2 x 20 min interviews, TSA
Basic logic; current affairs; game theory and personal statement
Reading books and mock interview
Practice papers
The more you read the more you know and the more you know the more comfortable and confident you’ll be in the interview.
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: Thinking Skills Assessment (
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 5 hours
Length of interviews: 20 minutes
Online interview: No
In philosophy we went through some basic logic, as in two premises and what the logical conclusion would be as well as examining some bigger questions such as am I the same person that I was a month ago - with these types of questions they just want to hear you think, they’re not trying to trip you up. In politics he asked me a bit about current affairs and about nuclear power in the hands of countries like North Korea and how best to mitigate the risks - being honest I didn’t answer this well! In economics we went through game theory and specifically blind auctions, which I had actually just read about so answered that pretty well and then finished with him asking me a question about something on my personal statement - universal basic income.
Read three different books, one for each of the disciplines, and then had two practice interviews that I organised at school and one
Did the 90 minute part every week (in one of my free periods) from the start of the year until the exam, did essay prep closer to the exam and got good tips from a guy in the year above who had got in the year before.
Read as much as you can, you probably hear that a lot, but if you are successful and end up studying PPE you will have to read a lot anyway so it’s good to get used to it, and the more you read the more you know and the more you know the more comfortable and confident you’ll be in the interview.