martango
Banned

Made a thread in the Lounge for you. Show off.

How'd it go mart??

Secondly... they're looking for creativity and the ability to solve problems. So always say what you are thinking; it doesn't matter that you're uncertain. This isn't meant to be a walk in the park; even the people who are interviewing you won't have automatically known how to solve your question. They will have made several false starts until something worked. As long as you can demonstrate the ability to think for yourself and come up with ideas in a new situation, you'll do fine; and often, if you go astray or get a bit stuck, they will simply nudge you towards a path they know to be more profitable. They're just keeping things flowing, so don't worry at all when this happens.

That's all I can think to say for now. If you think it'd help I could give you a mock interview over irc today, or something. Best of luck if I don't hear from ya. [Splurged on your wall because the PM system is playing up]

In the interview: firstly just stay cool. They should be nice people, and they really are on your side. I thought I did dismally but I totally misjudged, so don't worry about your performance. St. Johns is also a little more exclusive than your average college, so bear in mind that your questions might be more difficult than other people's; this is all taken into account, and if your performance would have made the grade elsewhere, another college will give you an offer.

So the first thing to do is to just quickly scan the A-Level syllabus and make sure you know everything you should by this point. I had to draw a couple of graphs and differentiate a couple of times for instance; make sure you don't get tripped up by not being able to remember the simple stuff like calculus identities.

The second thing and most important thing to do is to look up past interview questions. I believe you can find a decent list on TheStudentRoom somewhere. Try as many as you can. Try to do them properly (don't give up on one after five minutes or be tempted to look up answers, which will just be a waste of time). On top of past questions, do STEP questions. They're pretty much the same style. STEP I is the right level. They will be tricky and daunting at first but persevere. If you are good try some STEP II, but don't be too worried if these are all hard.

Oh wow, okay. I left yesterday, shame!

So, in interviews, they are looking for two things.

1. Enthusiasm.
2. Problem solving skills.

The first is easy, just be enthusiastic. Talk about a specific book or a specific interest if they ask you. Say how you found it really interesting and so on. Don't worry if they don't ask though, number 2 is the focus of the interview(s).

If they ask about other extracurriculars then answer of course, but it's unlikely; they really don't care very much. Certainly don't spend time worrying about this kind of thing.

For number 2. The stuff about crazy nonsense questions like 'what shape is an egg' is all rubbish. What they will do is ask you something which requires theory only from A-Level, but which will require creative problem solving in unfamiliar territory.