Admissions Test (MAT)
Number of interviews: 3
Time between interviews: 2 hours
Length of interviews: 45 mins - 1 hour
Online interview: Yes

As it was on Teams, I connected to an online whiteboard and they put a question up and asked me to answer it. Over time, I became better at voicing my thought process. They often extended the question if I figured it out quickly. If you are struggling don't give up but indicate you're not sure - say 'I'm not sure how to answer the question but I might try...'. If you've never seen a concept or idea, don't panic as they often want to see how you deal with this, but preface your answer with 'I've never seen this before, but I would start by...'. Finally, don't let a mistake knock your confidence and don't worry if they try to suggest something different - be open to following the hint and remember you only have 30-45mins so they want you to try multiple questions before the end of the interview.

I reviewed my further maths material and MAT material - very useful. Reread personal statement - not useful at all Did some practice questions of topics I found harder - somewhat useful If you can speak to someone who has recently been interviewed then do it - however maths interviews are very question based so are all different. Tried to talk out loud as I did my homework to try and explain my thought process.

ASMP online MAT preparation course (£60, 7x1hr sessions) - Made notes from their content before the sessions - Did the questions provided before the sessions - Marked and corrected my answers in sessions - Did any additional questions in sessions and afterwards Did all past papers from 2018 onwards (when the new syllabus started) - Did about 2 a week leading up to exam - always in TIMED EXAM CONDITIONS - It is much easier to mark the multiple choice answers yourself - Try and get a teacher/someone doing maths at uni to mark the long answers - I couldn't find someone to mark mine so I read through the answers and practised the multiple choice more to try and improve that section as much as possible to make up for not being as confident in long answers. Read the examiners' reports to determine what to do to get the most marks from each type of question. Made sure I knew what was going to happen on the day - time, room, what to bring, which questions I had to answer, etc. As I also took the TMUA, I found that my preparation for this really helped my MAT preparation - TMUA is all multiple choice and slightly different content but still very useful in getting your MAT multi-choice up to scratch.

The MAT will be hard and it's ok if you can't do a question fully. Your personal statement is important but you will likely never be asked about it. Remember you are good enough to be in the interview room - you got invited because of your MAT paper which they have looked over and seen. Not everything hinges on the interview - they understand that people are nervous and might have an off day If something affects you - e.g. a bereavement or you're really ill then TELL THEM - they will most likely let you redo an interview or will take that into consideration. Remember that practically everyone at Oxbridge suffers from imposter syndrome at one point or another - so you are good enough! Finally, be confident in yourself!