Cambridge Human, Social and Political Sciences (HSPS) Students and Applicants

What is the test at interview?

What is the test at interview?

I'm an HSPS student too. CheekyPeeky gives good advice, but personally I wasn't asked anything about hot news stories. There is no set formula. Just explore what genuinely interests you. I mentioned an interest in Marx in my PS and ended up being grilled on Capital 1 in both interviews.

For what it's worth, I applied last year and was accepted by Wolfson College to study HSPS. I decided to take a gap year, so I will start the course in 2015.

I can try to answer any questions anyone may have regarding the application process.

Did interview discussion mainly focus on areas you'd indicated an interest for in your personal statement/SAQ or concepts that you weren't as familiar with?
I'm trying to do interview prep atm but I don't know if it's a waste of time as they could just ask questions about things that I have no idea about...

Capital 1?

Hello! I have received an interview for HSPS, I was wondering what sort of questions they are going to ask me? Thanks

Did interview discussion mainly focus on areas you'd indicated an interest for in your personal statement/SAQ or concepts that you weren't as familiar with?
I'm trying to do interview prep atm but I don't know if it's a waste of time as they could just ask questions about things that I have no idea about...

I'm trying to do interview prep atm but I don't know if it's a waste of time as they could just ask questions about things that I have no idea about...

I think the only predictable questions they will ask are along the lines of why are you choosing this course.

The rest of the questions will be determined by what you say. The interviewers expected me to lead the discussion and bring up topics that I showed interest in.

Once I brought up a topic they would ask me progressively difficult questions. The questions did not necessarily have a right or wrong answer; it seems they wanted to see how I would think and formulate points.



I had two interviews. I am currently referring to the HSPS subject interview:

There were no questions regarding my personal statement. This will probably be discussed in your college interview.

I told the interviewers which topics/debates I was interested in. I think this is one of the most important points, you should just come right out with it and state what your interests are. This is what your preparation should be on. Be very prepared to talk about debates, who the main scholars are, perhaps state what your favourite academic journal is.

In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes is to bring up a topic that you don't know much about. I foolishly brought up a topic, because it was the first thing that came to mind, and they asked a ton of follow-up questions that I totally did badly on (Although I got an 8 out of 10 from the department leader interviewer). Yes they score you, and you may or may not be able to get your score from your college after January).

Most of my questions were on one piece of written work that I submitted. I also stated this subject area was particularly interesting to me.

Some good advice (I think!):


*Of course, be sensible and balanced if you take this approach.




They will not ask questions that have a specific answer. It is more about the debate. Surely you will be able to debate any topic, it will almost certainly be a general question; eg. capital punishment, drug policy ... <insert social or political issue here>. Just remember to not bring up anything that you are not comfortable discussing in-depth. They may press you on it.

In my opinion, looking at the interviewers' notes, it seems they are judging how well you will learn in the Cambridge system. Many of the comments written about my interview performance are along the lines of how 'teachable' I may or not be.

They also made notes on the following:



Hit all of those and you'll probably hit one of the following grade descriptors:
8 out of 10: "Strong - Worth an offer"
7 out of 10: "Probably worth an offer."

If you are thinking "interview grade descriptors, what the hell are those!?", then download the Winter Pool Interview document thing (cannot remember the official name) from Cambridge.

They are not trying to fool you or demonstrate your lack of knowledge. Although you will almost certainly feel a fool once you walk out of the door.

Hi !
Anybody know what to expect from the written exam ?

thank you. this really helped.

I think it might just be essay questions on topics related to the course, I'm worried I won't be able to answer any question though.

I think you may have misunderstood? The HSPS course is replacing the arch/anth course, so it's not an eithe or option. I may have misunderstod you though

You can do virtually exactly the same course within HSPS though, there's just the option of other things too.