Guidance for Engineering Science

Grades required/A Levels/Equivalent

Cambridge Engineering – A*A*A

Oxford Engineering Science – A*A*A

Studying Maths, Further Maths and Physics are strongly recommended as minimum A Levels to take for both
Oxford and Cambridge engineering degrees. A* can be in any 2 subjects.

GCSEs – Sort of irrelevant, although Physics / Maths / Additional Maths (FSMQ) would no doubt be helpful to
your application

Personal statements

It is quite evident that getting into Oxbridge is not a walk in the park. While the average candidate will have
exceptional A Level grades and strong entrance exam scores, these universities still need a way to identify
individuals who not only have exceptional competency when it comes to maths and physics, but also those
who are able to adapt to the unique learning style Oxbridge is known for and be able to apply learned
concepts in ways people didn’t consider possible for thousands of years. Hence, the personal statement is a
good way of demonstrating your genuine passion to study engineering but also how you matured this passion
through your experiences and taking part in super-curricular activities (activities that directly contribute to
your field of study). While this guide is not the be-all end-all to writing an engaging personal statement, these
should be taken as general guidelines and as a starting point.

The following example could be a way one candidate may choose to present their initial passion for
engineering and where it stems from:

“When I was young, I regularly examined the organs of remote controlled cars and deconstructed vacuum
cleaners. These experiences contributed to my obsession with learning how machines work and using this
knowledge to generate ideas. Studying mechanical engineering will allow me to continue pursuing these
interests, while applying physics and maths equations I learned in isolation into engineering based problems.”

The following example could be a way one candidate may choose to present how they took
principles/concepts they learned from the classroom/internet and confirmed for themselves that this
principle/concept works and how it can be used:

“I became interested in aerodynamics during physics lessons and took this interest further by creating my own
cardboard glider. It was initially flat-winged which didn't contribute to its lift when I applied a horizontal force
to it. I decided to look in to the shapes of wings in modern aircraft and found that they relied on Bernoulli's
principle which helps to create a net force upwards along a wing's surface. I decided to apply this to my design
and it glided for significantly longer, which demonstrated the importance of a "Proof of Principle" prototype in
engineering design. In this case, a prototype allowed for design flaws to be spotted and improved on which may
not have been noticed otherwise.”

The following example could be a way one candidate may choose to present how their passion has matured
into a potential career path:

“From this, I wanted to know how the idea of folding sheets could be used in engineering. I came across
Origami Engineering: the Japanese art of folding paper re-purposed for use in more practical settings. It
involves using sheets of cardboard, plastic or metal and folding them using origami patterns in order to save
weight and cost. One project I became interested in is the "Plate House" by civil engineer Joe Gattas, who
designed a temporary shelter for those in high-risk situations. He makes use of the Miura fold to create a
corrugated structure sandwiched between sheets of cardboard which can then be assembled in units. This kind
of technology can be used in refugee camps where saving weight and cost is a must in order to help as many
people as possible, which engineering has the capacity to do and is an area I am interested in.”
If your experiences with engineering are relevant and have contributed to you wanting to study at Oxbridge
then putting them in is strongly recommended. As for things to read up on prior to writing your statement to
include particular concepts you found fascinating, there isn’t a set list on what you should read and some
sources of such information include:

 Lectures you may have seen

 Films / Documentaries
 Lessons
 Books
 Science journals
 YouTube videos
 Clubs/organizations you are a part of
 Relevant work experience/internships
 Summer schools
 General life experiences

Some specific book recommendations if you would like a good place to start and might help out a lot while
in university so are worth having a look at:

 Mathematical Methods for Science Students, Second Edition by G Stephenson

 Hughes Electrical and Electronic Technology Ninth Edition
 Structural Mechanics Ray Hulse & Jack Cain

When it comes to extracurricular activities, these should generally should be kept to a minimum in your
personal statement (say 5-10%, at least for Oxbridge applicants) and should be sprinkled in here and there to
exhibit some of the softer skills you may have such as leadership and teamwork. They don’t necessarily need
to be related to engineering (but does help if they do or links back to it in some way).

Pre-Interview assessments

Oxford – Physics Aptitude Test (PAT), this is a 2 hour paper (calculators permitted). Comparing it to the
Cambridge Admissions Test, the PAT consists of all of the content in A Level Physics, Maths/Further (including
content that you may not have been taught yet), so that it is essential that you find resources that can prepare
you for this such as asking teachers for copies of maths module textbooks you haven’t covered yet or looking
online. A rough guideline is in the syllabus:
https://www2.physics.ox.ac.uk/study-here/undergraduates/applications/physics-aptitude-test-pat/pat-
syllabus. In addition to that, I would personally advise learning integration by parts, integration by substitution,
integrating/differentiating trigonometric functions, chain rule, product rule/quotient rule, Taylor/Maclaurin
series and . Practicing past papers is highly advised.

Cambridge – Engineering Admissions Assessment, also a 2 hour paper (non calculator for both sections). This
assessment is less likely to cover content that you haven’t seen already, but you should still follow the basic
guidelines I mentioned above in the advice for the Oxford PAT. The specification can be found here:
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/files/publications/engaa_specification2019.pdf

In addition to that, some Cambridge colleges (Christ's and Peterhouse) require that Sixth Term Examination
Paper (STEP) is sat. Fortunately, this consists of material already found in the core syllabus of A Level
mathematics (or equivalent) so requires no further knowledge.Colleges usually ask for one paper to be sat.
More info can be found here: https://www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/step/preparing-for-step/

The interview

The purpose of the interview isn’t only to add another layer to the selection process, but it is to give potential
tutors a good overview of what it will be like to teach you in actual tutorials and whether you can use your
intuition to solve problems on the fly. Interviews don’t just want to see whether you get the right answer right
away (though there is no doubt, that a plus) but they want to see your thought process and the steps that lead
to you drawing a particular conclusion or solution to a problem. The first piece of advice in this regard is to try
to vocalise this thought process to the interviewer to ensure they know exactly what you are thinking about
and know whether to give further guidance on a problem. You may not necessarily be wrong about the
problem when the interviewer gives certain hints, it may be to push you in the right direction and find the
most efficient solution possible.

What to expect from the interview:

The interviewer may choose to ask one or two questions relating to your personal, maybe something as vague
as “What made you want to study engineering?”. The purpose of this is to give them a good look at who you
are and potentially calm your nerves a question you would be more familiar with answering . When it is a
question regarding your personal statement, be sure to answer as honestly as you can and avoid lying in your
personal statement.

Another typical question that is likely to be asked is “Sketch this function” (sin(x)/x is a common one so be sure
prepare for it). For these questions, its best to simplify the problem by looking at what happens to the function
at well-known values of x or what happens as x approaches these values I.e. when x = 0, x = 1, x = π, as x
approaches 0, x approaches infinity etc. Then, simply interpolate the other values of the function while your
sketching when there are sufficient points defined to accurately represent the function.

The interviewer may also ask mechanics/electronic based questions and is best to do practise questions on
those as they are likely to have solutions that are not typical to the kinds of questions you have answered
previously and will require a different kind of thinking. A good resource for this which is strongly
recommended is https://i-want-to-study-engineering.org/ (check out the problem index and log in to view
your progress). It is extremely useful website for preparing for both admissions tests and the interview which
consists of many interview-style questions and answering as many of them beforehand will sharpen up some
problem solving skills and methods learned from previous problems can be used in others.

Some optional websites you should checkout that test critical thinking and problem solving:

https://isaacphysics.org/

https://www.bpho.org.uk/ (for the past papers)

https://brilliant.org/daily-problems/