How Online Oxbridge Tutoring can Help with Interviews
Introduction to Oxbridge Interview Tutoring
The Oxbridge application process is long! Being offered a place to interview is a wonderful achievement, but it also brings a lot more preparation and work along with it. Up until this point, Oxbridge only sees you on paper. The interview is your chance to come to life and show your enthusiasm and curiosity to your potential future tutors. This is a great opportunity to show them your potential but it also means you need to work to ensure you demonstrate a real, genuine interest and knowledge. There’s no cutting corners here.
Oxbridge interview tutoring can help you best prepare for your interview by connecting you with an expert Oxbridge tutor who has aced the process themselves and can guide you through it. Oxbridge application tutors offer guidance for all elements of the interview process, providing subject-specific prep and interview skills to build your confidence and help you excel. This guide will give you an in-depth explanation of how an Oxbridge application tutor can see you through the interview process.
If you’re looking for help with other areas of the Oxbridge application process, we also have advice on personal statement prep, exam preparation and more.
What happens in an Oxbridge Interview and how can Oxbridge interview tutoring help?
Without guidance, the Oxbridge interview process can seem very obscure. It is a challenge to prepare for something when you don’t know what exactly it is you’re preparing for! Oxbridge applications tutors will help you break down the interview and understand what you’re really being asked to do, and how to do it well.
What will happen in my Oxbridge interview?
Oxbridge interviews vary according to the subject you’re applying for but in general they will consist of:
Questions related to your academic interest or personal statement
e.g. why do you want to study at Cambridge?
Tutors can help you craft strong answers to these kinds of questions, putting you in a great position for this part of the interview.
Questions related to your subject
These questions are designed to delve into your subject and test your knowledge.
A subject-specific Oxbridge applications tutor will help you prepare by covering a wide range of interview questions for your subject, ensuring you feel ready to tackle the interview and aren’t phased on the day.
Discussion-based questions
You’ll likely be asked questions as part of a broader intellectual discussion on your topic with your interviewer. These questions are designed to see how you can engage with and think critically about your subject.
By practising interviews with your tutor and building your subject knowledge, you’ll be able to handle more complex questions and show your thinking to your interviewer.
Case-study questions
Case-study questions vary depending on the subject. They might be a reading comprehension, analysis of a literary text or interpreting data but all of these questions are testing your ability to respond to information in an intelligent way.
Oxbridge interview tutoring will give you practise and feedback with answering these types of questions so you are confident responding to exactly the kinds of case-study you will receive in the interview.
Problem-Solving Questions
During your Oxbridge interview, you could expect to encounter problem-solving questions that are tailored to assess your analytical skills and ability to think critically within your subject area (especially if applying for a STEM subject). These questions are designed to evaluate how well you can approach complex problems and develop logical solutions.
By practising problem-solving scenarios with your tutor and deepening your understanding of key concepts in your field, you'll be better equipped to tackle challenging questions and demonstrate your thought process effectively to the interviewer.
Scenario-Based Questions
Scenario-based questions in Oxbridge interviews are diverse and depend on your chosen subject. They might involve analysing a scientific experiment, deriving mathematical proofs, interpreting economic data, or solving engineering challenges. Each question aims to assess your capacity to engage with and apply knowledge in a practical context.
Engaging in mock interviews with an experienced tutor will provide valuable practice and constructive feedback on tackling these specific types of scenarios. This preparation will build your confidence in addressing the varied challenges you may encounter during your interview.
Your Oxbridge interview will likely be held online which is why we also offer online Oxbridge tutoring to best simulate the interview process.
Oxbridge interview tutoring can help you build your subject knowledge and develop crucial communication skills to ensure you stand out in your interview. Working one-on-one with one of our Oxbridge applications tutors means you will receive tailored preparation guidance to ensure you build your knowledge and skills to ace your interview.
Preparing for Your Subject with Oxbridge Interview Tutoring
It’s important to build on your subject knowledge before your interview. During the interview, interviewers will delve into what you’ve written on your personal statement so you need to be confident justifying your ideas and developing them further as well as responding to new subject content.
An Oxbridge applications tutor who is an expert in your subject can help you expand your knowledge before your interview, providing relevant resources and content to build on your areas of interest and teaching you about key topics that are likely to come up. Refining your subject knowledge allows you to confidently showcase your expertise and interest during the interview.
By reviewing your personal statement, our Oxbridge applications tutors can predict questions tutors are likely to ask to help you be more prepared for your interview and feel confident in your ideas. They are also highly knowledgeable about the kinds of questions that come up for their subject at interview and can guide you in preparing for these.
We have a bank of Oxbridge Interview Questions that we make available to all students on our Oxbridge programmes or that can alternatively be purchased here. We also have subject-specific interview guides available here.
How Oxbridge Applications Tutors Can Help you Show your Thinking
At its heart, the interview is not testing what you know but how you think and how you communicate your ideas.
This means that communication skills are crucial for interview success. Many common Oxbridge interview questions test how you respond to new information and how you can communicate your ideas and thinking both succinctly and clearly.
