First, maybe talk about the interview process first.
There are more than 20 colleges in Oxford and Cambridge, and if graduate schools are included, there will be more than 30. Each college has its own independent interview, so the interview situation in different colleges is slightly different. You may meet a very friendly interviewer, give you a lot of tips, smile at you all the time and help you relax, or you may meet an interviewer who looks terrible, waiting for an opportunity and finding you out when something goes wrong. Just kidding. The interviewer mainly comes to test you, and also wants to see how you look for solutions, how you think, and whether you can effectively discuss academic issues with the interviewer when you encounter problems that you can't.
So depending on the institution you apply for, you may meet 1, 2 or 3 interviewers. Personally, there were/kloc-0 examiners in the first interview and 3 examiners in the second interview. Where are these interviewers from? As you may already know, they are your mentors for the next 3-4 years.
Generally speaking, each interview lasts 25-30 minutes, and you will have two interviews. In Oxford, one interview will be held in the college of your choice, and the other will be randomly assigned to you. However, in Cambridge, all interviews are conducted in the college of your choice. Even depending on the specific situation, there may be a third interview. If there is a third interview, it means that your interviewer is not sure whether to admit you to college, so it needs to be re-evaluated. So, usually you will have two interviews, each lasting 30 minutes.
What questions will be examined in the interview?
First of all, I want to say that questions like this generally don't appear: "Why do you want to study in Oxford?" "Why do you want to study chemistry?" . There may be exceptions, but in most cases similar questions will not be asked. Let's get straight to the academic issues.
But the first topic will be relatively simple, such as A-level, or As level, IB level. The example I give below is about biochemistry, because I studied this subject in Oxford. The first topic of my first interview was to draw an amino acid. This is very simple, and it belongs to the biological AS level. There is a whiteboard near where I sit, and the interviewer wants me to draw it. Starting from this simple topic, the difficulty gradually increased, and finally I got to the first year of college. For the sake of understanding, take my interview as an example: after "drawing amino acids", the next question is to practice forming peptide bonds by drawing another amino acid. More challenging is the next question: what is the atom with the most negative charge? Now that I think about it, this problem is not as difficult as it was then. But I was under a lot of pressure and nervous. This question really stumped me. The obvious answer is oxygen, but I'm wondering whether it's nitrogen or oxygen. Fortunately, I chose oxygen correctly. The topic near the end is a more difficult topic. Let me give you an example. The question I got was: If there are four bases instead of three, how will the structure of tRNA change? This question is definitely not studied at the A-levels level, and most biochemical applicants will not have an answer immediately.
I think that through this kind of question, you will be tested in two ways. First, can you get effective tips from the interviewer, so as to get the correct answer and find your own solution to the problem? Second, how enthusiastic you are about the subjects you are applying for. In the first aspect, the interviewer wants to know whether you are a very logical person, whether you will express your logical thinking process to another person, discuss problems, share ideas, and finally get the correct answer. I think this is very important, because this is exactly the course form after you go to college. The remedial class is not to teach you subject knowledge, but to discuss, and you learn by discussing with your tutor. Therefore, this is a very important quality, not just a skill. Next, let me give you an example.
In my first interview, I got a short essay entitled Interpretation, Transcription and Translation. How's it going? It's not hard, is it This is an AS-level topic, you can explain it clearly. But? How long should you write the answer? They will give you a question, involving two big and wide topics. Obviously, you can talk about this topic for a long time, but it cannot be what you should do in a 30-minute interview. So, you need to choose the information you want to convey to your tutor. You need to start with the basic concepts and talk for a while, say, one minute? You shouldn't show off at the beginning: I know dazzling knowledge that is not mentioned in A-level textbooks! This place examines your ability to explain logically from basic concepts to details.
