Undergraduate · Oxford and Cambridge interviews
Preparing for an Oxford or Cambridge interview is partly academic and partly practical. The practical questions are in what format it happens, with how many people, what an invitation does and does not tell you, and which rules apply during the interview. This guide is written for families planning 2028 entry. It sets out what the two universities publish, last verified for 2027 entry, and then turns to the skills they say they are looking for and how to build them.
Official information · last verified for 2027 entry
Taken from Oxford's and Cambridge's official admissions pages and last verified on 19 October 2026 for the 2027-entry cycle. Dates, and Cambridge's table of College interview formats, are set for each cycle: for 2028 entry they are awaiting publication, so read every cycle-specific detail below as last verified for the previous cycle.
Everyone who is made an offer has been interviewed. Interviews are academic conversations, and the timing of your interview does not reflect your perceived strength as a candidate. Most applicants have one or two interviews totalling 35 minutes to an hour, and some have three or four.
The format cannot normally be chosen. In Cambridge's 2027-entry table, most Colleges interview applicants based outside the UK online; Pembroke and Trinity let applicants outside the UK choose; Churchill, Emmanuel, King's and Selwyn interview everyone in person; and Clare interviews Medicine and Music in person.
Only shortlisted candidates are interviewed. Invitations usually arrive between mid-November and early December, sometimes with only a week's notice. Interviews take place online on Microsoft Teams and cannot be rearranged; if technology fails, another time is offered. They are typically with two tutors, and an applicant is quite likely to have more than one interview, possibly at more than one College.
In the 2027-entry cycle Cambridge's main interview period is 7 to 18 December 2026 and must be kept free: interviews cannot be rescheduled except in exceptional circumstances, and an applicant who does not attend will not be considered. Most Cambridge invitations are sent in November, some in early December, and winter pool interviews take place around mid to late January 2027. Oxford's online interviews take place in early to mid-December 2026.
In the 2027-entry cycle Oxford informs shortlisted candidates of the outcome on 12 January 2027 via UCAS, and Colleges follow up directly later that day. Cambridge tells October applicants in late January; for December interviewees the date is 27 January 2027. Applicants placed in Cambridge's winter pool are not told in advance.
Official sources
Checked on 19 October 2026 against Oxford's interviews page and Cambridge's interview, interview-preparation and application-decisions pages. Both universities can update their pages during the interview period, so confirm the details in your own invitation.
Two processes
The universities reach an interview by different routes. Oxford shortlists: only shortlisted candidates are interviewed, and Oxford says that an application that is not shortlisted has not been successful. Cambridge says that everyone who is made an offer has been interviewed. In both cases the interview is an academic conversation about the subject, which Oxford compares to a short tutorial.
Your invitation
An invitation tells you where to be and when. Cambridge says the timing of your interview does not reflect your perceived strength as a candidate, so an early or late slot carries no signal. At Oxford, shortlisting is the gate. Because notice can be as short as a week, agree with your school where an online interview will take place before you need to.
Expect more than one interview, possibly at more than one College, and expect any pre-reading to arrive by email, normally the day before.
Your College and course determine the format. Pre-interview reading may be set, and mathematics and science applicants may be asked to share their workings.
You are not told in advance. You find out through an offer from a College you did not apply to, or a rejection following the pool and, only occasionally, through another interview.
Technology
Oxford interviews use Microsoft Teams, with technology in three tiers: a computer only; a shared virtual whiteboard; and, for more mathematical subjects, a touchscreen and stylus. Oxford says no candidate or school is expected to buy a touchscreen, and Colleges discuss arrangements with schools and applicants to find a practical solution for the technology-heavy tiers.
What is assessed
Their descriptions overlap closely.
Interviews help tutors see how you think, respond to new ideas and engage with material beyond your school or college syllabus. The discussion develops in response to your answers and, in some subjects, may draw on your personal statement or submitted written work. First questions are often about the personal statement or your choice of course. Extra-curricular activities are not assessed unless they show the selection criteria, and decisions are not based on manners, appearance or background.
Cambridge assesses understanding of the subject, readiness for high-level study, critical and independent thinking, curiosity and openness to new ideas, and enthusiasm. You may be given reading beforehand.
Oxford says its questions test your ability to apply logic to ideas that may be unfamiliar, and that there may be more than one right answer. If you have not covered a topic you can say so, but the key thing is to appear interested. Tutors may suggest another way of looking at a problem and look for flexibility of thinking.
Preparing
Both universities publish preparation advice, and it points the same way: know your own application, read around the subject, and practise explaining your thinking aloud.
Reread your personal statement and any written work you submitted. Explore the subject beyond school through books, videos and podcasts, and practise talking about it. Have a practice interview with a teacher or someone who does not know you well, or question yourself for half an hour. You can ask interviewers to explain anything you do not understand, and you need not say what you think they want to hear.
Practise thinking out loud: this is Oxford's top tip, and it need not take the form of formal mock interviews. Do not try to second-guess what tutors are looking for, and treat the interview as a learning experience similar to an Oxford tutorial. Look at the subject-specific sample questions, which come directly from the tutors who interview, and at the demonstration interview videos with the tutors' commentary. If there is no video for your subject, watch one in the same technology tier on a similar subject if you can.