Beyond content, Oxbridge applications tutors are well-placed to teach you the communication, problem-solving and critical skills that interviews test for. By teaching you how to “show your thinking”, Oxbridge interview tutoring allows you to respond well to any challenging interview questions. Oxbridge application tutors can teach you communication and presentation skills to ensure you excel in this part of the interview. These are highly practicable and learnable skills that a tutor can quickly help you to improve and become confident in.
By practising interview discussions with an Oxbridge applications tutor, you will gain confidence in responding to new content and articulating your own ideas clearly and confidently. These discussions also have a focus on honing your ability to showcase your intellectual curiosity, another thing interviewers are looking for.
Interview Practice with Oxbridge Applications Tutors
One of the greatest challenges of the interview is not knowing what to expect. You might have done all the academic prep and know your subject inside out but the interview is really testing a different set of skills that can only be honed through practice.
Oxbridge interview tutoring gives you invaluable experience of the interview format so you know what to expect on the day. Oxbridge applications tutors ensure you cover a wide range of questions as part of your preparation so you can be better prepared for what might come up in the interview. They also offer tailored feedback on your performance, assessing your areas of strength and coming up with a structured plan to improve on weaker areas.
Generally, Oxbridge interview tutoring is an incredible way to build your confidence and reduce anxiety surrounding the interview by helping you understand the interview format and feel more in control.
Oxbridge interviews are also trying to assess how you respond to unexpected content and questions. With practice, students can build their confidence and be able to handle these unpredictable questions calmly and with ease, allowing you to think clearly and respond to your full potential.
We also offer dedicated mock interview days which are designed to replicate the intensity and format of Oxbridge interviews with back-to-back interviews as well as 1:1 mock interviews with a private tutor and online Oxbridge tutoring to simulate the current interview format. Find out more here.
Three Key Benefits of Oxbridge Interview Tutoring
Learning to “show how you think”: Oxbridge interview tutoring helps you learn to clearly and effectively articulate your ideas, a critical aspect of the interview.
Get mock interview practice and receive tailored feedback: Through one-to-one mock interview practice and regular individual feedback, with an Oxbridge applications tutor you can refine your answers and feel more prepared for the interview.
Know what to expect so you can feel confident and smash the interview: Online Oxbridge interview tutoring ensures that you are familiar and comfortable with the online interview format and question types, meaning you give your best performance on the day.
Beyond Interviews: Comprehensive Support from Oxbridge Applications Tutors
In addition to ongoing 1:1 Oxbridge interview tutoring, we also offer a variety of other options to help you prepare for all the different elements of your Oxbridge application. Find out more here. These are all led by experienced Oxbridge tutors who offer unique insight and knowledge which helps their students successfully get an Oxbridge place. Offerings include:
Personal Statement Advice
Our expert tutors help you craft compelling personal statements that effectively showcase your strengths and interests, ensuring you stand out as a candidate and increasing your chances of securing an interview.
Summer Schools
We offer immersive summer schools in a vast range of subjects (E.g. Medicine, Law, Engineering, Economics). These are designed to help you deepen your understanding of your chosen subject and introduce you to university-level content which you can use to bolster your application.
Guidance on College Selection and Applications
Our tutors can offer you tailored advice on choosing a college that is the best fit for you, helping you make an informed decision. Our taster days, with guided visits to Oxford and Cambridge, allow you to shadow a current student in your subject of interest, gaining firsthand experience. If you’re interested, book a free consultation here.
Admissions Test Prep
Oxbridge tutoring provides specialised support for admissions test preparation, offering tailored feedback, guidance and effective strategies to help you excel. Find out more by visiting our Admissions Test Page.
Mock Interview Days
We offer dedicated mock interview days that give you a taste of the format and intensity of Oxbridge interviews so you know what to expect on the day.
In-person and Online Oxbridge Tutoring
We offer both in-person and online Oxbridge tutoring to best suit you and your individual needs. Online Oxbridge tutoring is a great option for interview prep as it gives you practice taking interviews online.
For a full list of the services we offer, take a look here.
Our Process:
1) After an initial consultation to discuss your needs, we’ll suggest an Oxbridge tutor with lots of experience leading students to success and send their full CV for review.
2) We typically suggest beginning with a 1 to 1.5 hour diagnostic session. The tutor will assess the student’s level and discuss what they want to focus on to ensure they provide tailored guidance. The tutor will then provide feedback and create a structured plan for subsequent sessions to ensure coverage of all areas of the application, as required.
3) U2’s approach for regular Oxbridge Tutoring: Tuition sessions will vary according to the course requirements of the subject students are applying for and their individual needs. Tutors are able to provide guidance and support for all areas of the application process and can focus on specific elements as needed. Students may choose ad hoc sessions, for example intensive online Oxbridge tutoring and interview prep in the run up to interview, or more frequent, long-term support designed to guide you through the whole process, from choosing a college to apply to, to sitting your interview.
Sessions from £75/h + VAT.