Interviews

For more information about Cambridge interviews more generally, please see this page about what to expect at your Cambridge interview.

The number and length of your interviews depends on the College that you apply to. For example, applicants to:

• Gonville and Caius have two 25-minute Computer Science interviews
• Peterhouse have one 25-minute Computer Science interview and one 25-minute Maths interview
• St John’s have one 25-minute Computer Science interview and one 15-minute tutorial interview
• Churchill have one 30-40 minute Computer Science interview

To find out what to expect at your interview, it is best to consult the Computer Science page on the website of the College you applied to.

Your interview might involve some discussion of your personal statement, motivation and working through a problem. The topics and types of problems vary but almost always require mathematical knowledge and understanding to solve. The interviewers will not expect you to know things that are outside of your school curriculum and do not expect you to fully complete all of the problems presented during the interview.

Solving a problem during your interview is a bit like a conversation: 

• You should explain your approach to the problem and the steps that you are taking. 
• Your interviewers will give you hints if you get stuck or go in the wrong direction.
• It is absolutely fine to take some time to think about how to solve the problem before starting out and before talking about it. 

The interviewers are there to help you. They will guide you through the problem because they want you to perform at your best, since the goal of the interview is to assess your academic potential.

The videos below show what an in-person and online interview for Computer Science looks like. You may also find it useful to look at this sample interview dialogue for an Oxford Computer Science interview (which is very similar to a Cambridge one).

In person interview

Online interview

How to prepare

Since solving Maths problems will likely form a large part of your interview, make sure to practise solving tricky problems. These problems might just involve Maths, however some might focus more on algorithms or other concepts in Computer Science, such as programming and logic. Below is a list of resources you can use to find practice problems:

• University of Oxford sample Computer Science interview problems
• Maths problems:
  • TMUA past papers
  • MAT past paper questions
  • You can also watch the MAT livestreams which go over how to solve past paper questions, in particular the following livestreams cover Computer Science related questions:
    • Computer Science 0 | MAT livestream 2023
    • Computer Science 1 | MAT livestream 2023
  • UKMT Senior competitions
    • Senior Maths Challenge
    • Senior Kangaroo
    • British Maths Olympiad
  • NRICH
    • Problems by topic and Advanced Mathematical Problem Solving Resources
  • STEP Support Programme
    • Guides you through completing STEP past paper questions
  • Practice[+]
    • For sample CSAT questions with hints and solutions
• Programming problems:
  • Project Euler
  • British Informatics Olympiad

Don’t worry if you find these questions really difficult; they’re meant to be and in the interview you will be given hints to help you along.

Practise talking through a problem as you solve it. It helps the interviewers to hear your thought process, so that they understand your approach and can help when needed.

Practise talking about Computer Science and what interests you about it. It’s possible that your interviewers might ask about this, so make sure to prepare by getting used to talking about what in particular about the subject interests you.

Your interviewers might ask about things that you’ve mentioned in your personal statement, so it’s really helpful to read through it before your interview and make sure that you have a good understanding of the things you’ve included. For example, if you mentioned a coding project, go over what you made, look at your code, and remind yourself of any challenges that you faced. It's interesting for interviewers to hear about any particular algorithms that you used and why you chose them rather than alternatives.

If you’d like to get a better idea of what interviews are like, directly from students who have had them, have a look at InsideUni. This website contains many direct accounts of interview experiences, you can find all the Cambridge Computer Science interview reports here.

Also, check the website of the College that you are applying to as they may have a page dedicated to interview advice, for example, here is the interview advice page for Gonville and Caius College.

Advice from current Computer Science students

“Obviously, I was really stressed before my interviews (and you will be nervous) but try not to let that hold you back. - Emily, student at Pembroke College

“The main skill that the interviewers want to see is if you can solve problems and how you solve problems. They don’t necessarily care too much about the answer you get or how quickly you get it but they want to see how you think.” - David, student at Christ’s College

“It’s not about knowing everything at the start. It’s really about getting stuck, being given feedback and then finding a way through that.” - George, student at Emmanuel College

“In the interview, don’t be scared to ask for help. [...] [The interview is] more about your learning process and whether the Cambridge learning style would be suited to you rather than what you know right now. Because if you knew everything right now then you wouldn't need to come here.” - Aneesah, student at Clare College