In some cases, interviews are expected to take place in schools, and so you and your school will need to check that you have access to the required technology listed on this page. Download thefull transcriptof the podcast. Listen carefully to the questions and don't be afraid to ask for them to be repeated. (submitted by Oxford university applicant) Comments, Show that if n is an integer, n^3 - n is divisible by 6. A helpful diagram might look something like: You might notice that the second listed point is in the centre of the opposite face, which should make the question a little easier. Strong responses would include lots of explanation of their thinking about why there might be good reasons for the law to be committed to only punishing the guilty; the goals of punishment and its justifications; and why we need to promote trust in law enforcement institutions and the law. Do we really believe that bankers are so much better than other workers in terms of skill? Can you give me an example? What's clear from all of this is that we're not looking for a single answer. 3) Youdidhave evidence of the homeless mans guilt in the murder of the young woman, but you knew it would be rejected by the court on a technicality of evidence rules? And should government do something to limit how much they get? We want to encourage candidates to talk about a subject on which they know something, but where probing questions can lead them to look at what they know in a new and revealing light. At this point, I'd ask questions that bring out the candidate's broader reasoning skills in terms of thinking how we could define what it is rational to do in this game. For example, in the case of longer parliamentary terms: What would be the wider consequences of that change? Below is a subject-specific timetable outlining when online interviews took place in 2022 for applicants shortlisted for entry in 2023. Please be aware that you may only be given a weeks notice that you have been shortlisted. Some candidates might be inclined to dispute the premise that air transport contributes to climate change: thats fine, but we would then ask them to accept that premise for the sake of argument. 1) You discovered that the real murderer was the son of another prominent local family, and you believed it highly likely revealing the killers identity would lead to violence between the two families which could well result in numerous deaths? The virtual whiteboard is accessible via the Miro website or app atwww.miro.com. Please refer to theTechnology pageto see which tier your subject is in. The aim of this question is to see whether the student can understand a new concept and apply it to a problem. in each case to be assessed in respect of the course applied for. A number is square-free if it doesnt have any squared prime numbers as factors, for example 6 is square-free because its only factors are 2 and 3 and neither are repeated. No. Second college interviews will be on Friday 9 or Tuesday 13 December. The interviewer might finish the discussion with a rather more difficult question, such as is a molecule only stable if all the carbons form four bonds?, thus challenging what is taught at school and getting the candidate to think critically about the nature of a chemical bond. You can only use words which you have defined mathematically and properly. 806 8067 22 Registered Office: Imperial House, 2nd Floor, 40-42 Queens Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3XB, Taking a break or withdrawing from your course. First interviews, usually just with a first college, will take place on Monday 5, Tuesday 6, Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 December. During the interview, your interviewers might show you a document by sharing their screen or pasting it into the Miro whiteboard, or by holding something up to the camera. First college interviews will take place on Monday 5, Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 December. Whether they are able to do that is in itself an important test, since much of philosophical thinking proceeds in this way. Please view the sample interview timetable for interviews in December 2022 (for 2023-entry), which were held online. Due to high demand for consultation slots, Cambridge Maths Mastermind for 2023 Entry, Oxford Computer Science Mastermind for 2023 Entry, Cambridge Computer Science Mastermind for 2023 Entry, Oxford Engineering Mastermind for 2023 Entry, Cambridge Engineering Mastermind for 2023 Entry, Oxford Economics & Management Mastermind for 2023 Entry, Cambridge Economics Mastermind for 2023 Entry, Oxford PPE / E&M / History and Econ (TSA), Imperial Engineering/Materials (Interview), Cambridge Biological Natural Sciences Interviews, Oxford Biology / Biomedical Sciences Interviews, What is special about the point (0.5, 0.5, 1)?, If you are struggling to get started with this, the interviewer may offer a simpler version of the problem For example: What is the distance between the points (0.5,0.5,1), (0.5,0.5,0), travelling along the surface of the cube?, How would you go about finding the distance between the points, If you are struggling more in the interview, they may give more comprehensive hints. Candidates will then be encouraged to offer and test-out more sophisticated proposals about the nature of blame. We use this question to open a discussion that could go in a number of different directions. Is it somehow waiting unconscious for a resurrection? A typical hint from the tutor would be to consider this case for 3 digit pairs (m,n) that is, Find as efficiently as