A mock interview should aim to recreate the real interview experience. It helps you reduce anxiety about interviewing. After all, no one your age is experienced with the process, and neither were we at the time! You have get in the mindset of speaking out and expressing your thoughts, not worrying about ‘being right’. Run your interviewer through your thought process! They want to understand how you think and approach problems.

You should schedule your first mock interview soon after you receive an invitation from the college/university. Check the invitation and university website to understand the interview format: how many, what is covered for each interview, interview length, whether they will be over Skype or in-person. Usually interviews last approximately 30 minutes, so make sure your mock interview is around that too, to get used to its real length.

Take the mock interview seriously. Don’t laugh or joke around if a friend is interviewing you. And definitely have fun with academic interviews, as they should stretch you intellectually.

Apply to get a Project Access mentor, if you haven’t already. You can use the link: https://www.projectaccess.co/find-your-mentor. Approach your mentor, so that he/she can run a mock interview with you. The mentor would act as an admissions tutor trying to assess you. Alternatively, you can always reach out to someone using the ‘Ask Project Access’ Facebook group or by contacting journey@projectaccess.co and we'll do our best to find someone!

Beside contacting a person from the Project Access team, you can look out for help in your own surroundings - using time spent at school even more effectively! Look for a teacher who teaches you the subject you are applying for and knows your strengths/weaknesses. Perhaps you can agree on a few 15 minutes sessions to think through some new concepts. Maybe you can also ask a friend who has gone through a similar experience. Reach out to him/her!

Make sure that the person interviewing you has got your personal statement and they know how a mock interview should look like. Provide him/her with information about the interview format, questions asked, and things the interviewer will look out for. If he/she does not study the subject, you can provide a list of questions. Then, remember to agree with the interviewer on the date and time of your interview.

A couple of days before the mock interview, re-read your personal statement and make sure you are able to answer questions on the information you provided there. Think about the content in a broader perspective and try to predict questions that could be asked. Also, try thinking of questions that are more abstract and open-ended in nature (check out oxplore.org).

On the day of the mock interview, relax and arrive on time. Before entering the meeting place or calling the interviewer on Skype, take a deep breath - this may be a stressful situation for there is no need to worry! During the interview, try to stay calm, stick to the point and vocalise your thoughts as clearly as possible. If you feel lost in your thoughts, it is completely okay to start over, if you feel you can express yourself more clearly that way. This is often better than trying to "save" your point. And lastly, be confident, but not cocky!

Before we end off, read about Lucian's experiences at the Cambridge interviews:

"The interviews are meant to put you on the spot and decipher if you are a good fit for the university.

It is perfectly normal to come out of the interview feeling queasy or uneasy due to self-determined causes. It shows that you have been stretched!"

You got this!