Saturday 7 November. Think first, out loud. Take a hint only when stuck, then open the worked approach a step at a time.
Engineering
The power of your legs
Estimate the power you produce running up one flight of stairs. Choose your own numbers and tell me what you are ignoring.
Hint 1Power = work done ÷ time. The work done against gravity is mgh.
Hint 2A flight of stairs climbs roughly one storey, about 3 m.
Take a 70 kg person, a 3 m climb, and 5 seconds.
Work against gravity = 70 × 9.8 × 3 ≈ 2,100 J.
Power ≈ 2,100 ÷ 5 ≈ 400 W.
This ignores the energy used swinging legs and arms and the body's inefficiency, so the food energy burned is several times larger.
Where it lands: Roughly 400 W (for 70 kg, 3 m, 5 s).
The trap: Using the length of the staircase instead of its height.
What a tutor might ask next: How long could you keep that power up, and how does it compare with a kettle?
Now do one out loud. In the interview you think aloud with a tutor. Try an Engineering problem with hints, follow-ups and Mia's feedback on how you think.
Problems in your subject, answered out loud on the page. Take hints when stuck, answer the follow-ups, and see how your thinking comes across.
Oxbridge Interview Rehearsal: two subjects
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Rehearse every problem in two subjects you choose, with hints, follow-ups and Mia's marks, for 12 months.
All 8 problems in each of your two subjects, chosen after you pay
Hints when you are stuck, then the tutor's follow-up questions
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By paying you agree to our Terms and get access straight away, which ends your 14-day cancellation right. Your full refund within 14 days, for any reason, still applies.
Oxbridge Interview Rehearsal: all subjects
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Every problem in all seven subjects, for joint courses and for practising beyond your own subject.
All 56 problems: Maths, Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Economics, Law and PPE
Hints when you are stuck, then the tutor's follow-up questions
Mia's marks on up to 60 attempts a day, within a fair-use allowance for each interview season: thinking aloud, using hints, checking, reasoning
Your next problem picked from your weakest skill
Your latest 300 attempts saved, with re-attempts side by side
Access for 12 months, until 7 November 2027. Use it on a free account. Full refund within 14 days, for any reason.
By paying you agree to our Terms and get access straight away, which ends your 14-day cancellation right. Your full refund within 14 days, for any reason, still applies.