CHAPTER 12
Sample questions and answers
ā¢ General question advice
ā¢ The Specificity rule
ā¢ Sample general interview questions and answers
ā¢ Subject-specific advice
ā¢ Example questions and answers for Social and Physical Sciences
ā¢ Example questions and answers for Arts and Humanities
In this chapter you will learn to convince admissions tutors, and yourself, that you have the knowledge, understanding, commitment and desire to earn a place to study at Oxbridge. First, you must learn to cope with the general interview style of question, which looks at your motivation on why you wish to study at Oxbridge. Here, you will learn about the Specificity rule and how to apply it. You will then take an in-depth look at the three question types: guesstimate, description/explanation and experimental design. This is complemented by specific questions and worked examples for Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and the Arts and Humanities.
General question advice
You may have a general interview as part of your Oxbridge selection process; this will be very different from your subject-specific interview in several areas. First, it will be conducted by academics who may not be specialists in your field. The aims will differ too; they are to assess your general thinking processes and whether or not you have an āOxbridgeā mind in the broadest sense of the term. They are likely to focus on questions on your motivation and commitment, and on points of interest from your personal statement. The interviewers may also ask some general questions about why you wish to study at Oxbridge and their particular college, which you must prepare for.
This interview is certainly important, and as such, you should review the general questions and answers below to help prepare for this particular hurdle. In addition, make sure you use the Specificity rule.
The Specificity rule
One of the tools for answering general Oxbridge questions is the so-called Specificity rule, which will help to give your answers more substantial bulk. Consider the following two student statements.
Statement A: āI am really looking forward to the tutorial system, and exposure to cutting-edge research in a prestigious institution such as Cambridge.ā
Try to imagine this from the perspective of an interviewer. What questions might you ask yourself about this statement? Does this student understand what the tutorial system is, and will they benefit from it? This does not mean they have more than a superficial level of comprehension about what actually goes on in this institution, and what the benefits are.
The next part of the statement deals with cutting-edge research, another prime advantage of an Oxbridge education. What exactly are they referring to? Do they know what is going on at the cutting edge? What are the major categories? What areas in their field are well known, and which are less well known?
As you can see, what looks like a reasonable answer to most students actually gives rise to more questions in the mind of the interviewer, who may then go on to ask further testing questions; but the best students will help the flow of the interview by dealing with these questions. Now consider statement B.
Statement B: āI look forward to the tutorial system and I hope to engage in greater amounts of discussion as my understanding of the subject increases. I also look forward to participating in cutting-edge research; at the moment I understand there are several groups in the Mathematics department looking at developing quantum cryptography, which I find particularly interesting as it addresses a genuine need for secure communication, using techniques only made available since the advent of quantum computation. However, I hope to discover new areas of interest as my course progresses.ā
Notice how this student vastly improves on the first answer. She uses specific, named examples of research, giving some detail whilst leaving this topic as an obvious one for the tutor to explore. In reality, she had already undertaken significant research into the basic principles of quantum cryptography.
This student also has a specific element of the tutorial system which is named, and this helps the admissions tutor to address some of the concerns raised in answers similar to statement A. In addition, it prevents the tutor having to ask smaller further questions such as āSo what research in particular are you interested in?ā and allows them to progress to much more substantial (and interesting) questions such as āWhat are the current difficulties in developing a quantum cryptography system for transatlantic communication?ā
Therefore, the Specificity rule states that inserting a named, specific example to back up your statements has the dual advantage of demonstrating your knowledge and understanding, whilst at the same time maintaining the flow of the interview. Therefore, you should do this wherever it is feasible in your interview.
Think about this rule and try to apply it to the following general questions in the next section, as you generate answers that are unique for you.
Where can you find up-to-date information on the research activities of the university?
The best way is to find it online, by looking at the departmental website for your subject. Often there will be a dedicated tab or page which is denoted āResearchā or āResearch interestsā. This is clearly a good way to start. Another way is to find the biographies of the leading academics within the department. Within their biographies will be statements about the research interests of leading academics in the department. Finally, if this has not yielded any fruitful results, you can try to look for a page on the publications produced by the department. This is commonly entitled āPublicationsā or āPublished workā. The downside of this final method is that this will represent work that has already been completed, the results obtained and the research written up. The upside is that it gives you an idea of the achievements of the department, and a feel for where it might be heading.
Wherever you finally find the information, do not simply write down what is there and regurgitate it during the interview. This is a pointless exercise which can be easily exposed by follow-up questioning. You should try to place it within the scheme of your own knowledge of the subject. For example, if the department has ongoing activity on the genetic code of particular algae with a view to optimizing biofuels, which areas of your current understanding may be linked to this?
First, gene sequencing is part of the study of genetics, which in turn is part of cellular biology and biochemistry. Biofuel efficiency is also part of biology in terms of ecology (and its impact on the environment), as well as physics and chemistry (energy and its relationship to breaking bonds). Therefore, you can start to think about how this branches out into your chosen subject. Think about what other biofuels you know, where they are being used and how efficient they are. Read about gene-sequencing techniques ā what is the latest one being used? What are the general principles of how it works? Could you explain these fundamental principles at interview in a few sentences?
You can see how looking up current research is not a simple matter to be allocated a few minutes of your time. Treat this as an intellectual exercise to stimulate further revision, organization and creativity in your thinking about your chosen discipline. Some students feel they benefit from drawing a map of the sub-topics and placing pins or Post-it notes in the areas where the research applies. This can be very helpful in giving a visual overview of ...