Books
Oxford is an academic university, and it’s not surprising that Oxford interview preparation will involve reading a book or two. You can have a look at some of our other blog posts for more ideas about how to pick out your reading material in advance of your Oxford interview. However our recommendations would be to try and think about the big topics which interest you most within your subject which you might be excited to talk about at your interview. Perhaps you could take those which you wrote about on your personal statement, and as part of your Oxford interview preparation, read books which offer a contrasting view.
We’d also suggest looking at the reading lists which are sorted on the Oxford University website by subject. You can then look at the bibliographies of these books or at the main topics they cover and follow the trail from there. Don’t forget that each of the Oxford colleges also has their own website and with a bit of help from a search engine, you can often find links to suggested reading material on there too. Building your own reading list and doing research is a great skill and way of demonstrating your suitability to an Oxford degree, so really the more your child is able to do this, the better their Oxford interview preparation will be!
In terms of books for you or your child about the actual application process itself, don’t worry we’ve got you covered! Uni Admissions has a great selection of books and bank of practice interview questions as well as a selection of past material from admissions tests. Have a browse to see what would suit you best here.
Your child’s personal statement and any other coursework they’ve submitted
In terms of material for Oxford interview preparation, we would always recommend having a handle on that which was produced by your child themselves! As this is an area which can be prepared and practised in advance, especially given that overall the context is very unpredictable and uncertain, it would almost be a missed opportunity for your child not to have run through their work and practised presenting it as part of their Oxford interview preparation.
We understand that your child might not want you to read their work and even less so for you to ask them questions about it. In this case, how about just talking about the general topics they have mentioned with them in a conversation every so often? This will help them to formulate their thoughts in advance of being questioned by an Oxford tutor, and they might feel more at ease when it comes to the real thing. You can ask them to tell you about the one idea they are most proud of, or most worried about, and just give them a chance to have a discussion. If you would like to arrange for a stranger to read the work over in advance, you can also always contact UniAdmissions.
