Free Interview Resources
Free practice questions, preparation advice, and expert insights for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies interviews at Oxford.
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Real Asian and Middle Eastern Studies interview questions in the style Oxford asks. Try answering each one aloud before you reveal the hint.
Discuss the poem or article you were given before the interview. What is your first interpretation, and what might challenge it?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Choose between the prose passage and the poem you have been given, then explain why you chose it and how you would analyse it.
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Look at this Chinese artwork and describe what you notice before making any historical claims.
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Translate or interpret the traditional Chinese characters provided, explaining your reasoning rather than just the answer.
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Use the source you have been given to infer something about Chinese history, culture or language, then say what the source cannot tell us.
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Shortlisting email
A week or more ahead
Online interviews
December 2026
Decision
12 January 2027
Shortlisting email
A week or more ahead
Online interviews
December 2026
Decision
12 January 2027
What are the advantages of studying a foreign culture from the perspective of an outsider?
What is the difference between a language and a dialect?
How does culture influence our lives today?
How filial is Western society?
Do you think Chairman Mao would be proud of China today?
How many cultures are grouped under China?
How can China be so materialistic and have such a large Buddhist population if Buddhism teaches non-attachment?
Can archaeology prove or disprove the Bible?
Why do the words God and I have capital letters?
Give me a brief case study of Middle Eastern politics in recent years.
What can we learn from Pompeian excavations about ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian cultures?
How would life in the Gulf be transformed if its oil supplies ran out?
Why did the Cultural Revolution not happen in England?
What is your favourite dictionary?
Why do you want to study Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford?
What part of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies excites you most?
What skills do you have that would make you a good fit for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies?
Summarise a book that is relevant to Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and explain your opinion of it.
What current news story relates to Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and why does it matter?
What is the point of studying Asian and Middle Eastern Studies?
Why do you think Chinese students obey their parents more than UK students?
12+ weeks
8-12 weeks
4-6 weeks
1-2 weeks
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The Complete Oxford Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Interview Guide
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2027 entry
For 2027 entry, Oxford interviews shortlisted applicants online in December 2026, and tells them the outcome on 12 January 2027.
Checked against official university sources on 26 October 2026: Oxford: interviews, Oxford: admissions timeline, Oxford Medical Sciences: application process. Your invitation email has the details for your own course and college.
Mock interviews
Real length, real questions and strict marking, with a rotating panel of Oxford and Cambridge interviewers, so the real interview is never the first time you face someone new.
01
Two interviews of 25 to 30 minutes in one hour, with a strict cut-off. Standard questions, unseen material and real past interview questions we keep for our mock interview students.
02
On the day you meet people you have never seen before. So you meet a different interviewer each time, never more than four mocks with the same person, and nothing is asked twice.
03
Every interview is scored on the same three criteria and written up on a feedback sheet in your portal, so you can see exactly where you are improving and what to fix next.
Academic thinking
Breaking an unfamiliar problem down, testing ideas, using what you know in a new setting and spotting where an assumption fails.
Communication
Thinking out loud, stating your assumptions, answering the question actually asked and making good use of a hint.
Resilience under pressure
Not whether you are nervous, but whether you recover: after a correction, a dead end or a deliberately vague question.
Your mocks are run by Oxford and Cambridge graduates matched to your course, each with their own style, and confirmed with you before each session.
Watch & Learn
Official Oxford admissions overview for the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.
Short student perspective on studying Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford.
Language taster useful for applicants exploring Chinese study.
Subject taster introducing Egyptology and ways of thinking about ancient material.
Academic lecture-style resource on medieval Islam and language, useful for broader subject knowledge.
All videos are the property of their respective creators.
Further Reading
by University of Oxford
Official Oxford collection of subject resources for prospective applicants.
by University of Oxford
Faculty guidance on applying, useful for checking course and admissions context.
A broad academic association site for exploring Asian studies topics and publications.
A broad academic association site for exploring Middle Eastern studies topics and scholarship.
Podcast archive with episodes on history, religion, literature, and culture relevant to wider preparation.