Conversation Between Oromis263 and Brutal Chav

The interview questions for Chemistry were based on the A-level syllabus and weren't too awkward. I only got one maths question (in the second interview) which I couldn't have prepared for that much. If you can think outside the box and do SMC/PAT type maths problems then I guess that might be enough. The physics questions were far easier than I expected to be honest, which was disappointing because I wanted to make up for a weaker performance at chemistry, and were just general mechanics problems. I really doubt you need that much preparation for the interviews but if you want to be confident and/or like physics, you might want to start keeping note of any difficult mechanics problems you solve (BPhO helps) and start learning derivations like Snell's Law from the principle of least time. I learnt the maths proofs up to A2 aswell - things like differentiating sin, cos and tan from first principles etc, proof of product rule and tricks like differentiating x^x and other nasty crap. British Physics Olympiad papers (paper 2, the one with 2 sections and out of 100 marks) are probably the best resource for practice on the King's test. The maths questions on it are pretty easy (multiple choice) but the physics ones are in the same style as BPhO. If you can get 70/100 on BPhO papers I think it means you're practically in... this year it was 66/100 needed for a 'top-50 Gold' and about 1600 people sat the paper (including presumably 90% of the Oxbridge physics applicants). If about 170 get into Oxford physics and 200 get into NatSci wanting to specialize in physics every year, and you're in the top 50, chances are things look good for you. No idea how much emphasis they put on UMS but I'd go with the general opinion that it's loads. Tbh I think as long as you don't waste your gap year you'll be fine. Just always assume that you're the worst applicant there and that should provide enough work motivation.

Hey there, I'm a Cambridge Natural Sciences (Physical) reapplicant in the upcoming year, and I know I spoke to you at some point or other about it, in a thread. Anyway, I've settled on King's most likely being the college I'm going to apply to, and after some research/emails, I've found that there is a maths/physics test pre-interview, which I think will play to my strengths. Hoping to destroy my rather poor (well, relatively) AS UMS, and have been going strong this year.

Just wondering, in terms of the interview, were the questions quite abstract, getting you to think about a physical situation and give a reasonable argument as to what you think would happen, or more mathematical, requiring manipulation/proof? As well, would BPO/PAT papers be a sensible way to revise for the style of test pre-interview? Would be a big help. Cheers!