Past Interview Questions

The List of Past interveiw questions were from an independent organisation "Oxbridge Applications", enjoy :smile:

Cambridge questions

o are you an ambitious person? - Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, Cambridge
o how do you think that the pagan/Christian differences shown in the
Archaeology of Avebury relate to that of the Sutton Hoo ship burial? -
Archaeology & anthropology, Cambridge
o compare music to architecture ( I was pushed to answer questions on this
Topic for 20 mins - architecture, Cambridge
o how do you think science and art link together? - Architecture, Cambridge
o is humanity destined to repeat the mistakes of history?' - Classical archaeology and ancient history, Cambridge
o do I think its right for a country to fight another one in self defence -
classics, Cambridge o whether I could see a link between Greek and Japanese culture - classics, Cambridge
o if the government passed a law requiring people to wear seatbelts, why might this result in more road accident casualties? - economics, Cambridge
o when I was walking around the college in the morning, what questions did I
think or want them to ask me. - economics, Cambridge
o how do you think you could calculate the number of calories that you have
burnt after you have gone for a run? - engineering, Cambridge
o how does a fridge work, I had no idea! I suppose they asked this since I wrote 'I like finding out how everyday objects work' in my personal statement. - engineering, Cambridge
o do you think children's literature should be studied at university level? - English language and literature, Cambridge
o I would describe maps as an example of unreal realism. how would you react? to that statement? - geography, Cambridge
o compares the effects of live 8 to those of live aid. - geography, Cambridge
o here is a Papua new guinea TV schedule - geography, Cambridge
o where's our local limestone deposit? - geography, Cambridge
o what did I think of Ben Elton - history, Cambridge
o at one point was asked whether the American political system could be
compared to the feudal system of the medieval age. - history, Cambridge
o can you see a connection between Britain’s 'euro-skepticism' and its obsession with teaching about Nazism? - history, Cambridge
o has the French revolution ended? - history, Cambridge
o if you could interview anyone from history, who would it be? - history,
Cambridge
o is Hitler really evil? - history, Cambridge
o was it more detrimental or beneficial to Elizabeth 1's image to align herself
with the virgin Mary? - history, Cambridge
o whether I thought stansted expansion was a good idea? - history, Cambridge
o is Christianity solely about salvation? - history (modern), Cambridge
o were the Russian peasants mystically connected to the countryside? - history (modern), Cambridge
o what are the parallels between totalitarian control in the Nazi state and
forms of control in the western world today? - history (modern), Cambridge
o what can we learn from the south wall of Warwick castle? - history
(modern), Cambridge
o isn't golf all based on luck? - land economy, Cambridge
o whether northerners should be forced to move south for jobs due to
unemployment rates. - land economy, Cambridge
o do you think courts are like theatres? - law, Cambridge
o does law create morality or does morality create law? - law, Cambridge
o how comfortable is that chair? - law, Cambridge
o should judges be able to over-rule decisions made by parliament? - law,
Cambridge
o "if your friends were here now instead of you, what would they say about you? - mathematics, Cambridge"
o integrate arctan x! - mathematics, Cambridge
o what ever got you into pole dancing? - mathematics, Cambridge
o why do you play table tennis - mathematics, Cambridge
o what is a tree? - medicine, Cambridge
o at what point is a person "dead"? - medicine, Cambridge
o before my interview, when I got to the interview room 10 minutes early, the
door was locked and there was a note to candidates instructing them to
enter the room and sit beside the chymograph! I thought it was a test and a
part of the interview, so I sear - medicine, Cambridge
o how can reindeer tell the difference between spring and autumn? - medicine, Cambridge
o how is a city like a cell? - medicine, Cambridge
o how many genes are there in the genome of a rice plant? - medicine,
Cambridge
o how would you design a better brain - medicine, Cambridge
o if I was given a magic wand and I could eradicate all third world problems
but would have to stop all medical research and development, would I do it? -
medicine, Cambridge
o if urine was emptied into the intestine instead of the bladder, what would
happen? - medicine, Cambridge
o if you are in a boat in a lake and throw a stone out of the boat, what happens to the level of the water? - medicine, Cambridge
o if you could invite any 2 people alive or dead to a dinner party, who would
they be and why - medicine, Cambridge
o what does the letter b stand for in b-lymphocyte? - medicine, Cambridge
o what is your opinion on spontanteneous human combustion? - medicine,
Cambridge
o why don't we just have one ear in the middle of our face - medicine, Cambridge
o what would happen here if someone caught bird flu? (this question was asked in German) - modern & medieval languages, Cambridge
o do you feel that there is censorship in the English media? - modern & medieval languages, Cambridge
o if you had a rugby match, an orchestra concert and a piece of homework,
how would you prioritise them and why? - modern & medieval languages,
Cambridge
o if you had to send 3 things in a package to a group of isolated tribes’ people
that would immediately let them know what it means to be 'French', what would you choose? - modern & medieval languages, Cambridge
o tell me the most interesting thing about yourself. - modern & medieval
languages, Cambridge
o what is wrong with the sentence 'here comes bob'? - modern & medieval
languages, Cambridge
o why do things have names? - modern & medieval languages, Cambridge
o would you describe yourself as a post-modernist? - modern & medieval
languages, Cambridge
o describe a potato and then compare it with an onion. - natural sciences,
Cambridge
o do you think Neanderthals understood the concept of death - natural
sciences, Cambridge
o if you were a rat what would be the most important thing to you? (I think he wanted me to say food!) - natural sciences, Cambridge
o is it an advantage for a virus to kill its host? - natural sciences, Cambridge
o is there blood in your brain - natural sciences, Cambridge
o if I could pass any piece of legislation through parliament, what would it be? - philosophy, Cambridge
o what about fatalism? - philosophy, Cambridge
o is it better to be a leader or a follower? - social & political sciences,
Cambridge
o can you think of a piece of governmental legislation that includes both
compassionate and utilitarian aspects? - social & political sciences,
Cambridge
o do you like Birmingham? - social & political sciences, Cambridge
o how may we introduce feminism more effectively into business situations? -
social & political sciences, Cambridge
o what TV I had watched recently - social & political sciences, Cambridge
o what would you do if you were in charge of the world? - social & political
sciences, Cambridge
o where would you take a martian to show them British culture? - social &
political sciences, Cambridge
o why do the English like cricket so much? - social & political sciences,
Cambridge
o six candidates, two places, why you? - theology & religious studies, Cambridge
o define 'greed' - economics, Cambridge
o distance from London to new York, work out - economics, Cambridge
o tell me why playing your sport will make you a better economist - economics, Cambridge
o why do Ryan air try and sell tickets for Dublin day passes on flights into
London stansted? - economics, Cambridge
o a man, who is stuck in a burning house, calls to you and offers to pay you a
lot of money if you save him. however, upon saving him, he refuses to pay you this money. can you sue him? - law, Cambridge
o what is the difference between a rule, a command and a request? - law,
Cambridge
o what is the meaning of life? - law, Cambridge
o how does an electric guitar work? - natural sciences, Cambridge
o how would you cope if you weren't getting top grades if you were studying
here? - natural sciences, Cambridge
o if I wanted to create a new strain of potatoes that were purple, how would I go about doing this? - natural sciences, Cambridge
o if you had to look back on 2005 in ten years' time, what would you tell people about it? - natural sciences, Cambridge
o which way is the earth spinning? - natural sciences, Cambridge
o do you think that the TV programme space cadets is morally right? - social & political sciences, Cambridge
o if I put you in the British library for 3 days, what books would you read? -
social & political sciences, Cambridge
o how are cats similar to cows (in terms of digestion) - veterinary medicine,
Cambridge
o how does a cat know how far away a mouse is, when it is about to pounce on it. - veterinary medicine, Cambridge
o what percentage of the world’s water is contained in a cow? - veterinary
medicine, Cambridge

