HSPS Cambridge 2026 Applicants
1. What college are you applying to, and are you taking an admissions test?
2. GCSEs/predicted grades (if comfortable)
3. What are you doing to prepare?
4. Confidence level out of ten?
5. Stress level out of ten?
6. What topic are you looking forward to studying in the course?
My answers are below!
1. King's and yes
2. 999999987 and A*A*A*
3. Reading + essay and interview practice
4. 4...
5. 7. I just have so much going on at the same time
6. Politics and sociology!
Scroll to see replies
Reply 1
1.
Pembroke so no admissions test
2.
IB 45/45
3.
Reading up on more books! Also currently writing my extra personal statement
4.
3 lol I don't think I'm getting in
5.
7 I have a lot of US college apps to work on as well
6.
Mainly Politics and International Relations
Reply 2
1. What college are you applying to, and are you taking an admissions test?
2. GCSEs/predicted grades (if comfortable)
3. What are you doing to prepare?
4. Confidence level out of ten?
5. Stress level out of ten?
6. What topic are you looking forward to studying in the course?
My answers are below!
1. King's and yes
2. 999999987 and A*A*A*
3. Reading + essay and interview practice
4. 4...
5. 7. I just have so much going on at the same time
6. Politics and sociology!
Hi!
1. St Catherine’s so I don’t have an admissions test
2. 9998888887 and A*, A*, A*
3. reading, interview prep, writing my extra personal statement
4. 6
5. 8 so many deadlines coming up
6. politics and social anthropology
what are you guys thinking of submitting for your written and what other unis have you applied to!
Reply 3
1.
Pembroke so no admissions test
2.
IB 45/45
3.
Reading up on more books! Also currently writing my extra personal statement
4.
3 lol I don't think I'm getting in
5.
7 I have a lot of US college apps to work on as well
6.
Mainly Politics and International Relations
I would love some tips rn 😭😭
Reply 4
1. St Catherine’s so I don’t have an admissions test
2. 9998888887 and A*, A*, A*
3. reading, interview prep, writing my extra personal statement
4. 6
5. 8 so many deadlines coming up
6. politics and social anthropology
what are you guys thinking of submitting for your written and what other unis have you applied to!
I’m thinking of submitting a 20/24 liberalism essay to show I can meet the assessment objectives and a 15/24 anarchism essay since I wouldn’t mind talking about it. I’m also applying to Edinburgh, Manchester, Bristol and Warwick for Politics and Sociology
Reply 5
I’m stuck between a 19/24 socialism essay on the economy and a 18/24 conservatism essay on disagreement between the strands. I feel like I’d be better at talking about the conservatism one because it’s more relevant to splits within the far right etc and more recent. But the better score is in socialism? And then i’m submitting a 28/30 english essay on women which should be fairly relevant. I’m applying to manchester to but for politics and social anthropology as well as birmingham, durham and lse
Reply 6
about your socialism/conservatism dilemma, i think you should go with the one you feel the most comfortable speaking about since the marks are similar. i also wanted to submit something on feminism (from my english coursework) but idk if we can do that, since mine hasn’t been marked 😔😔
Reply 7
yes i think i’ll go for the conservatism one, i i’d be stuck talking about the economy and socialism strands at interview 😂😂 but i think that the work must be a marked / accredited essay with teacher comments. but apart from that, there are no requirements so it can definitely be from any subject you feel is relevant and want to talk about at interview
Reply 8
2) A*A*A pred, 98766664 [Extenuating circumstances]
3) mock interviews planned for 14th Nov and 29th Nov
4) 4/10
5) 3/10
6/ pol and IR
Reply 9
Yeah. I was rereading my coursework, and I'm definitely gonna submit it.
Reply 10
1.
Caius, and no!!
2.
888877666 + A*A*A*
3.
Reading, podcasts, drilling PS
4.
0/10 lmaoooo
5.
100/10 defo
6.
Sociology and anthro!! even tho i applied everywhere else to pol and soc
Reply 11
1. What college are you applying to, and are you taking an admissions test?
2. GCSEs/predicted grades (if comfortable)
3. What are you doing to prepare?
4. Confidence level out of ten?
5. Stress level out of ten?
6. What topic are you looking forward to studying in the course?
My answers are below!
