Free Interview Resources
Free practice questions, preparation advice, and expert insights for History and English interviews at Oxford.
Real History and English interview questions in the style Oxford asks. Try answering each one aloud before you reveal the hint.
Read this short poem and tell us what first strikes you about the speaker's voice.
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Look at this prose extract. How does the sentence structure shape your view of the narrator?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
What changes in tone do you notice between the opening and closing lines of this passage?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Choose one image or word pattern in this extract and explain why it might matter.
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
How would your interpretation change if this passage were read as satire rather than realism?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
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
Read this historical passage. What can we responsibly infer from it, and what would we need to know before trusting it?
What kind of source do you think this is, and how does that affect the claims we can make from it?
What might the author of this document be trying to persuade the reader to believe?
If this were the only evidence available, what would be the danger of over-interpreting it?
What additional source would you want in order to test your reading of this passage?
Can a literary text be used as historical evidence? Answer with one example and one limitation.
What makes one interpretation of a passage more persuasive than another?
How far should historians use hindsight when explaining a past decision?
When a writer uses an unreliable narrator, what kind of evidence can the reader still rely on?
Is context always helpful when reading literature, or can it sometimes narrow the reading too quickly?
How would your explanation of this event change if one major cause were removed?
What alternative reading of this passage would most challenge your first interpretation?
If this text had been written for a different audience, what features might change?
What would count as evidence against the argument you have just made?
You mentioned this book in your personal statement. Which argument in it did you find least convincing, and why?
Tell us about the central argument of your History written work. What would you now revise?
Tell us about the central argument of your English written work. Which passage or example does the most work?
What have you read since submitting your application that has changed or complicated one of your views?
Which connection between History and English in your application would you most like to discuss further?
8-10 weeks before interview
5-7 weeks before interview
2-4 weeks before interview
Final week
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Book Mock Interview →Watch & Learn
Shows an unscripted History interview using a primary source read shortly before the interview.
Useful for observing how historical arguments are developed aloud.
Useful for seeing how literary close-reading discussion can develop in interview.
Provides additional literary discussion practice and helps applicants hear the pace of interview dialogue.
All videos are the property of their respective creators.
Further Reading
by Emma Smith
A clear, modern critical overview of Shakespeare's plays and themes; useful for literary-historical reading.
by Emma Smith
Explores the history and significance of the book as an object; relevant to thinking about historical and literary texts as artefacts.
by Chris Stone
Broad chronological survey; good for establishing timeline and broad historical argument.
by Various editors
Comprehensive, well-illustrated reference for major periods and events in British history.
by Mary Beard
A strong model for historical argument, public history and evidence-led revision of familiar narratives.
by Diarmaid MacCulloch
Good for practising links between religious change, textual cultures, politics and historical interpretation.
by University of Oxford
Oxford English Faculty-recommended resource for broadening reading and critical context.
by University of Oxford
Helpful for thinking about global and postcolonial writing in English.
by Emma Smith, University of Oxford
Excellent for modelling close textual analysis and historically aware literary criticism.
by Faculty of History, University of Oxford
Explains what History tutors assess and how written work or a short passage may be used.
by University of Oxford
Good for practising curiosity-led interdisciplinary thinking and forming arguable positions.