Test taken: Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA)
Number of interviews: 3
Time between interviews: None
Length of interviews: 30 minutes
Online interview: Yes

I was asked some questions about my personal statement (my supercurricular activities, theories I mentioned), and also some general questions of why I chose this course. My first philosophy interview asked me to find logical flaws in a series of statements, and had a brief discussion on moral philosophy.

For my first psychology interview, I was given some graphs based on an experiement and was asked to analyse the data.

My last interview was split into two halves: the first half was some discussion about perception, and the second half was a discussion on metaphysics.

After taking the TSA (early November), I started preparing for my interviews. Even though I didn't know whether I would be invited to interview, I started early as it would be too late to start preparing when I receive the invitation (my interview invitation arrived on the 5th of December, and my first interview was on the 14th). I watched many mock Oxbridge interviews on YouTube to get an idea of what they're about. There are three main categories of questions: 1. questions related to your personal statement (which you can definitely prepare for), 2. general questions about the subject (which you can anticipate and prepare for), and 3. unseen questions (which usually require you to apply certain skills required for your course, also prep-able). Note that some interviews may not have questions from the first two categories.

Personal statement-related questions are probably the easiest to prepare for, since you're dealing with a rather confined scope of material - your personal statement. Go through everything you mentioned in your personal statement and prepare answers for any questions they might throw at you. Re-read the readings you've mentioned and make sure you're familiar with every single term/theory/model brought up in those 4000 characters. For experiences/supercurriculars mentioned, be prepared to talk about them in more detail.

General questions: Things like how you would define your subject, or why you want to study it. Think around your subject and make sure you have a clear idea of what your subject is about. But don't try to recite answers from a script. The interview should flow like a conversation between two (or more) passionate individuals discussing a topic they're all interested in.

Unseen questions: This can be a more difficult part since it's pretty hard to anticipate what the tutors will ask about. Your subject's departmental website should have a list of skills they are looking for in an applicant, and they're most likely testing for those skills. But that's still pretty vague, so watching mock interviews might give you a better idea. Science subjects might ask you to interpret data, propose explanations to experimental results, or devise an experiment. Be aware of the common ideas within your subject, e.g. there's usually both nature and nurture in explaining psychological phenomena, and there're (almost certainly) objections to be made against any philosophical argument.

Essentially, doing all the TSA and BMAT past papers under the time limit. I tried to analyse the question types and read corresponding official material (the TSA guide) on how to tackle them.

During the interview, don't be afraid to ask the tutor to clarify anything they've mentioned, or ask them to rephrase the question if you're confused. If you're stuck on a question/point, try to explain your thinking process, even if you're uncertain whether your ideas make sense or not. Try to vocalise what's going through your head, and provide as many details as possible on how you've arrived at this response. It's a common misconception that you've screwed up your interview once you uttered a wrong answer. The tutor would usually ask you to rethink your position or guide you towards the right path. As long as you are receptive to their cues and are able to identify (and admit) what went wrong, you should be fine.

Oxford interviews are challenging, and interviewees are not expected to answer every single question correctly first try. I made some glaring mistakes in my interviews, but I turned out fine as I could rectify my errors within the interview (with the tutors' help).

My last tip is related to anxiety. Other than psychological methods to relieve your acute stress, the best way to tackle this is to familiarise yourself with the interview. Besides doing extensive preparation for it, mock interviews are certainly the most helpful tool you can have. Find teachers, friends or relatives to drill you over your personal statement and ask you questions about your subject. If you want to have a mock interview with someone you're less familiar with, try asking a colleague/friend of your friends/relatives to do one for you.