Oxford questions

o is it possible to grow mushrooms in the bathroom - biological sciences,
oxford
o to describe a log in the room. - biological sciences, oxford
o why is the sky blue? - earth sciences, oxford
o the had a toy car and propelled it by attaching a blown up balloon and
releasing it, they asked my question on how to increase the speed, the flow of the air and momentum. - engineering science, oxford
o what challenges do you think you would be facing as a formula 1 engineer
in 10 years time? - engineering science, oxford
o question: so.....this very passage is a fundamental contradiction of its own
message? what does that say about the writer when compared to the tonal
difference of the last line? answer: (pardon???)...... - English and modern
languages, oxford
o would taxi drivers use a different part of their brain to remember routes -
experimental psychology, oxford
o who do you most admire and why? - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o if a bank manager tells me I have £100 in my account when I actually have £90, and I go out and spend £100 thinking I have that amount, who is at fault and should I have to pay the money back to the bank? - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o if I said Manchester won a football match believing without a doubt that this
was true but actually Chelsea won, was I lying? - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o do you know where the multiplication sign came from - mathematics and
statistics, oxford
o what is the significance of prime numbers? - mathematics and statistics, oxford
o "how can china be so materialistic, and yet be one of the biggest Buddhist
countries in the world if Buddhism teaches non attachment?
o how can Buddhists believe in anatta (no permanent self) and also in karma
and rebirth? - oriental studies, oxford"
o I was given two pieces of Chinese art and asked to comment on the similarities
between them (and there were hardly any!) - oriental studies, oxford
o how do we know if 1 + 1 = 2 if the concept of numbers was in fact 'invented' by humans? - philosophy and modern languages, oxford
o why do you think grandparents feel the need to academically surpass their
children and grandchildren? - philosophy and modern languages, oxford
o is it possible for a society to exist in which everyone lies all the time? why? - philosophy, politics and economics (ppe), oxford
o define 'cruelty' - philosophy, politics and economics (ppe), oxford
o if there were three beautiful, naked women standing in front of you, which one would you pick? does this have any relevance to economics? - philosophy, politics and economics (ppe), oxford
o of all nineteenth century politicians which was most like Tony Blair? -
philosophy, politics and economics (ppe), oxford
o "put a monetary value on this teapot!
o (he wasn't joking either!) - philosophy, politics and economics (ppe), oxford"
o would you describe the following as 'traditional British values'? drinking tea,
eating roast beef and hitting school children... - philosophy, politics and
economics (ppe), oxford
o why can’t you light a candle in a spaceship - physics, oxford
o why does fire go upwards - physics, oxford
o what do you think of gay couples adopting? - psychology, philosophy and
physiology (ppp), oxford
o whether Mussolini would have been interested in archaeology - archaeology
& anthropology, oxford
o name a scientist that influenced me. - archaeology and anthropology,
oxford
o explain how a perm works - biochemistry, molecular and cellular, oxford
o for which disease do you think it is an advantage to be a carrier of cystic
fibrosis? - biological sciences, oxford
o here's a piece of bark, please talk about it. - biological sciences, oxford
o if I said that when I tossed this coin and every time it said heads you have to give me 50p but every time it showed a tails I give you a pound, how many times would you let me flip it and the coin show heads in a row before you would stop playing the game? - biological sciences, oxford
o does language exist? - classics, oxford
o should a doctor kill one person with little chance of living to save 3 others
who needed this person's organs immediately to survive? - classics, oxford
o was Augustus just an arrogant child? - classics, oxford
o what is free will? - classics, oxford
o what is life? - earth sciences, oxford
o are you in it just for the money - economics and management, oxford
o management: what would you do to overcome the language and cultural
difficulties after merger. - economics and management, oxford
o compare Stephen hero and Stephen daedalus to beavis and butthead. - English language and literature, oxford
o compare avian flu and hurricanes - geography, oxford
o define 'risk' - geography, oxford
o what did I notice about vegetation on the side of the a34 Newbury bypass? (I went past there on the way to oxford. - geography, oxford
o what would make anyone want to settle in a place such as Iceland? -
geography, oxford
o do you think the dumbing down of history for television and in museums is a
good thing? - history, oxford
o history repeats itself in paragraphs rather than sentences - history, oxford
