3 x 30 min interviews, TSA
Experimental design, drawing conclusions from historical data, EPQ; short term vs long term memory and brain injury and then perception/vision; experimental design, interview design, my EPQ, something I had found interesting in psychology recently
A-Level notes, personal statement, practised explaining my thought processes out loud for different questions, read a few interesting current articles relating to psychology
Practice papers
Make friends, be bubbly and smiley in your interviews and ask the tutors a question at the end if they give you the opportunity!
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: 3
Time between interviews: first two interviews were 12pm and then mid afternoon on day one, third was afternoon day 2
Length of interviews: approx half an hour
Online interview: No
1 - centred around experimental design, drawing conclusions from historical data, lots on the topic of immigration which was very difficult but no prior knowledge of anything needed and they prompt if you get stuck. Asked about my
2 - partly on short term vs long term memory and brain injury and then perception/vision - I was given a photo to use to explain the questions about perception such as shadows, depth, convergence, why we have 2 eyes etc.
3 - experimental design, interview design, my EPQ, something I had found interesting in psychology recently such as something I had read or watched, interpreting correlation on graphs - this was by far the best interview, the tutors and were so friendly.
Overall it’s not as stressful as you expect - make sure you know your personal statement well and they love to ask about EPQs, also if you get stuck they will guide you a bit or move on.
Looked over my A-Level psychology and biology (human biology content) notes as they will be able to see if you took those a levels and if you have will expect you to understand the content, if you didn’t take them don’t worry just get a general basic understanding. Practiced explaining my thought processes out loud for different questions, read a few interesting current articles relating to psychology, went over my personal statement in detail and tried to stay calm! For psychology there is no prior knowledge expected so it’s all about how you think and apply yourself not how much revision you have done!!
All of the past papers available online for section 1, 2 timed practice section 2 essays which is all you really need as you have no idea what will come up
Don't stress - you really have no idea the questions until you go in so you can’t prepare for everything - as long as you have a basic understanding of all areas and can talk through your thought processes you are fine. Make friends, be bubbly and smiley in your interviews and ask the tutors a question at the end if they give you the opportunity!