Oxbridge Classics interview questions

Classics interviews at Oxford and Cambridge

Classics interview questions to practise

Say your first thoughts out loud or type them, then compare with how a strong answer goes. These questions are our own, written in the style tutors use.

1. Question 1

   A made-up language

   doro kelan mipu = The farmer sees the wolf.

   kelan doro mipu = The farmer sees the wolf.

   kelo doran mipu = The wolf sees the farmer.

   doro kelan mipa = The farmer saw the wolf.

   How would you say 'The wolf saw the farmer'? What does this language use instead of word order?

   What it shows a tutor: Spotting patterns in grammar, the skill a language aptitude assessment looks for.

   Your first thoughts, as you would say them
   Show a strong answer
   How a strong answer goes

   1. Compare the first two: the words are in a different order but the meaning is the same. So word order is not what shows who does what.
   2. Look at the endings. In 'The farmer sees the wolf' the farmer is doro and the wolf is kelan. In 'The wolf sees the farmer' the wolf is kelo and the farmer is doran.
   3. So -o marks the one doing the seeing, and -an marks the one being seen. Latin and Greek do this with case endings.
   4. The verb: mipu is sees and mipa is saw, so the ending -a marks the past.
   5. The nouns can swap places, as the first two examples show. The verb comes last every time, so I would keep it last: kelo doran mipa, or doran kelo mipa.

   A tutor might then ask: If the language also has plurals, what would you need to see to work out how they are made?

   The usual wrong turn: Assuming the first word is the subject, as in English. Test the assumption against all the examples.

2. Question 2

   Was ancient Athens a democracy?

   What it shows a tutor: Using what you know to test a label, and thinking about definitions.

   Your first thoughts, as you would say them
   Show a strong answer
   How a strong answer goes

   1. In one sense yes: citizens voted directly on decrees and policy in the Assembly, and many offices were filled by lot, which is more direct than modern systems.
   2. But who counted as a citizen? Adult men born to citizen parents. Women, enslaved people and resident foreigners, a large share of the population, had no vote.
   3. So the answer depends on the definition. If democracy means rule by the people who are citizens, Athens was a strong example. If it means rule by all adults, it was not.
   4. That cuts both ways: by the second standard, Britain was not a democracy until women won the vote on equal terms in 1928, and some people still had two votes until 1948.
   5. My view: Athens was a democracy for a narrow citizen body, and that tells us democracy is a range, not a single thing.

   A tutor might then ask: Is choosing officials by lot more democratic than electing them?

   The usual wrong turn: Judging Athens only by modern standards, or only by its own. Show you can hold both.

3. Question 3

   How can we know anything about the lives of ordinary people in the Roman world?

   What it shows a tutor: Thinking about types of evidence beyond the famous literary texts.

   Your first thoughts, as you would say them
   Show a strong answer
   How a strong answer goes

   1. Most surviving literature was written by and for a wealthy elite, so it says little about ordinary lives, and often with contempt.
   2. Archaeology helps: houses, tools, food remains and burials show how people lived. Pompeii and Herculaneum preserve whole streets.
   3. Inscriptions, including tombstones, record ordinary people's jobs, families and ages. Graffiti on walls records jokes, election slogans and adverts.
   4. Documents on papyrus from Roman Egypt, such as letters and contracts, survive in large numbers because of the dry climate.
   5. Each has gaps: tombstones were paid for, so the very poor are rarer, and Egypt may not be typical. Combining kinds of evidence is how we get a fuller picture.

   A tutor might then ask: What would a historian 2,000 years from now be able to say about us from our rubbish?

   The usual wrong turn: Relying on famous authors only. The interesting answer is the range of other evidence.

4. Question 4

   Is it fair to judge ancient writers by modern values?

   What it shows a tutor: Holding a nuanced position and supporting it with a text you know.

   Your first thoughts, as you would say them
   Show a strong answer
   How a strong answer goes

   1. Two separate tasks are being mixed: understanding a writer in their own world, and evaluating what they say.
   2. To understand, we need to know their values and context, or we misread them. Calling everything ancient simply wrong teaches us little.
   3. To evaluate, we cannot pretend to have no values. Noticing that a text treats slavery as natural is part of reading it honestly.
   4. Ancient writers also disagreed with each other, so their world was not one fixed set of values. Some criticised practices we now criticise.
   5. So: understand first, then judge, and be aware that our own values will look dated one day too.

   A tutor might then ask: Can you name an ancient text that you think still argues well for a view you disagree with?

   The usual wrong turn: Answering only no, because times were different. Then nothing could ever be criticised.

Oxford interview dates, December 2026

All Oxford interviews are online. Your invitation gives your own times.

What tutors are listening for

• Thinking aloud

  Both universities say they want to hear how you work things out, not a memorised answer.

• Using a hint

  Tutors expect to help. What matters is what you do with a prompt or an objection.

• Checking

  Test your answer on a simple case, an example or a counterexample, and fix slips out loud.

More for your application

• Oxford Classics acceptance rate
• Oxford Classical Archaeology and Ancient History acceptance rate
• Oxford Classics and English acceptance rate
• Cambridge Classics acceptance rate
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