<p><strong>Key Points</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><ol><li>It is possible to prepare yourself for the Oxbridge interview.</li><li>Revise your A-Levels/IB topics and read up on the subject that you’re applying to.</li><li>Mock interviews and oral practice will help you get used to the interview format.</li><li>Give yourself enough time to prepare for the interview, do not rush.</li></ol><p><strong>Introduction</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The admissions pages for Oxford and Cambridge often state that there is no real way to prepare for the interview. Is that really the case? Well, partially. It is true that every interview is different so you cannot expect to go into an interview knowing exactly which questions will come up and in what order.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>But there is a great deal that you can prepare for. General questions about yourself and your personal statement can be rehearsed beforehand. Speaking confidently under stressful conditions is also a skill that comes with time. Knowing the format of the interviews also prevents the anxiety that being in an unfamiliar environment often induces.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Compared to a candidate who has never done an interview in their life, a candidate who has practised and is familiar with the entire interview process is in a much better position. So here’s how you can prepare for the interview.<br>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>(1) Work Through Past Year Interview Questions</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>You can often find interview questions from the previous application cycles on the internet. The idea here is not to compile a list of potential interview questions because the exact same questions are unlikely to appear in your own interview.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Rather, it is the process of attempting the past year questions which will give you a good idea of the type of questions which come up during the interview. At the same time you will pick up skills which you can apply to any kind of interview question that you encounter.<br>&nbsp;</p><p>Searching for past interview questions on Google is okay but bear in mind that the authenticity of these questions may not have been verified. Your best bet is to ask students who are currently studying at Oxford and Cambridge; get them to tell you more about the questions they received during their interviews.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Once you have some practice interview questions, make the most of them by actually doing them under time pressure. Since this is an interview, it is important to practise explaining your answers out loud. You can try verifying your answers by going through them with your school teacher but this depends on whether they have the necessary expertise in your subject.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>(2) Revise The Basics</strong><br>&nbsp;</p><p>Don’t neglect your A-Level or IB topics. It would be a shame if an easy question came up during the interview but you couldn’t answer it. Know your A-Level/IB topics inside out. For applicants who’ve already finished the A-Levels/IB exams, revision is even more important because over time you will inevitably forget some of the content that you learnt in school.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>(3) Practise Your Oral Delivery</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>An interview is not like a written exam. You are instead assessed on your oral delivery. Of course, the extent to which you might be required to verbally explain a concept varies across subjects. For instance, math students might simply draw out the relevant equations to answer a question. But by and large, students will be required to express themselves effectively.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;</p><p>Applicants, particularly international students who are not accustomed to explaining ideas and concepts verbally need to work on this by speaking out loud.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Students often think that they have everything all figured out in their heads, but once they start speaking, the ideas seem to get all jumbled up; they lose their train of thought and things go downhill from there.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>This is why it is important to practise talking about a key topic in your subject area. Try doing it for about 1 to 2 minutes. Aim to be as fluent as possible with little to no repetition and pauses.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>General Structure</strong></td><td><p>Give an overview of what you will be talking about</p><p>Start with a statement</p><p>Support your statement with an example</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Goals</strong></td><td><p>Avoid any “er”, “ah”, “uh”s as well as other fillers</p><p>Try not to use any scripts</p><p>Complete your delivery in one go&nbsp;</p></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Tips</strong></td><td><p>Don't rush, speak slowly</p><p>Start with the basics</p><p>See if the interviewer wants you to elaborate by asking: “Would you like me to go further?”</p></td></tr></tbody></table></figure><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>The Drawing Straws Method&nbsp;</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>This is an effective method which students in the past have used to help improve their oral delivery. Basically, you make a list of relevant topics in your subject area and pick a topic to talk about at random.</p><p><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/vsGDMgoRdF2nriuOO15KcygmKdrfJobH_iQsYpeS5-QCjqej0sOOk05HVEO_0rR-0Mbah927p3ZVxRQFbG20qPnHGHJH7CAzjsqw9EFsKZNDoCP28BQX8Pn0JYOg4TaP47XLLUF_8Q_X5AMi18iq2Q"></p><p>By introducing randomness into your practice session, your mind is kept active by constantly having to react. You also become more familiar with the interview process, where questions can come from all directions with no predictable sequence.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>Sample Topics Which You Can Practise Explaining</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="table"><table><tbody><tr><td><i>Chemistry</i></td><td><p>Ionic vs Covalent Bonding</p><p>Le Chatelier's Principle</p><p>SN1 vs SN2</p></td></tr><tr><td><i>Biology</i></td><td><p>Transcription and Translation</p><p>Genetic Engineering</p><p>Cloning</p></td></tr><tr><td><i>Maths</i></td><td><p>Estimating the 4th root of 1.2&nbsp;</p><p>Fermat's Last Theorem</p><p>Estimate probability of ...</p></td></tr><tr><td><i>Law</i></td><td><p>Rule of Law</p><p>Due Process</p><p>Bill of Rights</p></td></tr><tr><td><i>Philosophy</i></td><td><p>Utilitarianism</p><p>Epistemology</p><p>Deontology</p></td></tr></tbody></table></figure><p><br>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>(4) Do Mock Interviews</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If you were preparing for a marathon, you wouldn’t prepare for it by reading a book about how to run a marathon would you? You would actually go running. Likewise, the best way to prepare for an interview is to do it.<br>&nbsp;</p><p><i>How much practice is enough?