Psychology, Philosophy And Linguistics @ St Hilda's, Oxford in 2017

Interview format

3x 20 min interviews, over 2 days

Interview content

Linguistics: problem sheet; Philosophy: discussion

Best preparation

Past papers

Advice in hindsight

-

Final thoughts

Don't worry if interviewers seem to give you a hard time.

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

Tests taken: MLAT, TSA

Number of interviews: 3

Skype interview: No

Interviews spread over 2 days

Length of interviews: about 20 minutes each

What happened in your interview? How did you feel?

For linguistics I was given a problem sheet, which I filled out, and then was quizzed on my answers.

For philosophy I was asked about the distinction between two related concepts. It was very much like a tutorial, a discussion was opened up and my ideas were challenged.

How did you prepare?

To prepare for the test, I took past papers.

I didn't really prepare a lot, for my subjects it was more about having a conceptual approach to learning and being willing to ask questions and get things wrong.

What advice do you have for future applicants?

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

I think not worrying if the tutors seem to be giving you a hard time is the best advice I can give.

I would advise, for a subject like mine, getting comfortable with the core concepts by reading around in fun introductory texts you'd find in Waterstones.