Test taken: Physics Aptitude Test (PAT)
Number of interviews: 3
Time between interviews: I had one in the morning and one in the afternoon, so about a few hours. Then I had one in another college about a week later.
Length of interviews: 25 minutes
Online interview: Yes

I was asked in two of my interviews to explain something that I talked about in my personal statement. This was a great question to get because it helped me to relax since it was something I was very familiar with. The rest of the interview was then spent solving problems. The two interviews I had at my main college were split into one which was based mostly on maths and the other based mostly on physics, although there was some overlap. All of the questions were on topics I was familiar with (so no trick questions!) but the tutors were very friendly and helpful. They would prompt me whenever I was going in the wrong direction so it didn’t matter if I couldn’t think of the right answer straight away. Since my interviews were online, there was a virtual whiteboard that I made use of for every single question. I did find the process overall quite stressful but was able to relax into the interviews more than I thought I would’ve.

I was able to do a practice interview with one of the physics teachers at my school, which definitely helped. If you’re unable to do this, ask a friend or family member to look up some Oxbridge physics interview questions online and ask you some. It won’t be quite the same as the real interview but it helped me get better at having to think of an answer on the spot and explain my thinking out loud. I also had conversations with my parents where I tried to explain physics concepts or how to solve certain maths problems, which again really helped with getting better at explaining my thought process out loud. Finally, I managed to find a couple of Oxbridge physics interviews on YouTube - I paused after they asked a question and thought about what I would say before continuing to watch. You should also reread your personal statement and make sure you can talk about anything you mentioned!

First, check the syllabus - some of the content may not be covered by your A level physics/maths teachers before you take the test so I’d recommend studying these topics first. You also need to learn any formula you think you might use. There are some unofficial lists online that you can check out, but I made my own by writing down all the formulas I used as I went through past papers. I did all of the past PAT papers, saving the most recent ones for last as they were the most similar in style to the one I actually sat. Then, I used the worked answers on physicsandmathstutor.com to get a rough estimate of how well I was doing. It can be difficult to mark your own test as there’s no official mark scheme, so don’t be too tough on yourself if you aren’t getting all the answers right as there are marks available for workings as well. Finally, if you want extra questions, any physics or maths questions that have an emphasis on problem-solving are useful, such as those on the Isaac Physics website.

The interviewers want to see your thought process and how you work through a problem, so make sure you tell them what you’re thinking and doing as you work through the problem. It’s totally ok to realise you’ve made a mistake - just tell them you realise what you’ve done wrong and correct it. After the interview, it is likely that you’ll start over-analysing everything you said, but try to avoid this. I genuinely thought I’d done badly in my interviews and wasn’t expecting an offer, so was very surprised when I got one! You can’t really tell how well you have done, so try to relax and forget about them afterwards. Finally, remember if you’ve gotten through to interviews this is a huge achievement and means the tutors genuinely think you have what is needed to get in, so have confidence in yourself and try to go into the interviews with a really positive mindset as this can make all the difference!