Music @ Lincoln, Oxford in 2016

Interview format

1x 1 hour interview & 1x 30 min interview, over 2 days

Interview content

Extract from text, 2 pieces of music to compare

Best preparation

Reading online

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Learn how to read carefully; listen to as much music as possible!

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

No test taken; submitted composition and essays

Number of interviews: 2

Skype interview: No

Time between each interview: 1 day

Length of interviews: 1 hour for one; 30 minutes for the other

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

I was given an extract from a book to read; I was also given two pieces of music to analyse and compare. I felt awful, having never prepared anything like this before.

The text I felt was fine, because I did English language A-level, so used techniques from that; the music section I hated because I didn’t know much music theory at the time.

How did you prepare?

I just read online what was required and I tried to do what I thought was my best, as I had neither an Oxbridge graduate to advise me nor a music teacher.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

If you go to state school, my best advice is to try learn how to read carefully and break a text down.

For music specifically, my only advice is to listen to as much music as possible and think about significant aspects of sound and artistic processes.