Mathematics And Philosophy @ Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

5x 20 min interviews

Interview content

Maths: questions on about 2 themes; Philosophy 1: discussion of 1 theme; Philosophy 2: discussion of 3 themes

Best preparation

Used resources online to come up with variations on maths problems.

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Focus on problem-solving.

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: 5

Skype interview: No

Length of interviews: about 20 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

For the maths, the topics were approximating integrals for sine and cosine, left-infinite ordinals, graph sketching with log axes, maths with an ellipse, and showing that a number is always square using algebra.

There were roughly 2 themes per math interview.

For the philosophy, discussions involved epistemology, what makes a good argument, free will, and I don't remember the rest.

There was 1 theme for one of the philosophy interviews and 3 for the other.

I felt fine, and relaxed quite easily. All the atmospheres were very good.

How did you prepare?

I used tons of practice papers and relevant problem solving and maths resources online. I used any resource I could find online to come up with variations of maths problems. I focussed a lot on metacognition to reflect on and speed up my thinking. I think this worked well, very well. It also helped with articulation on the philosophy side.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

I expected the interviews to be hard, and they were, which is a good thing. I would advise applicants to focus on their problem solving and thinking before interviews.