Free Interview Resources
Free practice questions, preparation advice, and expert insights for Economics and Management interviews at Oxford.
Real Economics and Management interview questions in the style Oxford asks. Try answering each one aloud before you reveal the hint.
Practice prompt: A café raises the price of a coffee from £2.00 to £2.20 and sells 8% fewer coffees. What happens to revenue, and what else would you need to know before discussing profit?
Problem-Solving
Hint
Call the original quantity Q, compare old revenue with new revenue, then separate revenue from profit.
Practice prompt: A firm can automate production. Automation raises fixed costs but lowers variable costs. At what output level does automation become worthwhile?
Problem-Solving
Hint
Set total cost under the two production methods equal, then solve for quantity.
Practice prompt: A government subsidises train tickets by 20%. Explain two reasons demand might rise by less than 20% and one reason it might rise by more.
Problem-Solving
Hint
Think about elasticity, substitutes, capacity, habits and complementary costs such as getting to the station.
Practice prompt: Two competing firms can set a high price or a low price. Explain how both might end up choosing low prices even if both would prefer high prices.
Problem-Solving
Hint
Look for the individual incentive to undercut and compare it with the joint outcome.
Practice prompt: Should a ride-sharing app be allowed to raise prices sharply during a snowstorm? Discuss efficiency, fairness and possible regulation.
Conceptual & Discussion
Hint
Separate allocation of scarce supply from distributional impact, then consider whether a rule could improve both.
Tutorial-style interviews with subject-specific problems, often involving unfamiliar material.
Oxford interviews typically take place at the college you applied to. You will usually have two or three interviews of around 20-30 minutes each, sometimes at different colleges if you are pooled. The atmosphere is meant to resemble a tutorial: the interviewer gives you a problem and watches how you reason through it.
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
Practice prompt: Why do firms exist rather than every worker contracting individually in a market?
midHint
Consider coordination costs, information, incentives, investment and the limits of hierarchy.
Practice prompt: What should a central bank consider if inflation is high but economic growth is weak?
hardHint
Distinguish demand-side and supply-side inflation, then consider expectations, unemployment and financial stability.
Practice prompt: Can a company be well managed but still fail? Give an economic or strategic explanation.
entryHint
Think about external shocks, market structure, fixed costs, consumer preferences and timing.
Practice prompt: You mention a book on behavioural economics. What is one argument from it, and where do you think the argument is weakest?
entryHint
Summarise the claim, give the mechanism, then offer a limitation rather than praise.
Practice prompt: You wrote about a business or start-up. What specific incentive problem did it solve, and what trade-off did it create?
midHint
Avoid a success story; focus on costs, information, incentives or operations.
Practice prompt: Choose one economic news story from your personal statement and explain how a manager, consumer and policymaker might view it differently.
hardHint
Use the same event, but change the objective function for each actor.
Practice prompt: Would you rather be able to predict demand perfectly or know your costs perfectly? Defend your answer.
midHint
Ask what decision the firm is trying to make and which uncertainty matters more for that decision.
Practice prompt: If all firms had the same information, would competition become fairer or less interesting?
hardHint
Consider market power, innovation, adverse selection, strategy and consumer welfare.
Practice prompt: Should online platforms be allowed to charge different prices to different users for the same product?
midHint
Separate efficiency, consumer surplus, transparency, discrimination and regulation.
Practice prompt: If a factory automation decision raises productivity but removes jobs, how should a manager evaluate the decision?
midHint
Compare the firm's duties, long-run competitiveness, workers' transition costs and possible mitigations.
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Further Reading
by Jeffrey M. Perloff
Named by Balliol as one of the principal books used in the first-year economics course; useful for applicants ready for technical microeconomics.
by Robert Frank and Edward Cartwright
Named by Balliol as a principal first-year text and useful for linking incentives, behaviour and economic reasoning.
by Charles I. Jones
Named by Balliol as a core text used after Christmas in first year; useful for serious macro preparation.
by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones and Daniel Roos
Balliol lists this for management reading, especially relevant to production systems and questions about hand-built versus automated production.
by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller
Balliol lists it under financial management; it connects psychology, macroeconomics and markets.
by UAT-UK
Official TARA source for format, specimen material and test-day guidance.
by University of Oxford
The most authoritative source for the style and purpose of Oxford interview prompts.
by Balliol College, University of Oxford
Directly relevant E&M reading list with economics, management and financial management suggestions.
by Bank of England
Useful for current macroeconomic policy context, inflation, interest rates and financial stability examples.
by University of Oxford
Supports applicants in exploring, engaging with and reflecting on subject material beyond school.