possible all pairs (m,n) of positive integers satisfying the following two conditions: (a) two of the digits of m are the same as the corresponding digits of n, while the other two digits of m are both 1 less than the corresponding digits of n\ (b) both m and n are four-digit squares. They might be able to tell us about the challenges of translation, about what sorts of things resist literal or straightforward translation from one language to another, and this would give us an indication of how aware they are of how languages work. We use this sort of question to try to find how applicants think about problems, and how they might operate within a tutorial. Some colleagues play music in the interview and, similarly, ask what your thoughts are about it. Theprecise format of the interviews varies from college tocollege, but candidates will generally have one or two interviews in their first choice college, and at least one other interview at another college. Do new species evolve more frequently there, or go extinct less frequently? Each person has to choose a number between 0 and 100. What does it mean for someone to take' another's car? Does this rule always work for two numbers x, y say? Room Booking Calendar | Mathematical Institute Log in Members About Us Contact Us Travel & Maps Our Building Supporting Mathematics Alumni History Art and Oxford Mathematics News Vacancies Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Study Here Undergraduate Study Postgraduate Study Current Students Research Research Groups Case studies Faculty Books Outreach This question aims to challenge you in this way and move away from less mathematical words like bigger. Having established the second possibility as more being more plausible, the interviewer would probe to see whether the candidate recognises the significance of giving photoreceptors two chances to capture light as rays pass into and then out of the eye and why at night this might enhance vision. I agree not to ask or allow anyone else to observe the interview. Students have usually have learnt that the kidneys filter blood to remove waste products, such as urea, that must be eliminated from the body but many other useful substances which must not be lost including glucose are also filtered. And so on. What are the most important factors when choosing a uni? We would clarify the compound discussed here is different to the one in the first part of the question and that aqueous solution means water with acid or base added to control the pH. Which person (or sort of person) in the past would you most like to interview, and why? Is it a valid opposition to make? If Brian has these preferences how would you expect him to allocate his spending over the four days? Alternatively, try explaining concepts from your Maths A-level to your less mathematically-minded friends and family. How much do Oxford/ St Andrews care about GCSEs for less competitive courses? It really depends on what the applicant says they have read. Then we introduce the further proviso that the effect isnt observable in only children - there is something particular to being an older sibling that produces it. One was to provide definitions of each of them - which turned out to be less easy than one might think without using the other words in the definition. Where a proof fails is where you can construct a counterexample, and why you cant think of a counterexample should help you see your method of attack for proof. But even without knowing Rowling's work at all candidates could say something about themselves as readers, and how as readers they approach different kinds of books, and how writers develop a body of work and write for different audiences. Pirate A gets 98 coins, pirate B gets 0, pirate C gets 1, pirate D gets 0, pirate E gets 1, pirate F gets 0. They seem to mean something a bit similar, but not exactly the same. how would we evaluate whether it is 'good' or not, and does that matter? Is it easier for organisms to live in the sea or on land? Interviews are similar to Oxford's teaching tutorials and you may well find you actually learn a lot. Dont play it cool because youre nervous. After interviews, Oxford tutors use all the available information to decide who to make offers to. There may well be more than one right way to answer a question in which case tutors will be more interested in exploring your thought process. They arent trying to trip you up; they want to analyse every possibility. The trick is to think widely and not try and fit the answer to some lesson that has been learnt in school. Second college interviews will take place on Friday 9, Monday 12, Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 December. Often your answers will lead to a discussion and students sometimes feel they learn a lot in interviews despite their nerves. Thursday 8 December and Tuesday 13 December. (The same kind of thing applies to archaeology, the Quran, and non-Islamic historical sources for a study of the early Arab conquests. Why do you think an English student might be interested in the fact that Coronation Street has been running for 50 years? This triggers a 6-digit access code which is sent to your email address. One approach to this question is to first consider the flat regions of the graph. You will be interviewed by academic tutors, usually from a college. Read ourdetailed guidance on how to connect to Microsoft Teamsfor your online interview. How hot does the air have to be in a hot air balloon if I wanted to use it to lift an elephant? You will need to follow this link, which will