Mathematics @ Pembroke, Oxford in 2018

Interview format

3x 20 min interviews, over 2 days

Interview content

Interview 1: 1 big question, with many cases; Interview 2: several short questions; Interview 3: 1 big question

Best preparation

Practice papers, teachers

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Still not sure exactly what interviewers were looking for!

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: 3

Skype interview: No

Interview spread: 2 on one day, 1 the next day

Length of interviews: 20 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

Each interview was different:
One interview was on one overarching question - I was asked to explain my thoughts and take different cases into account.
One interview consisted of several shorter questions on a number of topics.
One interview had an overarching theme and was about trying to find the link between two different thought processes.

How did you prepare?

I used the practice papers, and went to some workshop sessions ran by my teachers.

I used the online MAT resources and got advice and preparation from my teachers on interviews.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

Even now I still do not know what the interviewers were looking for.

I think the help I got definitely helped me feel a bit more comfortable and gave me a slight (unfair) edge on those who did not have this as an option.