o how would one apply effective governmental systems to Mongolia? - history
(modern), oxford
o was Russia just too damn big for democracy? - history (modern), oxford
o what is your view on women in the second world war, eg. any gains?(asked by a panel of 3 women) - history (modern), oxford
o why do archaeologists love pots so much? - history (modern), oxford
o explain the social behaviour of bees - human sciences, oxford
o why do few Americans believe in evolution? - human sciences, oxford
o explain Naomi Campbell’s life - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o if a man was in prison and dying, would it be right to kill him and give his
organs to seven or so people? - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o if there is a baby in a supermarket with a bomb strapped to it, would you shoot the baby to save x no of people? - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o you are a train driver. you are driving a train at maximum speed, and the
brakes suddenly fail. the track forks into 2 ahead of you. on the left side is a
car with one man in it, alive, who can't get out. on the right side is a car with
five men in it, al - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o you’re in a desert and 2 enemies are working independently. one poisons your water bottle, the other then tips the water out (not knowing it was poisoned). you walk out into the desert and die of thirst. which one is guilty of murder? - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o your old aunt Ethel has given you too much money for your birthday and
you're aware of her mistake. she's getting on a bit so what should you do?
what does that law require you to do? - law (jurisprudence), oxford
o if we have 25 people, what is the likelihood that at least one of them is born in each month of the year? - mathematics, oxford
o what makes a tennis ball spin as it's travelling through the air? - mathematics, oxford
o I’m going to play devil's advocate. how do these prions actually affect the
brain? - medicine, oxford
o calculate what volume of wine can be drunk to reach the legal
concentration of alcohol in the blood for driving. - medicine, oxford
o how does the body try to remove or recognise poison? - medicine, oxford
o how many moles of h2o is there in that cup of water? (tutor randomly pointed at his cup on the table) - medicine, oxford
o how many people believe in evolution in the united states? - medicine, oxford
o how would I solve the aids crisis in south Africa - medicine, oxford
o how would you design an experiment to disprove the existence of god -
medicine, oxford
o "what leaves you drier if it's raining: running or walking?
o first I said having an umbrella, but I’d heard of this problem so I described the differences and how there's no point running if it's not too far.
o why can you not see many stars when you stand on top of a mountain? -
medicine, oxford
o why should we choose you over the other candidates - modern & medieval
languages, oxford
o what I thought of the TV programme 'wife swap' and what class issues arose from this. - modern languages, oxford
o what makes something poetic? - modern languages, oxford
o why haven't there been many French operas? - modern languages, oxford
o do you think the type of bow a violinist uses can affect our understanding of a piece? - music, oxford
o if you were sent to a desert island to study composition, which 3 composers'
works would you take with you and why? - music, oxford
o why do black men say that white men can't rap? - music, oxford
o what do you think of art for art's sake? what do you think of the turner prize? - oriental studies, oxford
o why do you think Chinese students obey their parents more than those in the uk?- think about historical traditions - oriental studies, oxford
o why do you think the birth rate in the usa is declining? - oriental studies, oxford
o are you cool? - philosophy, politics and economics (ppe), oxford
o the most bizarre question that I was aked was the question I was asked by the
philosophy tutor. a person with 50 k is rich. a person with n pounds is rich and
a person with n-1 pounds is also rich. so a person with 1 pound is rich. I then
had to falsify I - philosophy, politics and economics (ppe), oxford
o think of a question that you have prepared an answer to, ask yourself the
question and show us how you would answer it in a logical fashion. -
philosophy, politics and economics (ppe), oxford
o does a cup of hot coffee cool quicker if milk is added before or after
stirring? - physics, oxford
o what angle should you aim when trying to shoot a monkey that will fall out
the tree the moment you shoot - physics, oxford
o what forces act on you were you at the centre of the earth? - physics, oxford
o "why could you not time a pendulum for 10000 swings by watching it with a
timer?
o answer: you would get bored - physics, oxford"
o how would you conceptualise an emotion? - psychology, philosophy and
physiology (ppp), oxford
o are you your body? - theology & religious studies, oxford
o how can classical epics be compared to the bible - theology & religious
studies, oxford

