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Oxford biology interview pre reading

Hi, does anyone know what type of material I would get for my pre-reading (30mins in advance) of my Oxford biology interview? I don't really know what to expect/ what the interviewers would be looking for in my answers/ what kind of questions they'd ask/ how long the material would be. Any general advice would be appreciated!

Thank you!

Reply 1

Which college are you being interviewed at?
Can you send the part of the email which mentions pre reading?

Reply 2

Original post
by Maddieee1945
Which college are you being interviewed at?
Can you send the part of the email which mentions pre reading?

Hertford- it just says that I will be sent the material 30 mins prior by email, no other details

Reply 3

Original post
by M_R19
Hertford- it just says that I will be sent the material 30 mins prior by email, no other details

Hi I've got an interview for biochem at Hertford this year. Do you remember anything about your interview last year?

Reply 4

Hi, I don't know if you will get pre-reading for biochemistry (it probably differs by college as I wasn't expecting it) but if you do the best way to prepare for it is just to practice reading lots of scientific articles and try to understand and summarise them. If they give you time to pre-read and there are words you might be uncertain on definitely go over them as they can ask you to define things. Generally it was ok as the tutors were very friendly in my experience, and if you don't understand something they show you the best thing is just to walk them through how you are thinking about, it as they don't expect you to have perfect answers on the spot. At the other college I was interviewed at they did ask me some simple maths-related questions so maybe be aware of that as a possibility too. Good luck for your interview!

Reply 5

Original post
by M_R19
Hi, I don't know if you will get pre-reading for biochemistry (it probably differs by college as I wasn't expecting it) but if you do the best way to prepare for it is just to practice reading lots of scientific articles and try to understand and summarise them. If they give you time to pre-read and there are words you might be uncertain on definitely go over them as they can ask you to define things. Generally it was ok as the tutors were very friendly in my experience, and if you don't understand something they show you the best thing is just to walk them through how you are thinking about, it as they don't expect you to have perfect answers on the spot. At the other college I was interviewed at they did ask me some simple maths-related questions so maybe be aware of that as a possibility too. Good luck for your interview!

Okay thanks so much! What kind of maths questions were they asking?

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