Sample interview questions physics and maths for natural sciences answers

Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA), 2x interviews

Interview content

Interview 1: questions on personal statement, maths problem, then a chemistry question Interview 2: discussion about a-levels then problem-based questions

Best preparation

Revising subject knowledge and books mentioned on personal statement, mock interviews

Test preparation

Practice questions, revising subject knowledge

Final thoughts

Try not to stress about it too much

Remember this advice isn't official. There is no guarantee it will reflect your experience because university applications can change between years. Check the official Cambridge and Oxford websites for more accurate information on this year's application format and the required tests.

Also, someone else's experience may not reflect your own. Most interviews are more like conversations than tests and like, any conversation, they are quite interactive.

Test taken: Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment (NSAA)
Number of interviews: 2
Time between interviews: 2 months as I was pooled *
Length of interviews: 25 minutes
Online interview: Yes

*the vast majority of Cambridge applicants who are put in the Winter Pool aren't asked to do an additional interview, but this does happen in a small number of cases

In my first interview, I was first asked about my personal statement initially. I was asked some questions about what I had read and how much I knew about it. Then I was asked to solve a maths problem, and finally, I was asked some questions about a certain concept in chemistry to get me thinking about it in different ways. The interviews were friendly but fairly straightforward and they got to the point quite quickly.

In my second interview, the interviewers were much more friendly and relaxed, we started by talking about my A levels and how I was handling it. Then we went straight into problem-based questions. They showed me different scenarios and I had to explain my thinking of what the answer would be, or what would make sense.

I revised my subject knowledge and had mock interviews from a few teachers in my school. The most useful mock interviews were from teachers in my subject who were already teaching me, as they knew what I needed to know and could guide me through the interviews well while giving me tips on how to answer questions in a subject-specific way. Doing mock interviews mostly helped with my confidence as I knew what to expect and it helped show any gaps in my knowledge that I needed to work on. I also reread the books that I said I had read so they were fresh in my mind.

Practice questions on an online website made for the NSAA , revising subject knowledge

My advice is to not stress about it too much. If it goes well that's great, but even if it doesn't there are still plenty of amazing unis out there and you can still have an amazing career and experience from those unis too. The worst thing you can do is stress about it and become your own worst enemy.