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

hobnob

Hmmm, sorry to sound like a bit of a spoilsport here, but I honestly doubt any of this is going to be helpful to anyone. Those are random examples taken out of their proper context - not to mention that the whole point of such questions is that you can't and shouldn't prepare for them.

Reply 2

Solemn Wanderer

I've no doubt questions like those have been asked, but having been through the process myself I very much doubt the off-the-wall questions are representative. And context is everything.

Those questions were released to the media (who are fascinated by Oxbridge admissions but know nothing about them) in a cynical - and effective - effort to get free publicity for Oxbridge Applications at just the time they needed it. The guttersnipes at that company have every incentive to make the admissions process seem as mystical and bizarre as possible, so that people feel they need their (heavily billed) assistance.

Reply 3

Nanospeed

well the point of this isn't for people to look at them and prepare an answer for it, its just an idea of the sort of question they may ask,
plus they make quite a good debate topic and thinkning point
and i think they help u keep your mind open for the interview, thinking outside the box..
i dont think this is going to help people directly for thier interview, but they are really interesting questions to think about

Reply 4

hobnob

Nanospeed

Well, yes, they may ask one or two questions that would sound wacky if you took them out of context, but they need not. And knowing that they might isn't going to help people much, because thinking outside the box isn't really something that can be trained - or at least not within a few days. More likely than not, reading questions like that is just going to make them more nervous about the interviews than they are already, because they'll be scared they'll have lots of random questions about teapots and bananas and Beavis and Butthead flung at them...

Reply 5

pure_joy

"describe a potato and then compare it with an onion. - natural sciences,
Cambridge" - I would love having that on my interview :biggrin:

I don't think these questions are really useful -they're out of context, so it's actually impossible to tell what they're about.

Reply 6

Nutter

There's already been an extensive discussion about this matter here: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=301991

The list of questions above is also available on the OA website BTW.

Reply 7

Jigglypuff

The philosophy ones all look quite straight-forward actually...they're not as 'off the wall' as people like to make out.

Reply 8

Knotty

I think it more gives an example of the sort of way you might be asked to think. It's certainly made me think. Thanks.

