3x 35 min interviews, over 2 days
Interview 1: general discussion, problems; Interview 2: problems; Interview 3: problems
Do practice papers; learn formulas on syllabus; talk through past questions
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Try to have specific examples of parts of maths that interest 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:
Number of interviews: 3
Skype interview: No
Interview spread: 2 on one day (a few hours apart), 1 the next day
Length of interviews: about 35 minutes each
My first interview started with a general question about my main interests within maths, and we talked about this for a bit. Then I was given problems to work through, while talking about my thought process. I quickly became comfortable in this interview and found it enjoyable, as the atmosphere was relatively relaxed.
The second interview was similar but was straight into problems, rather than discussing my interests. It was more formal and I didn’t feel as comfortable, but the interviewers answered all my questions when I got stuck on problems. In this interview one of the problems involved a lot of notation that I had never seen before, but this was explained to me when I asked what it meant.
I had a third interview at another college which was slightly shorter and went straight into problems. This interview also had a more relaxed feel, so I felt comfortable quickly.
The questions asked in all three of my interviews were from a wide range of mathematical topics, and there was not a particular theme to each interview - in each there were two or three problems on different topics.
I used practice papers and the online specification to learn the required formulae.
I talked through interview-style questions with my maths teacher to prepare - if there wasn’t a maths teacher available I would have gone through questions on my own while speaking my thought process out loud.
Communicating your thought process to the interviewer(s) seems to be the most important thing to do in the interview.
Also, coming across as enthusiastic is important - if you are asked about your interest in maths, try and come up with specific examples of what you find the most interesting. This can then lead onto questions that you may find easier to answer. I prepared a few topics to talk about when asked general questions, and this made me feel more comfortable in the interview.