1. King's and yes
2. 999999987 and A*A*A*
3. Reading + essay and interview practice
4. 4...
5. 7. I just have so much going on at the same time
6. Politics and sociology!
1. Magdelene, so thankfully not
2. A*A*A*A*A*AAAAAB8L2D, predicted A*A*A*A* (achieved AAAB at AS)
3. A LOT of reading, also just talking about the subject and challenging anything i read/critically engaging with content
4. 2-3, im trying to be optimistic though!
5. like 8
6. Politics!!!
Reply 12
Okay so this is info you guys may all know, but basically this is what tips I got (copy-pasted from notes so sorry in advance for bad formatting)
•
first and foremost they look for true passion and basic knowledge in the field, make sure to sound excited about the stuff you're talking about, but this shouldn't be a big problem as long as you actually read up on some books and practice speaking out loud
•
don't completely shut out a certain discipline within the course or say you're only interested in politics for example, since HSPS is inherently interdisciplinary and many assignments in the course ask you to combine them
•
they also ask you to be flexible on the spot with incorporating new knowledge which is the second half of the component. for example, they may ask a question, but then ask you to re-evaluate your answer to said question by adding other theory or another hypothetical condition. they may introduce a concept from sociology for example, and ask you to look at the topic that way
•
looking at your academic field from the "lens". for example evaluation of an event or topic from your given field. economists and political scientists have different ways of evaluating a policy, and you are expected to do so (this feels quite obvious but ig it's important)
•
be able to clearly walk the interviewers through your thought process and make sure to be coherent. even if you have very sophisticated thoughts it won't mean anything if you can't explain your logic
•
another very important thing is that it is OKAY to not be able to answer a question. do not back yourself into a corner with some weird convoluted answer. the interviewers look for how open you are to opposing views and complicated subject matters you may not know about, so admitting that you can't answer a question isn't the end of the world.
•
always read up and maybe try out sociology or anthro if your main interest is in politics.
I hope this helps! My disclaimer is that this really varies among every interviewer and college. However, I asked a friend who got into Oxford Psych and he said something similar about the incorporating new knowledge part.
Reply 13
1. What college are you applying to, and are you taking an admissions test?
2. GCSEs/predicted grades (if comfortable)
3. What are you doing to prepare?
4. Confidence level out of ten?
5. Stress level out of ten?
6. What topic are you looking forward to studying in the course?
My answers are below!
1. King's and yes
2. 999999987 and A*A*A*
3. Reading + essay and interview practice
4. 4...
5. 7. I just have so much going on at the same time
6. Politics and sociology!
1.
Emmanuel, so no
2.
9988877776 (6 is in maths lol) A* A* A* (I got AAA at AS)
3.
I am just reading everything I can find tbh and talking about it w my friends, and I have mock interviews coming up asw!
4.
3/10
5.
8/10
6.
Politics and IR!
Reply 14
1. St Catherine’s so I don’t have an admissions test
2. 9998888887 and A*, A*, A*
3. reading, interview prep, writing my extra personal statement
4. 6
5. 8 so many deadlines coming up
6. politics and social anthropology
what are you guys thinking of submitting for your written and what other unis have you applied to!
I was thinking a 27/30 Minor Parties Essay and then a 19/24 Liberalism Essay - although I am unsure if this is too low to submit? Does anyone have any advice
Reply 15
I think submitting the 19/24 is fine because your other essay is pretty high marks, so assuming you want to discuss it in interview i’d say it’s good!
Reply 16
1. selwyn and no (would probs cry ngl)
2. 998888876 + 3A*
3. light mock interview prep and thinking abt written work...?
4. 3/10
5. 8/10
6. the optional pbs module weirdly 😭😭 not saying i dont adore pol & soc but done soc since y10 and always loved pol so would love learning abt a new soc science and applying it lol (same reasoning w social anth)
Reply 17
Reply 18
one of mine is from june last year and the other
is from a week ago
Reply 19
mine is from the summer holidays/August (since its coursework) and the other is from 2 weeks ago
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