Physics @ St John's, Oxford in 2018

Interview format

3x 25-30 min interviews, over several days

Interview content

All interviews: maths and physics problems

Best preparation

Past papers, revising school syllabus, researching unknown topics from past papers

Final thoughts

Mock interviews; revise PAT content and school syllabus

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: Yes

Spread: Gap of a few days after first interview, then second and third interviews on consecutive days.

Length of interviews: 30 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

In each interview I was asked a series of maths and physics problems, with follow up questions on my reasoning.

How did you prepare?

I did past papers and researched any topics I didn't know about. I also revised from my school work.

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

I did a couple of mock interviews with my old physics teacher, which were really useful to practise using Skype and expressing my ideas verbally. I revised content for the PAT test and my school knowledge.