SHOW HOW SMART YOU ARE

It’s time to display your achievements and abilities. Once you’ve completed the kind of personal statement that tells admissions tutors what you’ve read, thought about and still want to learn, you can confidently plunge back into A-level work. However, you should also keep in mind the next hurdle ahead, which is the Oxbridge interview.

To make this easier to handle, especially for students from non-Oxbridge oriented schools, Oxford has just released sample interviews in a variety of subjects with added explanations. You can find some of those on the following website: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6866397.ece. Cambridge, meanwhile, offers new video interviews accompanied by a useful commentary on http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/interviews/.

The general message, as ever, is that successful applicants know their subject inside out, are capable of seeing it in a broader context and are willing to consider new ideas. For more detailed guidance, read chapters 9 to 14 of OXBRIDGE ENTRANCE: THE REAL RULES.