open the whiteboard either in your browser or in the Miro app. You will need to switch between your interview Teams call and the Miro whiteboard, meaning that you might not be able to see the interviewers whilst using the whiteboard. Student: The maximum of x and y is the biggest of the two numbers. Thought-experiments are an important part of doing Philosophy. will feature in someones responses! Think about the answers you gave in any admissions test but don't worry if you can't remember these in detail. This is followed by the sample interview itself and then a tutors' commentary during which they discuss how they feel the interview went. A nice next step could be: If that is your formula for max, can write down your formula for min?, prompting you to reflect on their responses from earlier and write, They might ask: Can you write a formula for the maximum and minimum of three numbers?, which might prompt you to note that the. Interviewers might also use the Miro whiteboard to write out mathematical notation, draw sketches, annotate diagrams or text, or to add text. The middle rung of the ladder has been painted a differnt colour on the side, so that we can see it when we look at the ladder from side on. The relative solubility of a compound in octanol vs aqueous solution can be determined by putting a sample of the compound in a 1:1 mixture of octanol and aqueous solution and then measuring the concentration of the compound that has dissolved in each of the solvents. The question also has a psychological angle in thinking about reasons for people's behaviour and choices:Will everyone put in the same effort? If there are any adjustments you need because of a disability, make sure that the college which has invited you to interview knows about these as soon as possible. Many Biology tutors use plant or animal specimens often aliveas a starting point for questions and discussion, so applicants shouldn't be surprised if they are asked to inspect and discuss an insect or a fruit. Answers could relate to the racial/class/gender relations in society (who played the sports, and which sports, at any given time); international politics/empire (which countries were involved, did groups of countries play the same sport); economic development (the technological development of sports, how sport was watched); the values within a society (bloodthirsty sports to more genteel sports); health (participation rates); or many other issues the list is long. A. a capacity to absorb and use new ideas, B. the ability to think and work independently, and. If you have any problems getting hold of technology, talk to your school and if you still arent able to access it, then contact the college you are being interviews by. Couldnt she just have gone back to her old life? Decisions regarding second college interviews will be communicated to applicants by 11am on Monday 12 December. (Part 2), [Official] Gonville and Caius Applicants thread 2021, University College London Applicants' Thread 2022, Can I still get into oxford? Our Maths interview preparation courses might also interest you, run by our expert specialist maths tutors. When I was at school in the 1970s, there was talk of a pensions crisis that would one day hit. Working from definitions is a vital skill to have, as the pace at which you learn maths at Oxford is fast, and so it is essential that you are able to confidently apply mathematical definitions. Normally you will be interviewed by two tutors, occasionally more. Interviewer: Martin Speight, St Anne's College. In asking such a question, I as interviewer don't have in my mind a fixed answer or set of expected points as the candidate starts to respond; the follow-up on any question depends on how s/he sets about thinking her/his way through it. This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic. Below are additional subject-specific interview resources, some of which were filmed before the COVID-19 pandemic. This question is testing how well you can formalise your own intuitive ideas of maximum and minimum, and using what you already know about modulus. Is to die simply to be transported instantaneously to some new realm? TSR Decisions Drop In 17th April - 5th May, A-Level Option Help ( for Economics/PPE degree), Can I still get into oxford? The stylus does not need to be a smart or active stylus like an Apple Pencil. Interviewer: Ben McFarlane, Faculty of Law. The point of all this isn't to find out what you don't know but to get a sense of how you read a text or understand a piece of music, and how you think through issues or material. Good candidates should recognise that institutions matter a lot - respect for property rights and the rule of law appear to be pre-requisites for sustainable development. There is a wide range of other example interview questions on theComputer Science website. Additional interviews for those candidates will take place on Wednesday 14 December and decisions regarding additional interviews will be communicated by 11am on Tuesday 13 December. When I've used this question in live audiences, sometimes people say they'd pick the number 100 just because it'd throw a spanner in the works for everyone playing the game rationally. This question would come later in the interview, when we present candidates with an unfamiliar scenario and ask them to use what they know about familiar concepts (such as friction) to explain something. (answers in this book), give a vector proof that for a triangle inscribed within a semicircle, the included angle is always pi/2 (answers in this book), Is it possible to cover a chess-board with dominoes, when two corner squares have been removed from the chessboard and they are (a) adjacent corners, or conversely, (b) diagonally opposite. 