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Interviews for NatSci

Sorry if this has been asked before, but i'd just like to know.

Could anybody tell me what the format and style of the interviews for NatSci are like? Was it scary? and did they ask you questions about your chosen area to study, as mentioned in your PS, or was it just broad based scientific questions ?

I wanna hear from both successful and unsuccessful applicants, so please tell me your experiences, as i'm interested in applying for this next year

Reply 1

Willa

my interviews (applied for physical natsci):

2 interviews. One all physics and maths, the other was half about my essay, half on chemistry. No questions like "why cambridge". Will generally be quite specific science questions. You should be prepared to answer any questions that can be answered using the knowledge you have obtained from the relevant A Levels you have chosen to do.

that's my opinion anyway.

Reply 2

Aired

I was interviewed for bio natsci.

I had a general interview where we spoke about my personal statement, the college I went to, sports, etc. The second interview was a subject interview and it was all biology related (I was expecting some chemistry as well, but there wasn't any).

The subject interview was not as bad as I'd imagined it would be. There were some questions they had prepared before the interview and after those they asked me which areas of biology I was interested in, and then asked me questions relating to them.

Reply 3

rivengurl

Just read as much as you can and hope for the best, they basically can ask you anything. Mine was mainly chemistry with a bit of physics.

Reply 4

A_n_d_y

I applied (and got an offer for) bio nat sci.

My first interview i was asked "what excited you this year in science at school?" and he then asked me to explain why, and about how that bit of chemistry worked.

Then we moved on to a maths type of question where he basically taught me how to differentiate tan x (cause i hadn't covered that at school yet). :eek:

- That was kinda scary, and I thought it would cost me an my offer, cause i couldn't answer anything he asked!

Second interview was with two people, and we chatted about Hydrogen bonding and water and some other molecules, and then we chatted about evolution.

Was quite fun - very scary tho :p:

But remember, even if you can't answer something, dont panic.... try to work it through with the interviewers help!

Reply 5

Mithent

I'm a Bio NatSci.

I seem to have had an extra-special three interviews, one general and two subject. My general one was all the sorts of questions you'd expect to get in a general interview. In the first scientific one, I was set a specific problem first which I worked out on paper (not maths, more.. logic than anything) and then we talked about a few general biochemical subjects. My other one was mostly an in-depth discussion on one particular anatomical subject (not something I had much specific knowledge on, but was guided through it).

Reply 6

tctc

i had two interviews...
one physics one
one physics/maths/chemistry one

questions where answerable but pressure puts you off..
both interviews asked why physics

Reply 7

username68316

Second interview was with two people, and we chatted about Hydrogen bonding and water and some other molecules, and then we chatted about evolution.

Was quite fun - very scary tho :p:

But remember, even if you can't answer something, dont panic.... try to work it through with the interviewers help!

I'd actually enjoy chatting with a tutor about that specific topic :smile:

however sad that sounds

Reply 8

tctc

im guessing your a biologist then?
my chemistry questions was on weird bond angles - no fun.
and ionisation energy - very fun

Reply 9

username68316

tctc

im guessing your a biologist then?
my chemistry questions was on weird bond angles - no fun.
and ionisation energy - very fun

Well, Biologist/chemist. But still, bond angles and ionisation enthalpies are still interesting topics, which i guess most people doing A level bio/chem applying for NatSci wouldnt mind talking about. I suppose its partly luck what exact topic they question you about

Reply 10

tarka

both of mine were subject interviews, they all seem such a blur now but I remember talking about electronegativity in both and mechanisms in the first one. There weren't any general questions asking about why I had chosen the course or anything...

Reply 11

moojoo

Hellooo....I had three subject interviews in total (as I was pooled)

The first two, one was biology and one chemistry, biology was ok, questions were interesting and generally not too bad. Chemistry one was pretty awful...I just had a mental block and couldn't think at all.

Then I was pooled and had one (fairly long) interview that covered biology and chemistry again. I was sent an article for this one which we spoke a little about (but not much!) and was interesting, a few things that I'd mentioned I was interested in most and scientific questions stemming from that. Then it went into chemistry, bond angles, ions, and then a mathematical rates kinda thing which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Reply 12

ljlindley

i applied and got accepted for bio nat sci.
first interview was chemistry and maths....talked about benzene and how its electrons move when its close to a nucleophile....or was it a electrophile?......anyway the second interview was a biology one. we talked about an essay i had prepared about drug addiction, and about evolution and the like. overall it was a generally enjoyable experience!

Reply 13

*Joanna*

In my original two interviews (I was pooled) I got asked about how you would test to see if a rat was colour blind, and about a bug thing i was shown on the computer. I think I was asked briefly about what attracted me to Cambridge but it's a bit of a blur! In the January interview I was interviewed by two people instead of one, and I got asked about pineapples (something to do with their enzymes and defenses) and about DNA coiling. I think I was asked some Chemistry questions too, but can't really remember that either!

Reply 14

Duke Flipside

I had three interviews, all subject-based. Chemistry, magnetism, and electricity (in that order) :confused:

Absolutely nothing about what I wanted to study (astrophysics) though one of my interviewers is an astrophysicist himself. It was all just general science-y stuff. Don't remember any general questions (think there might've been a couple at the start of the interviews, but I think they were more just to relax me/ease me into the interview)

Reply 15

sud88

ahhh

it sounds like that my interview at girton was so far the hardest ...
1 interview - 1/2 bio which asked my to describe the whole oxidative phosphorylation process and what wud happen if there was a gap in membrane and suggest ways it wud be useful in medicine
1/2 chem - asked me how i cud determine the shape and bonding angles of benzene. asked me about mass spectrometry - how it works and describe techniques
i cudnt do the chemistry questions .

1 interview in biology only
about ecology and adaptations aswell as differences in haemoglobin and DNA structures - that interview was easy and fine for me

well i got thru the pool but rejected
so dont expect too much

Reply 16

Rogery

I had a maths/chemistry one and a biology one at Jesus. The maths/chemistry one went awfully, because I panicked and couldn't think, and also probably because I'd gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before.

In short, they asked me to draw the mechanism for electrophilic addition of bromine to ethene, then told me that what actually happens is that it forms this triangly intermediate thing (they drew it for me) then asked me to deduce what happens next. It was all very interesting but I had no idea what was going on.
Then they added insult to injury by asking me to sketch the graph of y = x^(1/3) which is actually piss easy (u just put x = 0, 1, 1000 then draw a curve through the points) but which I also f***ed up.
Yeah that was a bit of a crap story.
I can't be arsed telling u about the biology.
Basically revise ur AS topics and you'll be fine.

Reply 17

username23914

Joanna "I got asked about how you would test to see if a rat was colour blind"

I'm intrigued!

How DO you test if a rat's colour blind and what controls would you use?