Preparatory study at interview

Guys I might be applying to Cambridge next year for Land Economy. Some colleges require a preparatory study at interview. What exactly is that?

I had two interviews for Geography - I had to read an article before each one, and they made up the bulk of the interview. You can't really practice for it or anything, though I had a mock interview where my teachers did that, and it's handy to get used to being able to understand and extrapolate from an article in limited time - about 15 minutes, as Pip1309 said. Don't worry too much!

Were you able to make notes or annotate the text?

I was, yes. During my reading time I was sent to another room to read the text and make whatever notes I wanted, and then could take the annotated article into the interview room. It probably differs for different colleges and subjects, but I imagine you should be allowed to annotate.

That's great, thanks. Would you mind sharing what types of questions you got? I have an interview for Economics on the 9th Dec and I can imagine the fundamental starting questions would be the same regardless of the article


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Congrats on the interview!
Well, without giving too much of the game away, basically be prepared for anything - an article they give you might not necessarily be about 'economics'. I applied for Geography and had an article about drones, for example, so it might not be the first thing you expect. In essence they will probably just want to know what you think about the topic, but the scope of stuff they can ask you is so huge that I don't really feel qualified to make a guess. But it won't be impossible, and even if you find it difficult, they will guide you through it. And, finally, (nearly) any answer is better than, 'I don't know' - they want to know how you think, so you need to verbalize what you're thinking for them to see that. Good luck.