806 8067 22 Registered Office: Imperial House, 2nd Floor, 40-42 Queens Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3XB We aim to give everyone a minimum of 24 hours notice of these additional interviews. The Mbius function itself doesnt come up in first year mathematics, but the reasoning used in this question about factors, comprimes etc. For example, in the Dresden case, the individual jet fighters act together as part of an organisation the air force whose aim is to bomb Dresden. As the pH is raised a greater proportion of the molecules will lose a hydrogen ion to become negatively charged, being charged reduces the solubility in octanol and so the relative solubility decreases. After developing this discussion for a short while, we might then push outwards from particular narratives to broader, conceptual issues, such as 'what is a short story?' Decisions regarding additional interviews will be communicated by 11am on Wednesday 14 December, and additional interviews will take place on Thursday 15 December. Have a look at theSample questionstab of this page and familiarise yourself with the kind of questions tutors might ask in your subject. Decisions regarding additional interviews will be communicated to applicants by 5pm on Friday 9 December. And we would hope that candidates would think about how, although literary texts often encourage us to react to their characters as if they were real people, actually these characters are constructed by an author, and what we see of them always reflects that authors choices. A guide to the conditional offers made by Oxford for undergraduate Mathematics courses. To this end, it may be helpful for you to arrange a practice interview with a teacher - perhaps they can ask you to work out a past MAT question in front of them. Add markings using the draw tool to highlight, point to, or annotate an existing image or text, Write out mathematical notation using the draw tool with your stylus, as though you were writing on a piece of paper. The aim of this question is to encourage candidates to think critically, creatively and comparatively about how historians know what happened in the past. So there is no moral reason for me not to travel by plane.' 'I agree that air transport contributes to harmful climate change. First, check your junk/spam folder. What are the different ways in which you listen to music? These interviews occur in December. We recommend that youcreate a Miro accountprior to your interview to practise using a virtual white board this is free to do. But we do want to see that they can get to grips with new information and use it in their reasoning. I would use this sort of open question to allow a candidate to talk about the availability of historical evidence in whatever time period, place or theme interested them from their school-work or wider reading. The crystals vary in colour and size, and probably represent different chemical compositions (different minerals). What about cases where an author denies that their work is political, but critics assert that it is is it purely a question of subjective interpretation? If I were to visit the area where you live, what would I be interested in? When Lucy tries to console Mr Tumnus, the faun, in Narnia, she tells him that he is 'the nicest faun I've ever met'. Eventually most students arrive at the conclusion that being an older sibling and having to teach a younger sibling certain skills and types of knowledge benefits their own cognitive skills (learning things twice, in effect). A fertile line of discussion centred on misleading someone by telling them the truth. In the second part of the question, you are asked to suggest how the rock formed, and why it looks the way it does (it is made of crystals of several different types, and the types of crystal vary in their average size). Explain why this might be a reasonable way to represent his preferences. Rather, we're interested in seeing how people think through a problem, figure out what are the relevant factors, respond when new information is provided, and so on. A homeless man comes to town. A ball, initially at rest, is pushed upwards by a constant force for a certain amount of time. Why is sugar in your urine a good indicator that you might have diabetes? If the technology goes wrong or the connection is bad, make sure you tell your interviewers so that they are aware. Are the cases the same? During the interview, your interviewers might share their screens to show you a document, or hold something up to the camera, but otherwise it is just a conversation. For some joint courses you may be interviewed separately for each subject area. Second college interviews will take place on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 December. Assuming everyone thinks like this, then everyone will eventually settle on 0 as their choice this is the formal game theory solution. Determine all pairs (m, n) of positive integers satisfying: (a) two of the digits of m are the same as the corresponding digits of n, while the other digit of m is 1 less than the corresponding digit of n (as in, say, 263 and 273); (b) both m and n are three-digit squares. Additional interviews will take place between Thursday 8 and Wednesday 14 December. Oxford typically receives over 22,000 applications for around 3,300 places every year and shortlists approximately 10,000 candidates. A lot of