University Admission tests

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vas
Posts: 106
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:28 am
Location: Middlesex

Re: University Admission tests

Post by vas »

Daogroupie wrote:A private school student I know of had a mock interview every week through the whole of the year before applying and told me the actual Cambridge interview was exactly the same as the one she had been rehearsing all that time! DG
That sounds really odd as both Cambridge and Oxford ask questions to see your line of thought, not just an answer. You can practise to speak confidently and try out questions to speed your thought process, but being given an interview which has been rehearsed for over a year is a bit far fetched!

I thought most courses in Oxbridge had an entrance exam.
SteveDH
Posts: 464
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:30 pm
Location: Harrow

Re: University Admission tests

Post by SteveDH »

vas wrote:
Daogroupie wrote:A private school student I know of had a mock interview every week through the whole of the year before applying and told me the actual Cambridge interview was exactly the same as the one she had been rehearsing all that time! DG
That sounds really odd as both Cambridge and Oxford ask questions to see your line of thought, not just an answer. You can practise to speak confidently and try out questions to speed your thought process, but being given an interview which has been rehearsed for over a year is a bit far fetched!

I thought most courses in Oxbridge had an entrance exam.
That must have been more down to luck, unless the student knew the college and course they were applying for as the interview tends to vary from college to college and course to course.
My DD's interview at Cambridge was totally different to all the practice ones she'd had at school etc. Basically her's were (there were 2, on the same day, with a written test in the middle) effectively just verbal tests on what they assumed she knew, although one of the questions on big G, totally threw her as she hadn't yet covered that in school.
For most courses at Cambridge entrance is handled entirely by the colleges, some will have a test or expect you to have done a TSA but each college is different.. and sometimes their requirements may determine which is best to apply to.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11099
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: University Admission tests

Post by Daogroupie »

Cambridge is currently focused on AS/UMS results and interviews and Oxford on entrance tests and interviews.

This article was about the option of Cambridge moving to entrance tests as AS exams start to disappear. DG
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