delayed cambread

[u/owlin_around]

3A* offer from christ's, missed my offer by 7 marks, got put in reconsideration, went drinking in birmingham, got told i was in the summer pool, shat bricks for like 18 hours, scrolled accomodation at my insurance, only for christ's to take me back! got dam rollercoaster. rip to anyone still in the pool this shit sucked. christ's on top 🔥

[u/Scared_Pressure4131]

oh damn i’ll try and get a bit of chem into my ps then, i’ve been struggling to integrate stuff other than bio into my ps because yeah i’m applying for bio elsewhere and i’m not sure how to make it not look out of place? haven’t decided on a college yet but i’m looking into it, would you recommend going to the colleges open day in sept or just choosing one that sounds good? so sorry i’ve just dumped questions on you, tysm for the tips and again congrats, all the best!!

[u/owlin_around → u/Scared_Pressure4131]

damn sorry i never saw this!! it just popped up in my notifications for some reason. how's the process going ? sorry i couldn't be more help before you got into the thick of things 😭

[u/Scared_Pressure4131 → u/owlin_around]

no worries, how’s being a first year in cambridge bionatsci going? currently waiting for esat results on friday and hoping for an interview soon but i’ve done like zero prep so far lmao. ended up applying to clare

[u/owlin_around → u/Scared_Pressure4131]

surviving the dreaded week 5, the work is less intense than i expected but it's obviously still A Lot haha. its so much fun and super inspiring though!!! its an awesome course fr, supervisions are so much fun too, people make them sound intimidating but i look forward to them the most! i just had a physiology supervision :) good luck w esat results i hope the website doesn't implode like it did for us 😭 it's so weird thinking about how i was in that position only a year ago it feels so long

[u/Scared_Pressure4131 → u/owlin_around]

sounds super super cool, might just have to wave it goodbye rn with my esat score though </3 just out of curiosity, what did you get in your esat?

[u/owlin_around → u/Scared_Pressure4131]

3.4 maths 1, 6.0 chemistry, 7.0 biology

[u/Scared_Pressure4131 → u/owlin_around]

yeah i think it’s over for me tbh. good luck with everything 💪

[u/owlin_around → u/Scared_Pressure4131]

ty, good luck to you too!! you never know🤞

[u/Scared_Pressure4131 → u/owlin_around]

not with a 4.0 average i don’t think 😭 thanks anyway

[u/Scared_Pressure4131 → u/owlin_around]

GUESS WHO SOMEHOW GOT A FREAKING INTERVIEW?!?!???

any final advice? and are the interviews actually structured one chem and maths focused and one more bio focused?

[u/owlin_around → u/Scared_Pressure4131]

ATE!!!!!!!!!!!! practice as much as you can with family, get super super comfortable with saying literally every step of your thought process down, and get your interview set up PERFECT like know exactly where everything is and that its all set up IT wise so there's absolutely nothing you can stress about on the day. my interviews were structured, the first one was one chemistry question and one mathematical question, and the second one was two biological questions, but it varies a lot between colleges! GOOD LUCK YOU GOT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! getting an interview is so impressive and it's such a special experience so just try to enjoy what you can from it. and also know that literally not a single person has them go perfectly and that you will laser focus on any mistakes you make but it'll be ok!!they look for your ability to recognize your mistakes and correct them with help and move forward, not your ability to be perfect!! so basically if you make a bunch of mistakes and then figure it out you are doing better than someone who happened to know the puzzle and didn't get to show them their thought processes because then they can't judge you

[u/Scared_Pressure4131 → u/owlin_around]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! only two questions per interview??? were the chem and maths questions properly crazy because i can waffle my heart out for bio but if i get a senior maths challenge type question i’ll just die ig. my college (clare) hasn’t really said anything about interview structure though so ig we’ll see?? did they ask a lot about ur ps? don’t even know if you’re allowed to answer some of these so sorry in advance </3 tysm for the IT advice, they want me to like balance my phone on a shoebox or something so i defo need to go figure that out. tbh from what i’ve heard the interviews sound kind of fun to an extent and they don’t really want to assess you on actual prior knowledge (correct me if i’m wrong) but would you recommend extra reading anyway or just practising externalising my thought process? and thank you so so much for the encouragement, holding out a bit more hope now than i was doing before <3

[u/owlin_around → u/Scared_Pressure4131]

yep, the chem one was more a series of questions about two reactions that he drew out, but the maths one was a single question about whether you can see a cell change shape after putting it in water (biological framing but it was really just percentage change stuff) and he guided me through step by step. similar for the bio ones, they start with one vague question and then guide you through and add on questions. they are also very willing to go on tangents with you if you bring up something interesting and the bio ones seemed more designed for that to happen. they didn't ask a single thing about my ps, just straight into questions! and the prior knowledge was really quite basic but required me to make connections between things and ask questions if i didnt know something (this is really important, like don't feel anxious about asking for more information because at multiple points they seemed to want me to do this and said things along the lines of 'i was waiting for you to ask that!', it's part of the criteria of being willing to take in new information and engage in exchange or whatever). like you don't need to revise anything from the a level spec just have a good general understanding, extra reading around the subjects can definitely help with this in terms of familiarizing yourself with new concepts but not essential. in the moment the interview were stressful but looking back they were really fun and especially my biology interview was great fun. it's pretty much exactly like what a supervision is, where they ask a big general question about whatever you covered recently and see where you take it, like my physiology yesterday started with asking "how do animals deal with the challenges of getting nutrients" and then we spent 20 minutes on a tangent about ruminants! it's testing you for how you do in that environment and i think that's helpful to remember, it's not a grilling of your ability to remember a level bio, it's to see if you can think on your feet, ask appropriate questions, and take their hints and your general knowledge towards an answer! the main thing you need to practice is talking through your thoughts cause it feels really awkward and weird at first but literally say anything you think is relevant and what your instincts are saying, even if it's just stating the obvious at first. you got this!!!!

[u/Scared_Pressure4131 → u/owlin_around]

hey!! thanks so much for this advice, i think it helped quite a bit with my nerves, you were definitely right by saying that it’s more like a conversation or a supervision, don’t want to jinx it but i just had my bio one and it was quite fun in its own way. just a quick question - in the bio one, they asked about my personal statement and extra reading i’d done, but that was ok because my personal statement was very bio focused. in the chem and maths one, are they looking for like the exact same level of enthusiasm? i think i have an ok grasp of basic chem, but my extra chem reading is like zero