Cambridge Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) Students and Applicants

Oh my goodness you make it sound so easy!! What college did you apply to?

I applied to King's!

& I'm sorry to give the wrong impression... in that it wasn't really that easy at all! Simply because my interview was in English, that doesn't mean that I wasn't given difficult questions about the text, or that I wasn't asked difficult questions about my intentions to study German or my PS! (Although my German interview was a lot better than my French one... and both were definitely much better than the dreadful MML test!).

I don't really mean to scare you either; there's not really much you can do to prepare, and the interview is bound to be challenging, but don't be discouraged afterwards because everyone feels the same way as you do about it! x

Go King's!! I've applied there for Spanish and German, and to tell you the truth - I'm bricking it! What is the MML test, there seems to be so little information about it?

Hey! I'm doing ab initio German here, and for my ab initio German interview, I got an English translation of a German poem to analyze. Don't worry, they definitely don't expect any knowledge of German at all, so you will never get a German text!

My interview was also completely in English – first half on the text, and then the second half on my PS/why I wanted to study German. I didn't know any German at all when I applied so I definitely wouldn't be here now if my interviewer did test me on my ability to speak and read German!

(P.S. obviously every interviewer is different, so that's just what happened with mine!) x

Thank you for answering! I feel very much relieved (:

Also, is it possible if you could elaborate on the sorts of things they asked you about the text? And is it important to have a good knowledge of German culture and history?

Oh and one more thing, how much of the French interview is in French? And what sort of general topics would normally be discussed? (so, about the reading, reasons for taking French, your PS, etc.)

Sorry for all these questions! It's just so fantastic that's there's someone with experience to ask. I really appreciate it!

I don't remember exactly what they asked me, but they were all literary analysis-type questions. (e.g. I was given a poem, so I do remember being asked about rhyme/meter.)

Re: German culture/history, I think it really depends on what you wrote in your PS (so your motivations for studying German ab initio!) I really love German history and wrote quite a bit on it in my PS, so we did discuss that at interview. Just make sure that if you've mentioned a film or a book in your PS, make sure you have seen it/read it and can talk a bit about it!

Only a small part of my interview (maybe ~5 minutes?) was in French; we were discussing the text that I was given, and my interviewer suddenly switched into French without warning, so I was expected to continue in French! I did get asked some general questions at the beginning of the interview (why MML, why French, why Cambridge, etc.) but the important part of the interview was on the text as well as things I had mentioned in my PS. (Interestingly enough, I had read a lot about existentialism and wrote about that in my PS, and the text I was given to read was also an existentialist text!)

Hope that helped somewhat x