Physics @ The Queen's, Oxford in 2018

Interview format

3x 30 min interviews, over 3 days

Interview content

1 on maths, 1 on physics and 1 on both

Best preparation

Past papers

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Physics puzzle books; getting used to talking clearly about physics

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

Test taken: PAT

Number of interviews: 3

Skype interview: No

Time between each interview: 1 day

Length of interviews: 30 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

The interview process was very academic in nature. For physics, I had three interviews. The first two interviews were at the college I applied to. One interview had maths as its subject matter and the other physics. My third interview was at a different college, and was on both maths and physics.

How did you prepare?

Previous papers

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

As preparation, I read a lot of physics puzzle books, as these seemed like the type of questions that can come up in interview. I then discussed these questions with my teachers in secondary school.

Looking back, the most important part of my preparation was learning how to talk about physics. During interviews (and tutorials!) it's extremely important that you can express your physical and mathematical ideas clearly.