Free Interview Resources
Free practice questions, preparation advice, and expert insights for Physics and Philosophy interviews at Oxford.
Real Physics and Philosophy interview questions in the style Oxford asks. Try answering each one aloud before you reveal the hint.
Sketch the graph below, then explain how its derivative and its square would behave.
Problem-Solving
Hint
Start by considering the limiting value at x = 0 and the positions of the zeros.
A low-density object is held fully underwater by a string attached to the bottom of a tank. Find the tension in the string.
Problem-Solving
Hint
Draw the forces first, then compare the object's weight with the upthrust from displaced water.
Estimate the greatest height a person could climb if the energy from a banana were converted into gravitational potential energy.
Problem-Solving
Hint
Use an order-of-magnitude food energy estimate, then translate it into mgh.
A ball starts from rest and is pushed upward by a constant force for a short time. Sketch its velocity against time until it returns to the ground.
Problem-Solving
Hint
Separate the driven phase from the free-flight phase, and think carefully about acceleration in each interval.
A ruler rests on one finger from each hand. Explain what happens as the fingers are slowly moved together.
Problem-Solving
Hint
Think about friction, normal reaction forces and the changing distances from the centre of mass.
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
Outline how you would design a gravity dam, starting from the forces and stability conditions you would need to consider.
hardHint
Identify pressure forces first, then ask where the resultant force acts and what would make the dam overturn or slide.
In a game where everyone chooses a number from 0 to 100 and the winner is closest to two-thirds of the average, what number should you choose?
hardHint
Begin with a naive expected average, then iterate what a rational opponent might infer.
What is involved in blaming someone, and can blame make sense if no wrong action has occurred?
midHint
Try to separate responsibility, causation, intention and moral criticism.
Can it make sense to blame a faulty printer, or must blame be directed only at an agent?
midHint
Compare causal responsibility with moral responsibility.
How would you distinguish lying, deceiving and misleading without defining any one simply in terms of the others?
hardHint
Look for differences in assertion, intention and what the listener is led to believe.
Can death be bad for the person who has died, or only for people who remain alive?
hardHint
Separate the process of dying, the state of being dead and the value of future experiences.
You wrote about quantum measurement in your personal statement. What exactly is philosophically puzzling about it, and what would count as a physical explanation?
hardHint
Separate the mathematical prediction from the interpretive question about what the theory says is happening.
You mentioned special relativity. Which result most challenges everyday ideas about time, and how would you defend it to a sceptic?
midHint
Choose one phenomenon, define it clearly and connect it to the assumptions of the theory.
Choose one book, lecture or article from your wider reading and identify one claim in it that you now think is too simple.
midHint
Do not summarise the whole text; isolate one claim and improve it.
Would you choose a machine that gives you a lifetime of apparently valuable experiences if you would never know they were simulated?
midHint
Ask whether what matters is experience itself, contact with reality, achievement, or some mixture of these.
Is vegetarianism morally required if it reduces animal suffering, or can there be defensible exceptions?
midHint
Clarify the principle first, then test it with marginal cases.
Is one person's plane journey morally significant if the plane would have flown anyway?
midHint
Consider marginal contribution, collective action and whether responsibility depends on causal difference-making.
Should a driver stop at a red light on an empty road at 3am if there is no danger to anyone?
entryHint
Distinguish the reason for a rule from the reason to obey it in a particular case.
12+ weeks
8-12 weeks
4-6 weeks
1-2 weeks
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Practice with a Oxford Physics and Philosophy graduate who's been through it.
Book Mock Interview →Watch & Learn
Shows the tone and structure of an Oxford-style physics interview.
Course-specific interview guidance from an Oxford college.
Useful for observing how a physics problem may be developed through prompts.
Admissions overview relevant to applicants preparing for Physics-side assessment.
Useful for understanding the lived academic combination of the course.
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Further Reading
by Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton and Matthew Sands
Good for rebuilding physical intuition and learning to explain core ideas without hiding behind formulae.
by Edwin F. Taylor and John Archibald Wheeler
Useful for applicants interested in special relativity, one of the early Oxford course topics.
by David Wallace
A directly relevant bridge between physics and philosophical interpretation.
by Simon Blackburn
A broad introduction to philosophical method, especially useful for applicants without formal Philosophy study.
by A. F. Chalmers
Helpful for thinking about scientific explanation, evidence and the limits of scientific method.
by University of Oxford Department of Physics
Confirms ESAT use for Physics and Physics and Philosophy and explains the transition from PAT-style preparation.
by UAT-UK
Primary source for ESAT format, timing, scoring and preparation materials.
by University of Oxford
Provides official examples of how Oxford tutors frame subject interview questions.
by University of Oxford Department of Physics
Useful for understanding past admissions patterns, while remembering that older reports refer to retired tests.
by University of Oxford
A safe source of wider reading and exploration ideas for personal-statement and interview preparation.