York Physics Interview

Hey - I had my interview this week and it was a lot nicer than I thought!

At the start of the day you'll get a small pack and it'll have the name of your interviewer and some details about them, what they're researching etc. You'll be in groups with people doing a similar course to you like Joint Honours/ Single Honours/ Medical etc. Then you'll have a tour and see some accommodation.

In terms of the interview itself: they start of by talking to you generally asking how the days been and how everything's going with A-levels etc. It's largely based on your personal statement initially so they'll ask you about anything that stands out on there. With the Maths and Physics questions they're all to do with taking basic knowledge and seeing how you can apply it. For me, I was given a wind turbine and had to find an expression for the power generated by it if the wind hit it with velocity V. Given that the turbine had a radius, r, I made the assumption that the air travels in a column past the turbine - a cylinder. Then, power is J/s and having only been given V I turned J/s to KE/time. And went on that way... I mucked up a few times throughout it but he was completely fine with it and just helped me.

Another guy got asked about capacitors (he hadn't done them yet but he said it still went fine) and Maclaurin Series (he does Further Maths).

My biggest worry was that I applied for PhysPhil because I find it interesting; I don't keep up to date with Physics news religiously however. Turns out you don't need to. have a quick scan through some articles if it makes you feel better but just talk about what made you tick initially: good books, articles, good teacher (I talked about this), etc.

They're really relaxed.

Tips:
Get there a little early - gave me a few minutes to google what some of the stuff my interviewer researches.
Go for the optional tour (if you're a little nervous) - I spoke to a few people and it just relaxed me into it a little more
30 minutes goes REALLY quickly - My interviewer loved talking about his research but I didn't get a massive amount of time to ask him about it. On the way back to the main room I asked him and he was happy to wait outside with me and just tell me a little about it
Talk to the ambassadors - helped a lot!

That's everything I can think of!

Best of Luck - I hope it goes well!

No worries!

The guy who hadn't done capacitance said that his interviewer just explained it to him.

Either way, they'll at least be somethings you'd know about it. F=ma applies to more or less everything, haha!

You'd work on the whiteboard usually so just write down your thought process like
- possible equations
- additions to the diagram etc.

The fact that you've got an interview means that they must think you're good. Unless it turns out that you really struggle they'll be fine, but you've got to A2 Physics which means you at least know something!

No worries!

The guy who hadn't done capacitance said that his interviewer just explained it to him.

Either way, they'll at least be somethings you'd know about it. F=ma applies to more or less everything, haha!

You'd work on the whiteboard usually so just write down your thought process like
- possible equations
- additions to the diagram etc.

The fact that you've got an interview means that they must think you're good. Unless it turns out that you really struggle they'll be fine, but you've got to A2 Physics which means you at least know something!

Thank you for your help! I was worrying all day about it but it was soooo much better than I thought it was going to be haha thank you so so much!!