Test taken: MLAT

Number of interviews: 5

Skype interview: No

Interviews spread over 3 days: one in morning and one in afternoon of day 1; two in afternoon of day 2, an hour apart; one in morning of day 3

Length of interviews: about 30 minutes each, usually with 30 minutes preparation time beforehand

All my interviews covered the same areas but in slightly different orders. For each, beforehand I had been given a poem, article and / or short story to read through and analyse in the target language (for me, French or German). This was usually the starting point for the interview. They would ask me to talk them through the material in terms of what was happening, interesting details, translation of certain words, explanations of grammar, etc. I didn't usually understand the poems in particular, so I often made the wrong interpretations or translation, and the interviewer often corrected me but in a way that didn't make me feel intimidated and instead helped to guide me towards understanding the text and justify my points.

From here, they would often move on to my personal statement, either asking about a particular book I'd read individualy or connecting a theme with the poem if it was relevant. Here I usually got to discuss my own opinions and sometimes talk about what else I had read after I wrote my personal statement. This would sometimes be in the language the interview was targeting, but other times they asked me more general questions about if I had been to France or what interested me most when I visited Berlin.

I felt quite intimidated at first during the interviews, but I settled into it after having a few. The atmosphere varied quite a bit - in one interview there were four people interviewing me, whereas there were only two in the others. One interviewer was quite stone faced and cold throughout the interview, whereas most others made more effort to be smiley and come across as warm.

I did lots of practice papers as well as general grammar exercises and general vocab revision, particularly words or grammar patterns which were often repeated.

I was lucky to have two language teachers at my school who gave me plenty of practice speaking in my languages and discussing my personal statement in both informal and formal settings. The best thing I did was try to vary the material I had to discuss whilst keeping it somewhat linked together, for example listening to the opera of one of the plays I had read which allowed me to develop more of my own opinions in a way I enjoyed, and reading a different short story of an author I had already mentioned in order to make comparisons. I believe this preparation had a great impact on my interview performance as it gave me a lot to discuss and also practise on how to discuss it in a confident way whilst also being able to take on the knowledge of my teachers.

Looking back now, I would say my expectations were quite spot on as I had expected to find the interviews quite challenging and to feel out of my comfort zone. If I were to do them again, I would have had more belief and confidence in myself, since I had already gotten to this point and had really enjoyed learning more about the subjects I wanted to study in the future. I think this enjoyment of a subject and having a positive reaction when the interviewer gives you new information or a helping hand is something they look for.