Reply 9

greatphilosopher

Releasing one-off questions in a list like this is always going to make them sound bizarre to someone who doesn't study the subject. Most people would look at something like:

"are you your body?"

and think: that's insane! What sort of deranged, sadistic, power-mad professor would throw that impossible question at someone!

When in reality that's one of the central questions of the Mind and Human Condition, a very legitimate aspect of Philosophy and Theology. That could very well come up in an A-Level exam, it would certainly come up in a university course and to anyone who has had any experience with the subject it would be a testing question, but not an extreme or ridiculous one.

These are all taken out of context and thrown at the average person who has no experience with the subject, which helps perpetuate the myth of the interviewers being wacky and encourages people to flock to Oxbridge Admissions to help them survive their interview... :smile:

Reply 10

greatphilosopher

Also, I suspect that with some of the maths and physics questions, they're actually deliberately leaving out parts of the question. I suspect something like,

"How much water does a cow contain?"

would be accompanied by some data about cow weights, water per kg, etc. from which the candidate is supposed to calculate the answer, rather than the candidate being supposed to know the answer off the top of their head as part of their general knowledge...

Reply 11

tinypony

EH, where are the chemistry questions????
These are obviously taken out of context, I mean, watch the Cambridge interview movie, the interviewer asks:
Why does the beetle have such large horns?

This is part of an examination in animal physiology and is thus a totally acceptable question for someone into Biology.

Reply 12

AisAis

how can reindeer tell the difference between spring and autumn? - medicine, Cambridge

When it's autumn he's wrapping presents, and in sping he's recovering from the jorney?

I don't some of them were too hard.

for which disease do you think it is an advantage to be a carrier of cystic
fibrosis? - biological sciences, oxford

Come on, everyone knows it's malaria, it's in the science text books for GCSE!

o what is the meaning of life? - law, Cambridge

I bet someone made that up! Yeah right they asked that!

Reply 13

Nanospeed

greatphilosopher

i acturally know someone who was personally asked that question, the idea of it is for u to think about what factors will determin the the answer and whether u can think on your feet and break the question up, they also like you to have a the ablity to extraprolate (sorry for the spelling), like for mine engineering mock interview, i was asked how much does a 747 jumbo jet weight and how would i measure it to check if i am right. what they were looking for there is whether or not u can take something u know and use it to estimate someting u dont know. i.e. say a man weighs 100kg and a average car weighs about 10x that, and a plane weighs about 200x the wight of a car, and thats how they expect u to derive your answer. the same principle applys to the cow question

Reply 14

pure_joy

isn't it maleria and sickle cell anaemia?? could be wrong though, dim aspiring english student here!

I don't know what it's called in English, but having a genetic desease that makes red blood cells change their shape and carry less oxygen than a healthy person's red blood cells protects people from malaria. But I have no idea if it's what you call sickle cell anaemia :wink:

Reply 15

Elles

AisAis

I don't some of them were too hard.

"for which disease do you think it is an advantage to be a carrier of cystic
fibrosis? - biological sciences, oxford "

Come on, everyone knows it's malaria, it's in the science text books for GCSE!

Right book perhaps, wrong disease.

The aspiring English student is correct.
The malarial pathogen life cycle involves red blood cells. So the sorts of genetic diseases where the carrier trait might be protective are those altering these such as sickle cell trait and certain thalaessemias. pure_joy - sounds like you are thinking of the same thing = "sickle cell" is named for the way the cells chaaracteristically change shape and the "anaemia" part is less effective oxygen transport.

Balanced polymorphisms & pathogen evolution was one of my interview topics. Got harder when they asked for explanations or "advantages" of other conditions that aren't discussed in that way in the GCSE text books though.

Reply 16

pure_joy

We're thinking about the same thing then. Nice to know how it' called. Btw- that's the way I had to answer half of my interview questions, explaining things all the time- I didn't know some of the vocabulary I needed at the interview :frown:

Fortunately, the questions weren't that difficult or as strange, as the 'water in a cow' question

Reply 17

images

AisAis

Come on, everyone knows it's malaria, it's in the science text books for GCSE!

everyone should know it's cholera :p:

, a carrier of sickle cell anemia would have advantage to malaria though.

Reply 18

AisAis

Wow, I feel stupid!

Evidently I have a tendency to scramble up hereditary diseases in my brain. And what would be the advantage of that? Increased entertainment for TSR members brainy enough to know sick cell anaemia from cystic fibrosis; perhaps.

Blah, and I had a biology exam today.

(Note to self: do not apply for biology at Oxbridge. Or anywhere for that matter, unless I want to look a fool!)