Free Interview Resources
Free practice questions, preparation advice, and expert insights for History interviews at Cambridge.
Real History interview questions in the style Cambridge asks. Try answering each one aloud before you reveal the hint.
From what sort of work might this passage have been extracted?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
What sort of person might have written this source?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Who and what might this source have been written for?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Choose one image from this set: why did you choose it, and what makes it useful as historical evidence?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
What other sources would you want to see before drawing conclusions from this source?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Supervision-style interviews with problem-solving and academic discussion, often with two interviewers.
Cambridge interviews usually happen at your first-choice college. Most applicants have two interviews, with some subjects requiring a third at the pooled college. Cambridge interviews tend to involve two interviewers and may include a written assessment or pre-interview task sent on the day.
Interview Invitation
Late Nov
Arrival to Interview
Early Dec
Technical Question
Mid Dec
Decision
Early Jan
Interview Invitation
Late Nov
Arrival to Interview
Early Dec
Technical Question
Mid Dec
Decision
Early Jan
What can historians learn from the objects a writer kept on their desk and in their drawers?
What is the role of myth in history?
Should historians seek to achieve objectivity, and can they ever succeed?
How do you define a revolution?
Is history an art or a science?
History is written by the victors. Discuss.
How would you compare Henry VIII and Stalin?
How do historians know what the attitudes of the majority, rather than political or academic elites, were?
How would you research illiterate medieval craftsmen?
How much of the past can you count?
What can historians not find out about the past?
What evidence would help you distinguish between people's attitudes and their actions in a study of Marian Catholic restoration?
Imagine we had no records about the past except records about sport: how much of the past could we reconstruct?
If you were a historian in 2100, how would you write the history of the 2010s, and what sources would you use?
Would history be worth studying if it did not repeat itself?
Can history stop the next war?
Which historical figure, or type of figure, would you most like to meet and why?
What period are you most interested in, and what historical problem within it still puzzles you?
You used comparative analysis in your personal-statement topic: why is comparison useful, and when does it become misleading?
You mention a historian or book in your application: which part of its argument would you challenge?
Should historians pass moral judgements?
Should we remove statues of controversial historical figures from public spaces?
12+ weeks
8-12 weeks
4-6 weeks
1-2 weeks
the week of
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Practice with a Cambridge History graduate who's been through it.
Book Mock Interview →Watch & Learn
Student-facing explanation of how Cambridge History interviews feel and how to prepare.
Candidate-experience style resource for personal statement and interview preparation.
Official-style arts and humanities interview preparation and sample discussion.
Comparable history demonstration interview showing source-led discussion and tutor follow-ups.
Useful practice for pre-reading and source-discussion technique, while noting it is Oxford rather than Cambridge.
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Further Reading
by Marc Bloch
A classic introduction to what historians do with evidence, causation and comparison.
by Ludmilla Jordanova
Useful for interview discussion about objectivity, public history and how historians construct arguments.
by E. H. Carr
A compact starting point for historiography and the relationship between facts and interpretation.
by Eamon Duffy
A strong example of using local evidence to discuss Reformation change, popular religion and source limits.
by Linda Colley
Useful for thinking about national identity, war, religion and the making of historical arguments.
by University of Cambridge Faculty of History
Directly relevant practice for unseen-source analysis and historical questioning.
by University of Cambridge
Confirms what to reread, how to practise discussion and how interviewers view thinking aloud.
by University of Cambridge Faculty of History
Helps applicants understand the breadth and methods of Cambridge History beyond the admissions page.
by University of Cambridge
Useful for explaining competition honestly without relying on rumours or College myths.
by University of Cambridge
Clarifies how contextual data is used and what it does not do.