Oxbridge Psychology interview questions

Psychology interviews at Oxford and Cambridge

Psychology 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 study finds that people who drink more coffee live longer. Should everyone drink more coffee?

   What it shows a tutor: Separating correlation from causation and designing a better study.

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

   1. The study shows an association, not that coffee causes longer life.
   2. Other explanations: people who are already ill may drink less coffee, which makes coffee look protective. Coffee drinkers may differ in income, work or habits.
   3. There could also be chance, if many drinks and outcomes were checked and only the striking result was reported.
   4. The strongest test is a randomised trial: assign people at random to drink coffee or not, so other differences even out. That is hard over a lifetime, so researchers use other designs, for example comparing people whose genes make them drink more or less.
   5. So I would not advise everyone to drink more on this evidence, but it may reassure people that moderate coffee drinking is not harmful.

   A tutor might then ask: If a trial showed coffee improved memory for an hour, what else would you want to know before recommending it to students?

   The usual wrong turn: Saying correlation is not causation and stopping. Name the specific alternative explanations.

2. Question 2

   People shown a list of 20 words tend to remember the first few and last few best. Why might that be, and how could you test your explanation?

   What it shows a tutor: Explaining a finding with a model of memory and designing an experiment that could prove you wrong.

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

   1. Two effects. The first words get the most rehearsal, because when they arrive there is little else to think about, so they are more likely to be stored for the longer term.
   2. The last words are still in short-term memory when recall begins, so they can be read out almost directly.
   3. The middle words get neither advantage.
   4. Test: add a delay filled with a distracting task, such as counting backwards, between the list and recall. If my account is right, the advantage for the last words should disappear, while the first words should stay well remembered.
   5. A second test: present the list faster. Less time to rehearse should weaken the first-word advantage but not the last.

   A tutor might then ask: Why might a jury remember the opening and closing arguments of a trial better than the evidence in the middle?

   The usual wrong turn: Describing the effect again in different words. The question wants a mechanism and a test.

3. Question 3

   How could you find out whether babies a few months old can tell the difference between one object and two?

   What it shows a tutor: Designing an experiment for participants who cannot talk.

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

   1. Babies cannot answer questions, so I need a behaviour that shows surprise or interest. Looking time is the usual one: babies look longer at things that are new or unexpected.
   2. Habituation: show one object repeatedly until the baby's looking drops off. Then show two. If looking jumps back up, the baby noticed a change.
   3. Control for other differences: two objects take up more space and are brighter, so vary size and arrangement so that only the number is a reliable cue.
   4. An alternative design shows an impossible event, for example one object placed behind a screen, then two revealed. Longer looking suggests the baby expected one.
   5. Then the limits: longer looking shows the baby detected something, not that it counts as we do. I would be careful about the conclusion.

   A tutor might then ask: How would you check that the babies are responding to number and not to the total amount of stuff?

   The usual wrong turn: Proposing a method that needs the baby to point or speak.

4. Question 4

   Can happiness be measured?

   What it shows a tutor: Thinking about validity and reliability rather than giving a yes or no.

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

   1. Define what we want to measure: a passing mood, or satisfaction with life overall. They behave differently.
   2. Self-report is the obvious method: ask people to rate it. The risk is that answers depend on mood that day, the wording of the question, or what people think they should say.
   3. Check reliability: for life satisfaction, does the same person give similar answers a week apart? For mood, change is expected. Check validity: do answers line up with other signs, such as what friends say, or behaviour?
   4. Other methods, such as frequent short questions through the day, reduce memory bias.
   5. So happiness can be measured imperfectly, and the useful question is whether a measure is good enough for a particular purpose, such as comparing groups.

   A tutor might then ask: If a country's average happiness score rose after a new policy, what would you want to check before crediting the policy?

   The usual wrong turn: Saying no because happiness is subjective. Subjective things can still be measured with care.

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 Psychology (Experimental) acceptance rate
• Oxford Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics acceptance rate
• Cambridge Psychological and Behavioural Sciences acceptance rate
• Oxford interview dates for every course
• Cambridge interviews, college by college
• Oxford and Cambridge offer dates
• Oxbridge question of the day

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