Are Oxbridge interview questions 'available online'?

[kitteninhellschance]

Dd's school has asked parents for volunteers to help Oxbridge applicants with interview practice. When I queried whether they would have the expertise I was told "there are lots of Oxbridge interview questions online" so the school will give the interviewers a list of questions in advance. But my understanding is that there's a bit more to the real interviews than that - they look at how ideas are developed in conversation rather than one-way answers to a list of questions. But is this typical of how most schools prepare their students? I guess I should be grateful she's getting any kind of prep, but I also don't want her to be misled about the style of interview.

Theee are quite a few films of mock interviews , both official and non official, on YouTube .

What subject is she applying for and at which University?
I think your understanding is correct for humanities subjects - it is more of a conversation, or dc are asked to read a text, or look at an object and it is then discussed.
I can only speak for my ds experience which was interviewing for Maths at Oxford - he basically had to solve Maths problems and talk through why he had chosen a particular method.

I'm not sure how this would work for STEM subjects. DS had a Physics interview and a Chemistry interview at Cambridge in December 2019. The format was like a mock supervision (tutorial) with subject specialists. He was given problems to solve where he was expected to apply A-level maths / further maths skills to unfamiliar science topics, getting harder as each interview went on, although scaffolding was provided by the interviewer. He messaged me afterwards to say "More calculus than I was expecting."

DD Humanities (C) had to sign a disclaimer agreeing not to disclose interview content/ questions . One of the excellent points was that it made it less fair for future candidates if it wasn’t completely blinded. This was still F2F , not sure how it works when you’re remote and can presumably record…

I did some mock interviews for law students in my girls' schools a long while back and had the same issue - I had no idea what an interviewer might ask whether Oxbridge or otherwise. I just used it as a chance to help the learn how to answer questions, say why they were interested in law, asked them a few things, just generally stuff rather than this is what is always asked at XYZ university. I think they found it helpful.

Same today when the twins' friends might think what is asked in law job interviews - in fact I have no idea. I can have a guess but I might be wrong as it will depend on the interviewer and the system used for recruitment at a particular firm.

In my, admittedly out of date, experience this is quite normal in schools and part of the reason certain schools have an advantage in oxbridge applications. I applied from a selective state school, I was given one practice interview with one of the school governors who had gone to oxbridge about 40 years earlier! Needless to say it wasn’t hugely helpful other than for general interview skills (which is useful, of course!).

However, having said that, when I applied we had two interviews, one subject-specific which was, as pps have described, more of a problem-solving conversation, but also one general interview about why I wanted to go to that college, what extra curricular activities I might get involved in etc etc. Questions were pretty generic so the practice interview wasn’t worthless for that part!

The Cambridge admissions website is very very helpful though, they do actively try to make the process as accessible as possible! It’s just schools don’t always engage with that very thoroughly!

My son has applied for maths so the maths interview is around solving maths problems / explaining technique etc rather than about yourself

DD (humanities) found that the interviewers drilled into her personal statement in forensic detail, so that might be a place to start.

I gather, though, that many applicants weren't asked about personal statements at all; and certainly when I went for (science) interviews many years ago, it was straight in there with the measuring distances to the moon, details of chemical formulae and maths questions.

I would have no idea how to do that to a candidate, as I wouldn't know whether they were wide of the mark.

DS had 2 interviews one around his personal statement and one was reading a source and then being quizzed on the source (history applicant- Oxford).

Oxford Law 2019 comprised of two interviews.

The first consisted of reading a detailed extract from a case (that was given 30 mins before the interview) and questioned in depth on it.

The other was dissecting and discussing a statement that could be interpreted in different ways.

Nothing on PS or anything personal at all - just academic.

OP, I think you are wise to warn your DD that the the school's mock interview may bear little resemblance to her actual interview. Someone I know who is a teacher did tell me about a student who was a bit thrown by the fact that her interview took a slightly different form to what she had been expecting. (As my own DD's school gave her zero mock interview experience, the issue of the actual interview being different to the mock was one problem she didn't face!)

What subject is your DD applying for?

Not sure about the interview questions, but the head of admissions at Cambridge is on WIWIKAU and is always helpful and is answering admission questions. Seems very nice.

My DDs school did similar. It was a complete waste of time. The parent/governor interviewers were woefully out of date. All the girls laughed about it but some parents were not amused as it was a fee paying school and they had been led to believe the practice would be realistic. It was a joke.

