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Free practice questions, preparation advice, and expert insights for Philosophy and Modern Languages interviews at Oxford.
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Real Philosophy and Modern Languages interview questions in the style Oxford asks. Try answering each one aloud before you reveal the hint.
What makes a novel or play political?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
Should poetry be difficult to understand?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
What makes a short story different from a novel?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
What do we lose if we only read a foreign work of literature in translation?
Close-Reading & Passage Analysis
What do you think Voltaire meant by 'Il faut cultiver notre jardin'?
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 is language?
If an author denies that their work is political but critics assert that it is, is it purely a question of subjective interpretation?
Should we study the swear words of any foreign language we study?
What is the difference between Chinese whispers and translation?
What is the link between art and reality?
What is your opinion on ambiguity?
What makes a language modern?
To what extent does a country's culture dictate a language's vocabulary?
What determines how easy a language is to learn?
What difficulties do Europeans have with English? What about speakers of Asian languages?
What is an accent? How do they arise?
Why do some languages have so many tenses yet others manage with very little grammar?
What if we said that all art is, in fact, political?
What causes a language to evolve? Can this be stopped? How?
In a world where English is a global language, why learn French?
What is your favourite dictionary?
What is your favourite word?
What was the most recent film you saw?
Who is your favourite author? Which of their other works have you read?
I agree that air transport contributes to harmful climate change. But whether or not I make a given plane journey, the plane will fly anyway. So there is no moral reason for me not to travel by plane. Is this a convincing argument?
What exactly do you think is involved in blaming someone?
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4-6 weeks
1-2 weeks
the week of
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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.
Some of the best at Oxford and Cambridge: Firsts from both universities, one in the top five per cent of the year.
Philosophy
First in Philosophy and Theology, Oxford, now a DPhil student who teaches Oxford tutorials
Gerard
Philosophy
First in Philosophy, Cambridge, then an MPhil in Philosophy
Philosophy
Top 5% of the year
First in PPE, Oxford, top five per cent of the year
Clara
Philosophy
Physics and Philosophy, Oxford, two college Exhibitions and a Scholarship
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Watch & Learn
A college-level mock interview that shows the feel of a Modern Languages discussion.
Official Oxford demonstration of a Modern Languages interview format and expectations.
Course-specific overview for understanding how the two sides of the degree fit together.
Helps applicants understand what tutors are trying to observe in interview conversation.
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Further Reading
by Simon Blackburn
Oxford's supercurricular hub recommends it as an introductory philosophy text; it is useful for practicing abstract argument and conceptual precision.
by Thomas Nagel
A concise route into classic philosophical problems that can generate interview-style discussion.
by David Bellos
Directly relevant to language, meaning and translation questions commonly used in Modern Languages interviews.
by Bertrand Russell
A classic introduction to knowledge, appearance, reality and philosophical method.
by Peter France
Useful for applicants interested in how translation choices shape reception of literary works.
by University of Oxford
The canonical source for entry requirements, course structure, interview status and current admissions requirements.
by Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford
Explains the Modern Languages admissions process, interview content and preparation priorities.
by University of Oxford
Provides official sample questions and tutor commentary for Modern Languages and Philosophy-style questions.
by University of Oxford
Useful for finding accessible resources and understanding how to reflect on supercurricular study.
by David Edmonds and Nigel Warburton
Short interviews that expose applicants to live philosophical argument across many topics.