4 x 15 min interviews
Musical and book texts; discussion of submitted essays
Read and engaged with books and articles
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.
Test taken: None
Number of interviews: 4
Time between interviews: Not sure
Length of interviews: About 15 minutes
Online interview: No
I had two interviews at Merton initially, and one at another college. For the Merton ones, we were given preparation time and a text - one musical and one from a book - which was then discussed with two tutors. They led the direction of the conversation, but gave me time to think and answer. I had a third interview at Merton later, which was much the same. My interview at the other college was a bit longer - I had a couple if texts to look at, and we also discussed one of the essays I submitted before we ran out of time.
I read a range of books and articles that interested me, and wrote down the questions they raised. This helped me to engage with and think carefully about the texts, and the notes were also helpful for quickly refreshing my knowledge. Even though the knowledge itself wasn't directly relevant, the practical thinking skills were very useful!