In truth it’s difficult to replicate. Those looking for MFL were not interviewed about their translation or asked to read anything in the target language or discuss it, for example. Yet at Oxford this was the interview. All the interviewers could do was try and put the pupils at ease but even failed to do this and fairly soon after the “interview” started DD knew it was rubbish. Fortunately come the day she was ok!

Far better to do the prep yourself and hopefully be confident on the day and with luck it goes your way with what they get you to do or what questions they ask. What the interviews are not about are smart arse questions designed to trap the young person (as DD experienced at school).Her feedback was very poor. Far more likely to be a conversation where your opinions are asked for and you have to justify them by applying knowledge.

If you can work on your DC speaking clearly, having clarity of thought and being able to articulate their ideas and opinions backed up by examples and knowledge, you will have done your best.

There are a couple of sample questions per subject area on the Oxford website.

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/interviews

Not sure if the link will work but you can Google it.

DS had an interview for Physics and DD had an interview for Earth Sciences. The questions were a bit like a tutorial so if you were running out of steam or struggling they gave some support to see if you could get going again. DD really enjoyed hers!

If any of you has DC at a state school can I recommend Oxbridge Launchpad? You get personal support from a current Oxbridge student in your chosen subject.

www.oxbridgelaunchpad.com/

DD's mentor gave her PS a look over and also did a mini mock interview which was really useful.

My links disappeared!!

I think DD felt that nothing could have prepared her for the interview really. She was told to practice talking to adults about her subject - but she never found that hard anyway and none of us knew enough about her subject to quiz her properly. Her school did a mock interview but it was teachers she'd known for years and really liked so it was just a chat really and she didn't think it helped. She really found her interview difficult but she was offered a place (albeit from a different college) and says now that her advice would be not to think too much about the questions you might be asked - because then you won't be so blindsided when it's nothing like you've been led to expect!

With MFL you simply don’t know what your translation might be, what they will want to discuss about the literature, nor the tests you will be asked to do. So overthinking isn’t worthwhile! You will need to think on your feet though!

For MFL, DD really enjoyed her interviews at the first college, was interviewed by a second college and felt it had been an utter disaster, and was offered a place by the second college.

Life is full of surprises!

English lit- friend’s interview was more like a tutorial, she was asked what she enjoyed reading outside the a level syllabus and then had a discussion with the tutors about the writers she mentioned, starting with v broad questions and developing organically from there. She wasn’t asked any standard interview questions at all.

Not sure how much help parents can be with that sort of practice- it seems a job for the teacher.

Ds was interviewed for Cambridge and for maths. No preamble straight in with maths problems for both interviews. He did have a "mock" interview at sixth form but said it wasn't helpful as bore no resemblance to the complexity of the maths questions in the interview. He had already sat a maths admissions test.

There are videos on YouTube by Cambridge showing roughly what different subjects interviews are like. They just want you to be able to demonstrate your ability to do the subject and at what point you can't take it further. If you get stuck they guide you but this sometimes goes against the student when they get feedback.

@Teaandalemontart

Not sure about the interview questions, but the head of admissions at Cambridge is on WIWIKAU and is always helpful and is answering admission questions. Seems very nice.

Mike Nicholson is always exceedingly generous with his time. He was previously Head of Admissions at Bath and before that Oxford, he knows a lot about university admissions.

Oxbridge interviews are very simple. Be prepared to talk interestedly and thoughtfully about the subject you have applied to study. Interviews will typically start with something that is or is closely related to A-level course to put a student at their ease (and check they actually know stuff) and then will get them to think about ideas that they have not considered before. Getting the "right" answer is not that important, being willing to think try and learn is.

It is worth particularly paying attention to the note at the bottom of this page.

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/interviews

And the advice at

www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying/interviews/how-should-i-prepare

There is lots of money spent on university preparations particularly Oxbridge, but they are nothing more than scams.

My dd was interviewed for medicine at Oxford before COVID. The standard was four interviews at two colleges. All science based with nothing about her personal statement. However, seemed to be different at some of the other colleges. Very much just being able to think on your feet and talk through your thought processes.

Any parents or parents with knowledge of the subject?

I suppose it is fine for generic type questions, such as "Why do you want to study X?" or questions about further reading/co-curricular activities etc.

I don't know how it would be helpful for subject specific questions where the interviewer is looking for the student to apply knowledge and use critical thinking. I was actually asked 2 of the example questions at interview in the link posted by whiteroseredrose. Like a PP said, the interview was very much like a tutorial, with me coming up with argument after argument, hypothesis after hypothesis, most of which were shot down in flames by the 3 interviewers

I'm not sure very many parents will have the knowledge required to be able to do that.