the focus of pure maths in university is rigour and formality. Is someone who risks their own life (and those of others) in extreme sports or endurance activities a hero or a fool? The pirates are perfectly logical, and entirely ruthless (only caring about maximizing their own share of the gold). She was white, and a rumour is spreading that the killer was a young black man, even though no evidence of this has been brought forward. Any universal (capacitive) basic stylus will allow candidates to work collaboratively on the Miro whiteboard. (submitted by oxf, What should I wear for a University Interview. Each candidate will have two interviews across Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 December (they may or may not be on the same day). The first seems non-problematically something that might well be bad for us (involving suffering), but the second is harder to assess not least because one can have differing understandings of what the state of being dead is: is it permanent annihilation? He votes for it, so it carries. Imagine we had no records about the past at all, except everything to do with sport how much of the past could we find out about? They need to demonstrate that they have recognised the various issues that arise. First college interviews will take place between Wednesday 7 and Friday 9 December. This triggers a 6-digit access code which is sent to your email address. Once youre in the interview, make sure that your head isnt cut off by your camera, and that you can look directly at the screen. What are the most important factors when choosing a uni? So are strawberries. Candidates will have a departmental panel interview on any of Monday 5, Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 December. Pirate A gets 97 coins, pirates C, E and G get 1 coin each, and the others get nothing. Some students might already have a detailed knowledge of demography, others might need to be given more relevant information the point isn't what they know, it's what questions they ask to make their conclusions, and how they interpret information to draw those conclusions. Literature forms an important part of a Modern Languages degree at Oxford, but we know that most candidates won't have studied literature formally before in the language for which they're applying. Online interviews should take place where applicants feel able to perform at their best. what concepts and equations might be useful? Interviewer: Helen Swift, St Hilda's College. Oxford & Cambridge (Oxbridge) University Interview Questions, Oxford & Cambridge University Interview Questions, Determine all pairs (m, n) of positive integers satisfying: (a) two of the digits of m are the same as the corresponding digits of n, while the other digit of m is 1 less than the corresponding digit of n (as in, say, 263 and 273); (b) both m and n are three-digit squares. How do they relate to each other? Each shortlisted candidate will be interviewed by two colleges, with the interviews with the first college on Wednesday 14 and interviews with the second college on Thursday 15 December. It reveals the extent to which they have a curiosity about the world around them. Decisions regarding additional interviews will be communicated to applicants by 5pm on Friday 9 December. This could lead into more philosophical discussions of what it means for a law to be binding and how legal rules might differ from moral rules or guidelines. If you are shortlisted, it is important that you recognise that in accepting your invitation to interview, you are agreeing to the following code of conduct: All the information on the tabs of this webpageand theInterview Guidewill tell you what you need to know. So eventually they will fall back on maths, and try to model the situation using equations. This question is not about hoping students will display their expert knowledge of tigers. Student: Oh yes, I can take the modulus, so I think the formula is. In addition, the interviewers may use the Miro whiteboard to write out mathematical notation, draw sketches, annotate diagrams or text, or to add text. All of the interviews will occur over a 4 day period -you won't be called back for interviews at a later date. Decisions regarding departmental interviews will be communicated to applicants by 2pm on Thursday 8 December. Decisions regarding second college interviews will be communicated by 2pm on Wednesday 7 December, with interviews taking place on Friday 9 December. What would your study need to measure? Its also a good question because it allows us to steer candidates away from prepared scripts (which are always a waste of time), and for us to see evidence of some of the instincts and skills that are really important in good History students: observation, noticing the unusual, being interested in the world around them, a questioning attitude, and the ability to see things from new angles. How can we estimate the mass of the atmosphere? Would it matter if tigers became extinct? Candidates who have grown up on Harry Potter might have read Rowling's new book and have thought both about Rowling's change of audience and their own change as readers from child to adult. If we assume each person spent 3 hours in the pillory, and they were occupied 12 hours per day, how many people would have experienced the device (assuming no repeats)? The interviewer might steer the discussion towards viral infections associated with high mortality, and the idea that any virus that killed off its host entirely would run the risk of extinction unless it could infect other host species too.