Modern Languages @ Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

2x 20 min interviews, over 1 day

Interview content

Discussion and translation of two poems (one English, one German); short personal statement conversation in German

Best preparation

Past papers - found most common questions

Advice in hindsight

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Final thoughts

Try to keep calm under pressure, and don't overemphasise the personal statement.

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: MLAT

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: No

Interviews spread over 1 day

Length of interviews: about 20 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I was given two poems beforehand and was asked to talk through and translate (one was in German). Before translating it, they asked if there were any words I didn't know and said there was no problem with asking as much as you want. They are not really assessing you on your language ability because you've already proven yourself in the admissions test. They are there to see your ability to learn and adapt to new situations.

The atmosphere was obviously tense throughout because they know that you're nervous, but they do not choose to intentionally intimidate. They want you to get in!!!

Only a very small part of my interview was about my personal statement and that section was all spoken in German.

How did you prepare?

I did all the past papers that were available online and looked at which questions were most common, then ran through the answers with my teacher

I had a mock interview with my teacher beforehand but realistically it wasn't that helpful because either these teachers haven't been to Oxbridge or, even if they did, they went at a different time and were probably doing a different subject.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

When it comes to language interviews, it's mostly about keeping calm under the pressure and practising how to adapt to and speculate about questions you may not actually know the answer to.

Obviously knowing what's on your personal statement is important, but it wasn't the most essential part of my interview and I realise that I put way too much effort into reading and rereading my personal statement when it didn't really do anything other than give me something to do before the interviews.