Agree with your school where the interview will take place, with reliable technology and a quiet space. Have paper and a pen, and expect to hold paper-based workings up to the camera if asked. Cambridge also advises a fully charged device, a tested webcam, microphone and internet connection, and a stylus and tablet if your College requires one; a College may run a technology check.
Rules for the interview itself
Preparation before an interview and conduct during it are different things. Preparation is encouraged. The interview itself is governed by rules, and Cambridge's attendance rule, set out above, sits alongside Oxford's code of conduct and Cambridge's rule on sharing questions.
Oxford's code of conduct for interviewees says candidates must not share the content of interviews with others, research pre-interview material online unless permitted, use assistive technology (including artificial intelligence and automatic transcription) beyond what their subject requires or a disability adjustment, record interviews, impersonate anyone or have observers present. Oxford says a breach puts an offer at serious risk of being withdrawn.
Cambridge says that sharing admissions assessment or interview questions is strictly prohibited, during or after the admissions cycle, and that doing so may disadvantage your application.
Because Oxford's code of conduct asks candidates not to share the content of their interviews and Cambridge prohibits sharing interview questions, this guide does not ask anyone to.
Planning for 2028 entry
Applying for 2028 entry means applying in 2027, under rules neither university has yet published for that cycle. Each item below carries one of two labels. Last verified for 2027 entry means the university published it for the previous cycle and it may change. Awaiting publication for 2028 entry means the 2028 value is not yet published.
The interview formats, the skills both universities describe and Oxford's rules for interviewees above are the best guide to what to prepare. Neither university has confirmed them for 2028 entry.
Neither university has published them. Do not move the 2027 dates forward by a year, and check each university's interview page for the 2028-entry values when they appear.
Cambridge publishes the table for each cycle. The 2027-entry table above is last verified for the previous cycle, so check the table again for your own College and course when the 2028-entry version appears.
Build the skills rather than the calendar: read around your subject, practise explaining your thinking aloud, and get used to reasoning through an unfamiliar problem.
How Avandy prepares
Avandy is a specialist academic and university admissions advisory organisation. Each candidate is supported through the Avandy Trinity Advisory Model. A Strategic Admissions Consultant keeps the preparation consistent with the whole application, a PhD-level Academic Mentor oversees academic quality, and a Subject-specific Tutor takes the candidate through the discipline. Experienced advisers and doctoral-level specialists shape the work around the candidate's course and profile.
Candidates work through unfamiliar problems and texts from their own subject, saying their reasoning as they go: the habit both universities ask applicants to develop.
Subject specialists run mock interviews in the format the candidate has been given. Each ends with academic feedback on how the reasoning came across and what to work on next.
Preparation begins with the personal statement, any submitted work and the reading behind them, because tutors may draw on them in the conversation.
Practice material
Practice questions come from different places, and it helps to know which is which.
Oxford publishes subject-specific sample questions written by the tutors who conduct the interviews, alongside demonstration interviews with tutors' commentary. These are official examples and a sound place to start.
Avandy's subject tutors write their own practice questions to train reasoning in each subject. They are Avandy's practice material, not a record of any university's questions.
We do not claim access to unpublished questions from the current cycle or to any university's internal material.
For schools
Oxford involves schools in the practical side of online interviews: it suggests applicants agree with their school where an interview will take place, and Colleges discuss arrangements with schools for the technology-heavy tiers. Avandy also works with schools: its school partnerships include frameworks for preparing a school's own students for Oxbridge, US university and Hong Kong faculty interviews.
Questions
Neither university has published them yet, so they are awaiting publication for 2028 entry. For 2027 entry, Cambridge's main interview period is 7–18 December 2026 and Oxford interviews online in early to mid-December 2026. Do not move those dates forward by a year.
Not normally. The format depends on the College and the course, and you will not usually be able to request one. Pembroke and Trinity let applicants outside the UK choose, while most other Colleges interview them online. Check the 2027-entry College table for your own College.
Cambridge reschedules only in exceptional circumstances, and Oxford says interviews cannot be rearranged. If technology fails during an Oxford interview, you will be offered another time.
Not at Oxford. Its code of conduct for interviewees says candidates must not record the interview or use assistive technology, including AI and automatic transcription, beyond what their subject requires or a disability adjustment, and that a breach puts an offer at serious risk of being withdrawn. For Cambridge, follow the instructions in your invitation and from your College.
Treat published questions as examples of the thinking a university values, not as a list of what you will be asked. Oxford's sample questions are written by its interviewing tutors to show that thinking, so do not expect the same questions to recur. Both universities restrict sharing interview questions, so treat anything circulating online as unofficial.
Students and families
Tell us the course, the intended year of entry, whether you have been invited and the format you have been given. A senior adviser will review where you are before recommending how to prepare. Avandy provides independent academic and admissions support; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge or any College, and no outcome is promised.
