Oxford University Entrance Interview

[raj2011]

Hi, does anyone know what preparation is required for this and what sort of questions they ask. Especially for Engineering.

[Guest55]

Maths questions!

Also 'off the wall' questions to see whether the studenst can think outside the box. If you google (other search engines are available) you will find some books but other than brushing up on their maths and reading around the subject I would expect the school to give a practice interview.

[yoyo123]

moving this topic to University section.

[hermanmunster]

Try thestudentroom forum .. plenty of hints there

[solimum]

Be enthusiastic and passionate about the subject, ideally some project you've worked on that fired you with the desire to study Engineering - be someone the interviewers will want to spend the next four years in one-to-one tutorials or lab experiments with. If you don't know the answer, think out loud, try and relate it to something you do know about as a starting point - they want to see how you think, not that you've rehearsed a script. They will be using the UCAS personal statement as a starting point, so make sure you can expand on the points in it and that you have actually read the books you mentioned as being inspiring! Ask the interviewers about their own research interests - academics love an interested audience! There was a recent Radio 4 programme on this subject (for Classics) - see http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... Interview/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[dinah]

The thing that seems to be important is that it isn't an interview. It's a tutorial. It's a way of finding out how 'teachable' you are.Obviously you do have to have a base of knowledge or you will have nothing to say but you also have to be able to respond to the prompts they will give you and essentially think on your feet.It is very much about how you respond to something you have never seen or heard of before but is rooted in your subject.

[mim]

raj, which College? We have some feedback from Wadham, Oriel and Magdalen in Engineering, shame it's not Cambridge, lots more there. Basically only one interview, probably 3 interviewers, little/nothing on personal statement, focus on academic questions, about 30 mins. HTH, PM me if you prefer on the areas, which will be indicative. Agree it's like a tutorial to see how they think.