Oxbridge English Interview Pack
Unsure of what to expect in your Oxbridge English interview?
Interviews can feel daunting and difficult to prepare for, especially when the format is unpredictable. However, they are incredibly important—some candidates succeed based solely on their interview performance.
This essential guide, created by U2's English tutors—all graduates of Oxford or Cambridge—helps you prepare effectively, ensuring you stand out and maximise your chances of success. It also offers valuable tips on how to present yourself and communicate confidently during the interview.
Core components of U2 Tuition's English guide:
- The first section of our 33-page guide focuses on building evidence of broader subject exploration to demonstrate your passion and motivation for English. Our graduates guide you through recommended readings (primary and secondary sources) and teach you how to reference key texts or online resources, such as podcasts, to justify your reasoning during the interview. We provide reading suggestions across all literary eras, with each recommendation accompanied by a thinking task—an interview question that directly relates to the text's content. Ideally, this process should begin several months before your interview to give you ample time to explore the necessary material.
- How to prepare for personal statement-based interview questions.
- What to expect in your academic interviews, featuring insights from numerous successful English candidates. These firsthand accounts detail the interview process, specific questions asked, and tips for handling different interview formats, such as theoretical questions, unseen poetry analysis, and questions related to your personal statement or the language component.
- Four in-depth worked interview questions, complete with clues for answering and further reading recommendations.
- Over 50 additional past interview questions, including six with clues, 20 wider theoretical questions, and 10 questions each on plays, poetry, and prose.
- Final tips for interview success.
Looking for additional mentoring for your Oxbridge or Russell Group English application?
Working with an Oxbridge English tutor is a great opportunity. U2 offers a network of Oxford and Cambridge-educated undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduates, ready to provide tutorials on key literary eras, personal statement writing, admissions tests, and interview preparation. To learn more and discuss your English application, book a free consultation via our Contact Us page.
We also offer mock interview days in November/December. Learn more here, or find out more about the Oxbridge tutoring and admissions support we offer here.
Unsure of what to expect in your Oxbridge English interview?
Interviews can feel daunting and difficult to prepare for, especially when the format is unpredictable. However, they are incredibly important—some candidates succeed based solely on their interview performance.
This essential guide, created by U2's English tutors—all graduates of Oxford or Cambridge—helps you prepare effectively, ensuring you stand out and maximise your chances of success. It also offers valuable tips on how to present yourself and communicate confidently during the interview.
Core components of U2 Tuition's English guide:
- The first section of our 33-page guide focuses on building evidence of broader subject exploration to demonstrate your passion and motivation for English. Our graduates guide you through recommended readings (primary and secondary sources) and teach you how to reference key texts or online resources, such as podcasts, to justify your reasoning during the interview. We provide reading suggestions across all literary eras, with each recommendation accompanied by a thinking task—an interview question that directly relates to the text's content. Ideally, this process should begin several months before your interview to give you ample time to explore the necessary material.
- How to prepare for personal statement-based interview questions.
- What to expect in your academic interviews, featuring insights from numerous successful English candidates. These firsthand accounts detail the interview process, specific questions asked, and tips for handling different interview formats, such as theoretical questions, unseen poetry analysis, and questions related to your personal statement or the language component.
- Four in-depth worked interview questions, complete with clues for answering and further reading recommendations.
- Over 50 additional past interview questions, including six with clues, 20 wider theoretical questions, and 10 questions each on plays, poetry, and prose.
- Final tips for interview success.
Looking for additional mentoring for your Oxbridge or Russell Group English application?
Working with an Oxbridge English tutor is a great opportunity. U2 offers a network of Oxford and Cambridge-educated undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduates, ready to provide tutorials on key literary eras, personal statement writing, admissions tests, and interview preparation. To learn more and discuss your English application, book a free consultation via our Contact Us page.
We also offer mock interview days in November/December. Learn more here, or find out more about the Oxbridge tutoring and admissions support we offer here.
Unsure of what to expect in your Oxbridge English interview?
Interviews can feel daunting and difficult to prepare for, especially when the format is unpredictable. However, they are incredibly important—some candidates succeed based solely on their interview performance.
This essential guide, created by U2's English tutors—all graduates of Oxford or Cambridge—helps you prepare effectively, ensuring you stand out and maximise your chances of success. It also offers valuable tips on how to present yourself and communicate confidently during the interview.
Core components of U2 Tuition's English guide:
- The first section of our 33-page guide focuses on building evidence of broader subject exploration to demonstrate your passion and motivation for English. Our graduates guide you through recommended readings (primary and secondary sources) and teach you how to reference key texts or online resources, such as podcasts, to justify your reasoning during the interview. We provide reading suggestions across all literary eras, with each recommendation accompanied by a thinking task—an interview question that directly relates to the text's content. Ideally, this process should begin several months before your interview to give you ample time to explore the necessary material.
- How to prepare for personal statement-based interview questions.
- What to expect in your academic interviews, featuring insights from numerous successful English candidates. These firsthand accounts detail the interview process, specific questions asked, and tips for handling different interview formats, such as theoretical questions, unseen poetry analysis, and questions related to your personal statement or the language component.
- Four in-depth worked interview questions, complete with clues for answering and further reading recommendations.
- Over 50 additional past interview questions, including six with clues, 20 wider theoretical questions, and 10 questions each on plays, poetry, and prose.
- Final tips for interview success.
Looking for additional mentoring for your Oxbridge or Russell Group English application?
Working with an Oxbridge English tutor is a great opportunity. U2 offers a network of Oxford and Cambridge-educated undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduates, ready to provide tutorials on key literary eras, personal statement writing, admissions tests, and interview preparation. To learn more and discuss your English application, book a free consultation via our Contact Us page.
We also offer mock interview days in November/December. Learn more here, or find out more about the Oxbridge tutoring and admissions support we offer here.