[Nick_]

http://www.emma.cam.ac.uk/admissions.../?showvideo=24

This is a mock interview for a mathematics student, but i was wondering if the standard of the mock student in the interview is good enough to get an offer?

I mean she took like 10 minutes to answer questions that could be answered in a minute

[martinix]

It's really easy to judge when you sit on your comfartable chair in front of your screen. However, when you're there with these truly great minds whose presence can truly intimidate any potential candidate, it's a different kettle of fish.

I do admit that some of the questions seemed fairly easy though. I guess you couldn't expect such questions in an interview at Trinity... Anyway, the only people who can actually answer your question are the current mathmos at Cam, who can still recall the level of the problems they were asked to solve and compare it with the difficulty of the questions from this mock interview.

[zxh800]

Probably easier than real interviews. They wouldn't want to scare away applicants.

[martinix]

Yes, maybe, but actually how much easier? Could any current Cantabrigian be so kind as to watch the video, compare it with his own interview and share his thoughts with us?

I wonder whether this mock test was just slightly easier than the real ones or was it like many many times easier in order to make Cambridge seem more accessible and thus encourage more people to apply? Is this some sort of conspiracy?

[martinix]

The huge number of responses in this thread is very suspicious...

[milienhaus]

From the hazy memories I have of my interview, I think it was a fair amount harder. Certainly it was faster paced. However, I wasn't interviewed at Emma (but given their academic reputation there's obviously no reason to believe Emma mathmos are any less brilliant than those of any other college!).

[TheMagicMan]

(Original post by Nick_)
http://www.emma.cam.ac.uk/admissions.../?showvideo=24

This is a mock interview for a mathematics student, but i was wondering if the standard of the mock student in the interview is good enough to get an offer?

I mean she took like 10 minutes to answer questions that could be answered in a minute

The interview is way easier than the real thing IMHO. But also consider the fact that pressure does strange things to people


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[IrrationalNumber]

Honestly, if I saw that candidate at interview I'd want to give her an offer.

[martinix]

(Original post by TheMagicMan)
The interview is way easier than the real thing IMHO. But also consider the fact that pressure does strange things to people

But was there any real pressure on the "candidate"? She was just an actress - a current student of mathematics at Emma (so she got in and even managed to stay there for some time), who was going through the whole process for the 2nd time and asked to pretend as if it was her 1st. So she was trying to show the same level she thought she had possesed a few years ago, when she was only a candidate.

Assuming that she was not asked to appear weaker than she actually was back then, she had no reason to dumb her performance down. I guess Cam didn't want to scare people away, though on their site they say that the students may have actually performed a bit better than they did on their actual interviews, so people should not be put off if they find the interviews from the videos hard.

(Original post by Emmanuel College: Notes regarding the mock-admission interviews)

Students should not be put off from applying because they do not feel they reach the standard demonstrated by the applicants in the videos.

[TheMagicMan]

(Original post by martinix)
But was there any real pressure on the "candidate"? She was just an actress - a current student of mathematics at Emma
D

You misunderstand me... I am not saying that the person in the practice interview is under pressure, but rather that a typical candidate will perform below par in a real interview (meaning that how easy the practice one is to someone sitting at home should not be regarded as an accurate assessment of how easy it would be to them of they were actually there)


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[martinix]

Oh, I see, we're in a complete agreement then (vide: post #2)


Besides, someone's true mathematical abilities are tested by the IB/A-levels and STEPS, some mathmos may be sociophobic and so not able to perform well on such interviews, which might mean that they're not fit for the Oxbridge tutorial system but it certainly doesn't say that they don't have the potential to become good mathematicians in the future.

[shamika]

(Original post by TheMagicMan)
The interview is way easier than the real thing IMHO. But also consider the fact that pressure does strange things to people


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Really? I thought it was pretty much spot on. I got asked the lift question in my interview!

FWIW I would've given the 'candidate' an offer too - I was about that nervous in my interview, it took me 2 minutes to realise that sin(0) = 0, not 1...

I think last year they asked much more tedious questions which required little ingenuity (Rahul said he was asked for which is a stupid question, since the only way to do it with C1-C4 is via partial fractions as far as I know...)

[TheMagicMan]

(Original post by shamika)
Really? I thought it was pretty much spot on. I got asked the lift question in my interview!
)

Well I guess we can only compare to our experiences...my interview was a lot harder than that


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[martinix]

TheMagicMan, perhaps you feel that way because you were so nervous on your interview that it made you exaggerate the level of the questions a bit Or perhaps this estimation based on what you remember from that experience is perfectly valid - we'll never know, 'cos Cambridge - apart from these mock Emma interviews and a sample test provided by Trinity on their website - doesn't publish the questions they gave to the candidates in previous years.

Anyway, which college did you apply to? Was it Trinity or Pembroke? (Would explain why your interview was way harder that the one we're discussing here)

[milienhaus]

(Original post by martinix)
Anyway, which college did you apply to? Was it Trinity or Pembroke? (Would explain why your interview was way harder that the one we're discussing here)

I'm just interested: why do you think Pembroke is the second hardest college for maths interviews?

[martinix]

I just thought it has a good reputation for mathematics. Also, this college seems to be the most popular among this year maths applicants, including those who did well on various competitions and achieved an outstanding (S) grade on STEPs.

I don't live in the UK though, so my impressions come only from whatever info I can find online. So I do realise that I'm not a very good benchmark

[TheMagicMan]

(Original post by martinix)
TheMagicMan, perhaps you feel that way because you were so nervous on your interview that it made you exaggerate the level of the questions a bit )

Perhaps

But I do have a hard copy of the questions I was asked....


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[shamika]

(Original post by TheMagicMan)
Perhaps

But I do have a hard copy of the questions I was asked....


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This is obvious, but please don't post them (it'll mean those who see it have an unfair advantage)

[martinix]

Well, shamika, it isn't obvious to everyone. I didn't know that Cambridge let their candidates to keep a copy of the test from the interview. Seems a bit strange actually given that they're so fussy about keeping it all secret... Anyway, I'm sure that TheMagicMan is aware of this rule that the questions should not be revealed.

But I guess there's no rule that one should keep it secret to which college one applied to, is there? So, TheMagicMan, could you kindly share with us which college is so merciless on the candidates? (So far I know only of Trinity being reserved for prodigies who were able to do calculus mentally at the age of 2, which makes it pointless for mere mortals to even cosider applying there, which leaves only 27 places to choose from - unless you're a girl, that is xD)

[TheMagicMan]

(Original post by martinix)
Well, shamika, it isn't obvious to everyone. I didn't know that Cambridge let their candidates to keep a copy of the test from the interview. Seems a bit strange actually given that they're so fussy about keeping it all secret... Anyway, I'm sure that TheMagicMan is aware of this rule that the questions should not be revealed.

But I guess there's no rule that one should keep it secret to which college one applied to, is there? So, TheMagicMan, could you kindly share with us which college is so merciless on the candidates? (So far I know only of Trinity being reserved for prodigies who were able to do calculus mentally at the age of 2, which makes it pointless for mere mortals to even cosider applying there, which leaves only 27 places to choose from - unless you're a girl, that is xD)

It's john's.

I just wrote them out after my interview (because my school keep a record of questions)

AFAIK only 8 former IMO competitors are going to trinity this year, which is less than 20% of those going


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