by Chloe Peratikou Experienced Tutor and Literature and Arts Masters Student at the University of Oxford, with a BA (with Honours) in English Literature, First Class
Posted December 2025
Oxbridge Interviews: Your Time to Shine!
The time has come again when many ambitious students are receiving invites to interview at Oxford and Cambridge. If you have been invited to interview and are scrambling and panicking trying to prepare, this blog is for you.
First, congratulations! You have already proven that you are amongst the best students in the world! No matter how this interview goes, don’t forget to be so proud of yourself for getting this far. It took sacrifices and lots of hard work – take the time to celebrate this win!
So much about the interview process is about your mindset. You put so much into the application and really become so emotionally invested in it. One thing I would say is to approach the interview as part of the journey rather than the final hurdle. Instead of putting pressure on yourself, remember how far you’ve come, celebrate the achievement, and try to enjoy the process.
Even if you don’t get an offer, an Oxbridge interview is a great opportunity to discuss a subject you are passionate about with a leading scholar in the field. Although it can be stressful and intimidating, it’s also supposed to be fun and enjoyable. A good way to mitigate the anxiety is to look at it as a stimulating and exciting conversion. You will gain so much from the experience regardless of the outcome.
If you are really excited about your subject, you might have felt frustrated trying to find people who are willing to talk about it at length with you – now you are about to go in and do that! Focus more on the enjoyment of getting to talk about something that you love, and less on trying to impress the interviewers.
Common misconceptions are that interviewers are testing to see how much you know, or how smart you are, or trying to trip you up.
This is not the case! The admissions panel has had other opportunities to test your knowledge and this is not a memory exam. Also, it’s not a test on how smart you are because the interview tests very specific skills, and does not say anything about your overall intelligence and abilities.
So, what are they actually looking for? In short, someone they can teach!
Remember that the learning style at Oxford and Cambridge is very different to many other universities. Instead of learning through classes, most of the teaching is done through conversations, known as tutorials or supervisions, normally with 1 tutor and up to 3 students. The interview tries to emulate that as much as possible, to see if you would respond well to this type of learning.
They are testing two things:
For most interviews, you will have some sort of problem sheet, source, or text, to work through. Sometimes you will get a few minutes to look at it beforehand, but other times you will be given the material on the spot. Once again, this is not a knowledge test, and it will likely be something that you haven’t seen before! They want to see how you work with unfamiliar material, how you respond to their feedback and how you think through complex problems.
⭐Think out loud
Whether you are analysing a poem, a historical source, a piece of legislation, a news article, or solving a problem sheet, DO NOT by any means sit and struggle in silence. Verbalise your thought process and take a step-by-step approach, telling the interviewer exactly how you got there, and what approach you are using. If you are not entirely sure, discuss possible solutions based on theories and approaches that you do know. The interviewer will feed information to you to try to help you through it. The more you share your thinking, the more they will be able to assess you accurately, and the more likely they are to give you feedback which you will find helpful. This brings me to my next point…
⭐Take feedback
Remember that at the interview they are looking for people they can teach. This means that you need to be open minded and receptive to feedback. The interviewer wants to see how you develop or change your opinion or approach, based on new information presented to you. This is why it’s important to be present in the moment, rather than stuck in your head. Focus less on proving what you know, get out of your head and listen to the interviewer. It’s not an introspective process. Show that you are teachable by working with them and responding to what they are saying.
⭐Show flexibility
On a similar note. You need to show flexibility. Of course, there needs to be a balance between defending your opinion and being open minded, which I will get to in a second, but it is absolutely okay, if not recommended, to change your mind about certain topics. The interviewer might introduce an idea or approach that you hadn’t thought about before. Work through it and consider how this might impact or change your stance. Be open minded and consider how looking at problems through different perspectives might change the outcome. What alternative outcomes are there based on the different approaches to the problem? Again, be teachable, don’t be so fixated on your approach that you forget to humbly consider other ways of thinking.
⭐Support your opinion
On the other side of this, there are some instances where you will need to defend your opinion or approach. Sometimes interviewers may deliberately take an opposing stance to see how you handle it. They will often do this during tutorials and supervisions, so it’s a pretty accurate recreation of the sort of teaching to expect. You need to strike a balance by being open-minded whilst still having a backbone. If you are defending your opinion, it’s important to not get repetitive or tie yourself in knots. Again, use the information that the interviewer is giving you to see how you can evolve your approach. Can the data, theory, or idea that they are giving you be reinterpreted in a different way? Can you consider a different ‘middle-point’ approach? Is there a way of adding to what they are telling you? Be careful: adding to what they are saying, not ignoring it to restate your opinion.