The second part, your enthusiasm for this subject, which is naturally revealed or subconsciously expressed when you answer questions. Take me for example. In my second interview, there was a very difficult topic, which was the most difficult question in the whole interview and drove me crazy. It has been prompted by the interviewer, but it still hasn't been solved. I thought about it for two minutes, and suddenly the inspiration came. At that moment, I stood up from my seat, and my voice and tone of answering questions became louder. For the interviewer, it should be that they saw my strong passion for biochemistry, which is of course a plus. So, my advice to you is to exaggerate your excitement appropriately. When you get a hint, you suddenly understand the question and know how to make the right answer.
How to prepare for the interview
Finally, talk about how to prepare for the interview. I will share with you two skills that I have used myself, both of which are applying some discussion skills, so that you can better organize your own thinking process and express it.
The first skill was taught to me by my biology teacher. For example, you now have 20 topics about biology, such as stem cells, transcription, cloning and so on. You choose any one, such as stem cells, and then you need to talk about this topic for one minute, just like telling a story, at least 1 minute. Actually, it will be much more difficult than you think. At first, I thought it looked like a cake. Transcription is a simple topic, so there should be no problems. But it's actually very difficult, because it's easy for you to stop, think about it and start over. So this will get you started. It will make you better organized and optimize what you want to say, which part is important, which part should be said first and which part should be said last. Let's go back to the topic of transcription and translation. There are many words that can be extended. You can go on. But as I said just now, if we start with the basic concepts, 1 minute is enough. So, when I finished explaining in a minute, I asked the interviewer if he needed to continue, and he told me that he didn't.
For international students, English is not their mother tongue, so it is very important to cultivate such oral ability. This will greatly improve your discussion skills and avoid "hmm." . Hmm. . "Wait for pause and sentence interruption.
The second training method is to read the subjects you are interested in, preferably above A-level. First of all, find some A-level books, which can not only increase your interest in this subject, but also add highlights to your personal statement (ps). For example, in the summer vacation before applying for UCAS, I read two books on biochemistry. I am very interested in stem cell research, and my second interview started with "Tell me about stem cell research". Therefore, be sure to read journals and articles related to the subject you are applying for. They must be very useful.
Finally, don't underestimate the content of A-level. I gave two examples, both of which are A-level topics. If you can't answer all these questions satisfactorily, you will lose face. Make sure you understand everything involved in A-level. Especially when you have completed all the A-level courses, you may forget some details when applying.
When did you start preparing for the interview?
The interview notice is usually issued two weeks before the interview date. This means that you have at least one month's preparation time from submitting UCAS (British University Application Form) to receiving the interview notice, between June 5438+1October 65438+May. Personally, I started preparing for the interview immediately after submitting UCAS. You may think that it is not a waste of time to prepare in advance if you don't receive the interview notice in the end. But it would be a pity if you only have two weeks to prepare. Think about it. My suggestion is to prepare immediately after submitting UCAS. You don't need to spend hours doing it every day. It may be good to spend a few hours a week at first.
International students applying for Cambridge University can have an interview in their own country. For example, China applicants can interview in Shanghai and Singapore applicants can interview in Singapore. These students may receive an interview notice three weeks before the interview. In this way, you only have five weeks to prepare from submitting UCAS to the interview, so it is necessary to start preparing as soon as possible.
Importance of interview
Because most applicants can meet the minimum score requirements, usually A*AA or IB 39-40, the interview is by far the most important step. During the interview, the university will really evaluate the academic potential of these high-scoring students. There are data to prove it.
There are about 630 chemical applicants in Oxford University every year, 90% of whom have been informed of the interview, but only 28% of them have passed the interview. This shows the importance of the interview. Of course, if there is an entrance exam, the difference between the two percentages will be smaller, because the results of the entrance exam will also consider whether to send an interview notice. For example, about 60% of engineering applicants at Oxford University received an interview notice, but only about 22% were accepted.
Cambridge University will invite most applicants to attend the interview. This is one of the reasons why you need to prepare for the interview in advance.
I hope my blog post today will be helpful to all applicants and parents. Welcome to ask questions in the comments section at the end of the article. On the Gurume website, you can find the application experience sharing of Oxford and Cambridge students who are currently studying in different disciplines, and there are also some mock interview videos. Don't waste such great website resources!