Test taken: Written exams which existed before MLAT. 
Number of interviews: 3
Time between interviews: half a day between each
Length of interviews: 45 mins - 1 hour each
Online interview: No

One of my French interviews and my single Spanish interview took the same format: a piece of literature to read outside the room, then read aloud and discuss with the tutor before a more general chat. The texts were both quite obscure although in different ways, and one was clearly deliberately chosen to be utterly bizarre out of context so I don't think anyone would have been able to prepare. First I had to read the passage aloud, then I had to translate it into English (with some assistance), and then finally comment on it in terms of the choice of words, stylistic choices and my interpretation. It felt hard at the time, but looking back the texts were chosen so everyone was unlikely to recognise them, and there was likely to be vocabulary that no one knew. As such, while very intimidating at the time I think it was a well chosen and fair exercise that showed your ability to interpret an unknown text and work through a lot of complex grammar and vocab. The tutors were very kind when I struggled and despite the fact that I didn't know a lot of the vocab in the Spanish interview, I wasn't made to feel inadequate. After this, there was about ten minutes left for a more general chat about my motivations to read languages, the literature I enjoyed before a more token discussion of what I read generally (i.e. in English) and wider interests. I can't say I enjoyed any of the interviews, but they weren't nearly as hard as I expected and the tutors were definitely friendlier and more approachable than you imagine. They were very gentle with their corrections and help, and at no time are they trying to catch you out! I was also told afterwards that they liked me as I hadn't read the expected "canon" but had read more modern authors that they knew less well, so don't hold back about discussing novels or even TV that isn't classical. That may actually interest them way more than yet another interviewee discussing Camus or Racine!

I read widely, both literature and language (online newspapers and magazines for example) but my reading wasn't very focused. I did however make a few notes of talking points to try to weave in if I didn't really know what to say! These were probably the most helpful as they made me feel less ill at ease.

Past papers are really helpful to give you an idea of the types of topics and simply how much you'll have to cover. However for me the most useful element was meeting someone who'd done it before and passed, he made me realise it was possible and you didn't need to be super-human, just a bit strategic and smart!

This is a total cliche, but I'd advise myself to try to relax and be myself. Clearly that's the hardest thing to do, but they are interested in you as a person. The relationship you have with your Oxford tutor is so much closer than you'd have at any other uni so they really do want to feel that they'd enjoy your work and company. They also want to be entertained, surprised or challenged: any more unusual interests will make you stand out, so if your love of French comes from listening to French rap, or if you learnt Spanish via telenovelas then talk about it! They probably wont know a lot, so you'll need to compare the lyricism of the former to poetry in the syllabus, or the story telling arcs of the latter to theatre but they'll love this perspective. It shows curiosity and a point of difference and believe me, they'll enjoy this interview far more than ones with people talking about the same old A Level texts and reciting the views of their teachers. Oh and I'd also make sure I felt comfortable in what I was wearing (my skirt had a really bad slit) and not to worry about other people and their worries or boasts!