</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. The more mock interviews you do, the better. Most schools which provide mock interviews for their students seem to offer around 3 sessions. But this is largely an issue of the school having a finite amount of resources and qualified teachers to conduct the interviews. There’s no need to limit yourself to 3 sessions. You are free to get more practice on your own.<br>&nbsp;</p><p><i>Who should I practise with?</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In the real interview, your answers will be challenged and you’ll need to be able to defend them. That means your mock interviewer needs to know more than you do about the subject. In this regard, school teachers or application mentors are suitable mock interviewers. If you’re practising with a school teacher, he or she should be a teacher in the subject that you’re applying to do an undergraduate degree in.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Having said that, if you’re just rehearsing answers to general questions like “Why are you applying to do X subject” or “Why are you applying to X university”, it’s possible to just get a friend or any school teacher to practise with you.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>The mock interview should replicate the real interview experience</i><br>&nbsp;</p><p>An actual interview takes between 30 to 45 minutes. It goes by really quickly because the questions will come hard and fast. It is important that your mock interview is equally fast paced because you need to prepare yourself to think under pressure.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>During the interview itself, practise your oral delivery skills. Do not simply run through the answer in your head. Many students have difficulties once they actually try to convert their thoughts into words. It really takes practice to be able to convey your ideas across in a clear and logical fashion.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>For Asian applicants, bear in mind that your interviewers are likely to be native English speakers. To your ears, they might seem to speak really quickly and in an accent which you are unaccustomed to. Use the mock interview to get used to this. Have your interviewer interrupt you in the middle of sentences or jump in with quick sentences. With practice, you will no longer black out or be thrown off by sudden questions.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><i>General questions</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Apart from practising for subject specific questions, you should also rehearse for general questions in case they come up in the interview. Read through your personal statement carefully because you can be asked to talk about anything that you’ve written in it (e.g books, work experience or extracurricular activities).&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>You should also prepare answers for typical questions like “Why do you want to apply to Oxford/Cambridge?”, “Why are you interested in this subject?”, “What makes you a suitable candidate?”. Practise until you are able to give these answers off the top of your head.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If your subject requires you to submit written work as part of your application, go through your work before the interview to refresh your memory about the circumstances under which you produced them.<br>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Is It Possible To Do Too Much Preparation for the Interview?</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Generally, there is no harm in knowing more about a subject. In fact it is most beneficial, particularly for science based subjects. For arts subjects, like law, knowing more is a plus but after a certain point, content is not that critical. Your reasoning process is often more important than the answer you arrive at.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Having said that, it is possible for students to learn too much in the sense that they begin to have a skewed view of a certain topic or hold very strong opinions about a topic. We mentioned earlier that one of the attributes interviewers look out for is the ability to recognise the weaknesses in one’s own arguments and the strength of an opposing view. Students who think they know a lot about a subject may end up being overly confident and dismissive of other views. To avoid this situation, always remember to keep an open mind as you learn more about your subject.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Finally, preparing for the interview takes up time. Time which could be spent on for instance, other extracurricular activities which could give your application a boost. So bear that in mind when you’re thinking about how much time you should spend on interview preparation.<br>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>When Should You Start Preparing For The Interviews?</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Interview invitations are typically sent out 2 weeks before the scheduled interviews, which are usually held in December. For Oxford skype applicants or Cambridge applicants who are interviewing in their home country (e.g Chinese or Singaporean applicants), you might receive the interview invitation up to 3 weeks before the interviews. Regardless, you have roughly 1 month from the 15 October UCAS deadline before news about the interview arrives.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Some students may think that it is a waste of time to prepare for the interviews before receiving an interview offer. Having said that, starting preparations only after receiving the interview invitation is slightly risky because that leaves you with just 2 weeks.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Furthermore, in the event that the invitation is sent out late, you might only have about 1 week to prepare. Bear in mind that if you’re an international student who has to fly over to the UK, it’s recommended that you arrive one or two days before the interview to settle in. That leaves you with even less time to prepare. It would be a shame to perform below your usual ability at the interview as a result.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>That is why we advise students to start early. Applicants whose forte do not lie in verbal communication and are quite weak in their oral delivery would benefit from starting preparation for the interview as early as summer of the same year.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Some students think that there are other matters like the personal statement which should take priority. It’s true. These matters are important. But you can always tackle both the personal statement and the interview preparation at the same time.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;</p><p>Other students choose to start preparations after submitting their UCAS application. That’s also a good time to start. Remember, it does not have to be intense from the get-go. To avoid burning out, pace yourself and start with a few hours a week in the beginning. Having 10 sessions over a span of 3 months can often be more productive than 1 month of cramming simply because you have more time to absorb and process what you’ve learnt</p>