The Cambridge Interview

For many students, the University of Cambridge admissions interview can feel like the most unpredictable part of the application. But Cambridge describes the interview not as a conventional interview, but as an academic discussion designed to assess how a student thinks, responds to new information, and learns through dialogue. At its core, the process is closely connected to Cambridge's supervision system, where students regularly learn through small-group or one-to-one teaching.

What Is Cambridge Actually Looking For?

The interview is designed to explore whether a student is likely to thrive in the supervision style of teaching. Interviewers look at thinking skills, motivation, reasoning, flexibility, and the ability to engage with unfamiliar problems. In Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, this can include open-mindedness, critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to form and defend independent conclusions. In STEM subjects, interviewers place particular emphasis on fluidity with core concepts, flexibility, problem-solving, and willingness to have a go, even when an approach does not immediately work.

What Happens During the Interview?

Students can expect one or two interviews, with each typically lasting around 25 to 30 minutes, or one longer interview lasting approximately 45 to 50 minutes. Additional interviews may be required depending on the college or subject. Interviews can be online or in person, depending on the college's arrangements, and students cannot necessarily choose their preferred format.

The content is highly subject-specific. Students may be asked about material from their school curriculum, their personal statement, submitted written work, or topics related to their chosen subject. They may also encounter unseen material, such as a passage, legal case, poem, object, graph, or unfamiliar scientific problem. The purpose is often not to test whether the student has encountered that exact material before, but to see how effectively they can apply existing knowledge to something new.

There May Not Be One Correct Answer

One of the most important differences from a conventional school examination is that interviewers are interested in the route to an answer, not simply the answer itself. A student may be challenged with counterexamples, asked to reconsider an argument, or given additional information that changes the problem. Changing one's mind is not a weakness if the student can explain why the new evidence changed their reasoning. Equally, maintaining an original position can demonstrate strength if it is supported by sound academic reasoning.

Students are therefore encouraged to think aloud. Explaining assumptions, asking sensible questions, showing working, and responding to prompts allows interviewers to understand the student's reasoning process. In scientific interviews, this might involve breaking a complex estimation into smaller stages; in the humanities, it might mean analysing an unfamiliar passage and developing an interpretation through discussion.

How Should Students Prepare?

The strongest preparation is not memorising model answers. Students should engage deeply with their subjects, practise solving unfamiliar problems, revisit books or work mentioned in their application, and become comfortable discussing academic ideas with teachers or other adults. Mock academic conversations can be particularly useful because they recreate the dialogue-based nature of the interview.

Above all, students should be prepared to have a go. Cambridge interviewers recognise that applicants will be nervous. Students are not expected to know everything. What matters is their willingness to listen, reason, respond to new information, ask questions, explain their thinking, and keep working through an unfamiliar problem. The interview is ultimately an opportunity for Cambridge to observe how a student learns, rather than simply what a student already knows.