24th October 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
It’s that time of year again, when the country’s brightest A’Level students are starting the new term preparing for Oxbridge interviews. Some have been planning applications for years, and others have recently received unexpectedly excellent AS Level results and decided they might be in with a shot. This is also a busy time of year for tutors, who, in amongst helping students with new courses and re-takes, are being asked to help students achieve that elusive thing – a successful Oxbridge interview. Many requests are very specific; students and parents want tutors who have studied the exact course at their chosen university – and sometimes the same college to which they are applying – in the hopes that the tutor will be able to impart the magic formula for success. The catch is, there is no magic formula.
Today’s students are used to the A’Level system which requires learning assessment objectives and ensuring that they know exactly how to respond to questions come exam time. It can be a challenge to convince these students that Oxbridge interviews are not at all like this. Assessment objectives go out of the window, and saying this, or not mentioning that, does not necessarily spell the end. Many colleges say that their students shouldn’t try to prepare too hard, because it isn’t really possible to prepare for interviews. This isn’t exactly the case, but the kind of preparation needed is often misunderstood. The message that tutors must impart to their students is that this isn’t about how much you know; it’s how you think. For some students, having open discussions about their interests and thought processes is not a challenge, but for others, especially in an intimidating environment, it can be difficult.
The best thing tutors can do is to get students used to the process. Mock interviews are an excellent way to get used to talking about your subject, and can help boost students’ confidence. They need to get used to answering open-ended questions, and adjusting to the fact that there may not be any correct answers at all. There are lots of legends about the strange questions students get asked in interviews, but what it comes down to is that the questions are simply designed to give the students an opportunity to show how they think. Whether they are asked ‘what is life?’ ‘how many petrol stations are there in America?‘ or ‘How would you organise a revolution?’ students are more likely to succeed if they are comfortable having in depth and interesting conversations about their subjects.