What type of questions do they ask you in an Oxbridge medicine interview?

"What questions did they ask you in your Cambridge interview?" was one of the most common questions that I got asked after my interview.

The interview day itself was split into 3 separate interviews.

2 of these interviews were completely science based. The last interview was a 'personal' interview, although I was asked 'non-personal' questions in this.

Generally the questions that they ask you are abstract questions which make you think.
What the interviewer is after is not how factually correct your answer was, but how you put your answer together and how you thought it through.

A common theme that I found in all my interviews was that they will try and push you till you can no longer answer. At the time I felt quite deflated that I could no longer answer the question, but this is probably a good thing.

The type of questions they may ask you:

How would you calculate how much blood you have inside your body?

Why do we have two eyes? Why not 3?

Drawing graphs - they often draw a graph on a paper and ask you to do something with it. e.g what does the area under the curve represent. what does the gradient represent.

How do radiographs (x-rays) work? (they won't ask you to interpret any films)

If I connected one of your arteries to a tube and held it vertically, how tall would it have to be, before blood stopped spilling out?

What changes occur in your body when you start exercising?

The 'personal' interview has some science questions but they will also ask you questions about what you enjoy doing in your free time.

I was NOT asked about why I wanted to do medicine in the whole interview.

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