⭐It’s a conversation
On a similar note, look at the interview as a conversation, not a series of questions. Again, they want to see how you are able to evolve and learn throughout the process. If it’s relevant to the question, consider going back to something you discussed earlier, to say how it might inform your view about whatever they just asked you. Remember the feedback that they give you; it could be pointers that will help you later in the conversation. This is why it’s important to be present in the moment, rather than being stuck in your head and trying to remember everything you know.
⭐Don’t be afraid to ask questions
As you can see, the interview is about how you learn. If you already knew everything, you definitely wouldn’t be applying to study this course for 3-4 years. Once again, they want to see humble, teachable students. If you don’t know or remember something, it’s okay to ask! Do not, by any means, try to dodge the question or change the topic to something you are more familiar with. This goes back to the earlier points about being flexible and responsive to the feedback and information they give you. You can even say phrases such as “I hadn’t considered that before”, “Well, when using this approach the outcome might change because…” “I’m not as familiar with this theory but based on what you are saying…”, “could you clarify what you mean by…”
⭐Don’t be too harsh on yourself
Interviewers will deliberately push you until you no longer know the answer. They want to see how you handle that and whether you are able to creatively solve something you are unfamiliar with. If you stumble in the interview it might actually be a good thing! Lots of people who think they flunked their interviews actually end up getting offers.
In short, it’s a lot more simple than you might think. It’s just about having a conversation, using the input they give you, considering multiple ways of thinking and demonstrating your flexibility and passion! Just like when having any conversation, you wouldn’t just stick to what you are thinking without considering what the other person is saying. It’s the exact same here!
Although the interview is an intuitive process which tests your thinking, there are some things that you can prepare to make the experience a little smoother.
1️⃣Basic A Level concepts
Although the interview is not about what you know, you are still expected to have a foundational understanding of common subject knowledge studied in your A Level. Don’t panic, you already studied this, and you clearly have done pretty well at it! Do a quick revision, but as I said, it’s not the point of the interview. You might be expected to recall some of these ideas, but it’s not to test your memory. The interviewer will most likely use them to push you to new ideas.
2️⃣Anything you mentioned in your personal statement
They will assume that you have read and are familiar with whatever you wrote about in your personal statement, and might ask you further questions about it. Hopefully it’s something you have already read and are passionate about. If it’s been a while since you read it, do a quick scan and make sure that you are prepared to talk about it. They don’t ask about this at every interview but definitely be prepared just in case!
3️⃣Up to date with research and news about your field
A good way to show your passion is to be up to date with current research and news. This might be especially important for fields such as politics, law or medicine but it’s good to be familiar with this regardless of your degree. In the weeks leading up to your interview, stay up to date on the news and check whether anything new and interesting has been published that you could pull on. For politics, it’s not uncommon to be given a very recent source, and it’s helpful to be aware about what is going on.
1️⃣Solving unfamiliar problems
Practice source analysis by finding material relevant to your degree and analysing it through different perspectives. For more science based subjects, try to find some mock questions and practice answering them in a similar way.
2️⃣Thinking out loud
This is a skill many don’t get to practice as much in school, and it can feel unfamiliar. Definitely practice voicing your thoughts and talking through a problem in a step-by-step way. Consider recording yourself to spot ways that you can improve your expression.
3️⃣Mock interviews
Since so much of the interview is based on the input given by the interviewer, it’s important to practice this conversation style. Try to find people who want to talk about the subject with you and have several conversations or debates about it. For a more serious mock, ask your teachers if they would be willing to give you a mock interview. Don’t be discouraged if they refuse; they can be very busy and might not have time! There are other ways to get help.
If you would like specialist support, you can book mock interviews with current Oxbridge students and tutors! Our expert tutors at OXSS are knowledgeable about the Oxbridge system and will be able to simulate a realistic interview environment. If you want to practice with real academics, I would definitely recommend booking University Admissions Support with us.
I hope that you found this helpful! Good luck and remember to enjoy it! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions. 😊
We hope that you have enjoyed reading our blog and feel ready to sit your Oxbridge interview. You may be interested to read related articles for university applications. To read one of our other blog posts, please return to the main blog page. If you would be interested in working with OXSS for support throughout your university admissions journey, please contact us today for further information or apply via our online application forms.
This post talks you through what to expect at an Oxbridge interview, considering points such as what to wear, how to prepare, what to expect at the interview, and dealing with offers thereafter.