申请2019年牛津本科面试例题公布

　　不少小伙伴深有感触，我走过最长的路就是牛津面试的套路...

　　十分严格又角度刁钻，往往不按套路出牌，要说面试最难的大学，那一定是牛津大学!

　　不过好在，人家牛津的态度还是超级nice的，每年本科申请截止(10月15日)后，会公布面试例题、解题思路、甚至是出这个题的面试官都告诉你是谁，简直不要太贴心了吧!

　　不过就算这样，每年能进牛津的人还是寥寥可数，可见过硬的个人素质以及充分的面试准备缺!一!不!可!

　　就在昨天(10月18日)，牛津又公布了本年度的面试例题和答案，申请牛津的小伙伴们，冲鸭!!!

　　牛津面试题也是相当有创意了，地球科学的面试可能会给你块石头问你“这个石头看起来什么样”?音乐专业问过“你怎么听音乐”...

　　进入正题之前先啰嗦几句，每年超过20,000人申请牛津本科的3,200个入学名额，会有大约10,000场面试。

　　牛津面试时间安排在12月初到中旬。面试时间一天或超过一天，要看申请的是什么专业。考虑到国际生的距离问题，牛津表示所有医学入围者必须到牛津面试;其他专业采取就近原则，直接到牛津大学面试或接受电话/网络面试。

　　2018牛津不同专业面试时间表：

　　http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/interviews/2018-interview-timetable

　　牛津授课主要是小班制和导师制，面试也基本采取这个形式，而面试官极有可能就是你未来的导师。

　　牛津面试看重学术潜力，导师希望发现你对科目的动机和热情。面试结果取决于你的独立思考能力、处理新问题的能力，而不是你的举止、外貌和背景

　　很多面试问题是为了测试你解决问题的能力，如果不知道答案也不用慌，但是尽量积极思考，体现出你对专业的兴趣。

　　部分专业面试例题及面试官(官网最新公布)

　　医学/生物医学科学专业

　　面试官: Chris Norbury, The Queen's College

　　问题:The viruses that infect us are totally dependent on human cells for their reproduction; is it therefore surprising that viruses cause human diseases?

　　Chris:Like most good interview questions, this could be a starting point for any number of interesting conversations. Most candidates will have a reasonable understanding that viruses are essentially parasitic genetic entities, but the interviewers are not really looking for factual knowledge.

　　In a tutorial-style discussion, strong candidates will engage with the paradox that viruses need us for their own reproduction, and yet cause us damage. They might point out that some of our responses to viral infection (such as sneezing) favour the spread of the virus. The interviewer might steer the discussion towards viral infections associated with high mortality, and the idea that any virus that killed off its host entirely would run the risk of extinction – unless it could infect other host species too. Candidates may have come across examples of viruses that jump from non-human animals to human hosts in this way.

　　We might then ask if the candidate considers it possible that there are viruses that infect humans and reproduce successfully, but do not cause any disease. How might we go about finding and characterising such viruses? These questions probe selection criteria including problem-solving, critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, communication skills, ability to listen and compatibility with the tutorial format.

　　音乐专业

　　面试官: Laura Tunbridge, St Catherine's College

　　问题:What are the different ways in which you listen to music? How does that change the way in which you think about what you're listening to?

　　Laura:Music interviews often have several parts: there may be questions about your interests or on broad topics, and many colleges will give a reading and/or a short piece of music to look at beforehand, which you will be asked questions about. Some colleagues play music in the interview and, similarly, ask what your thoughts are about it. The point of all this isn't to find out what you don't know but to get a sense of how you read a text or understand a piece of music, and how you think through issues or material. We are very much aware that the types of music people play and care about are varied and the course itself covers a wide range, from global hip hop to Mozart, medieval song to sound art. It's not a question, then, of liking the right stuff but of finding out how curious you are, and how well you can apply what you already know to something new.

　　Standalone questions like this one, are more unusual, but suggest the kinds of topics that might be used to prompt discussion. The question allows students to use their own musical experiences as a starting point for a broader and more abstract discussion about the different ways people consume music, the relationship between music and technology, and how music can define us socially. There might be follow-up questions about whether students think a particular way of listening has more worth the others, for example. It could also prompt other discussions; for example, we tend inWestern Europeto be silent in concert halls: why might that be and what is the effect? Does it encourage a certain kind of attentiveness and respect? Might it put some people off? What would be effect of, say, clapping between movements of a symphony to your understanding of how the music works?

　　I might also expect to discuss whether particular types of music suit being listened to in particular ways; whether listening on headphones changes the way you experience what's going around you; and what makes some soundtracks better than others. We are interested in probing their understanding of music and its contexts, so thinking about how you share music with others and how the environment in which you listen to music affects the way you experience it – if you hear the same tracks live, at a festival or concert, what factors change how you hear and think about the music? The study of music is about more than just examining composed works, and a question like this gets at that aspect of the course.

　　化学专业

　　面试官: Martin Galpin, University College

　　问题:How many different molecules can be made from six carbon atoms and twelve hydrogen atoms?

　　Martin:This question gives candidates an opportunity to demonstrate a wide understanding of chemistry and there is no simple, immediate answer.

　　Most candidates would start by drawing some molecules to construct some that satisfy the requirement of six carbons and twelve hydrogens. If the candidate gets stuck, the interviewer may ask them to explain how many bonds they'd expect each carbon and each hydrogen to form. This part of the interview tests candidates' familiarity with different kinds of molecules, their ability to visualise molecules in three dimensions and then draw them, and their ability to decide if two differently-drawn molecules are actually equivalent. During this process, the interviewer would also be looking at how well the candidate responds to prompting.

　　After a few minutes, the interviewer may use the question to move the discussion toward concepts such as chirality, cis-trans isomerism, ring strain, and isotope effects. Candidates may not have heard of these before, which is fine and to be expected; the interviewer wants to see how quickly the candidate picks up new concepts and whether they can offer plausible explanations for them. The interviewer might finish the discussion with a rather more difficult question, such as 'is a molecule only stable if all the carbons form four bonds?', thus challenging what is taught at school and getting the candidate to think critically about the nature of a chemical bond.

　　神学与宗教专业

　　面试官: Peter Groves, Worcester College

　　问题:Is religion of value whether or not there is a God?

　　Peter:This is a question we would hope any candidate for Theology and Religion would enjoy answering. It raises a number of issues for them to explore. What is our definition of religion, and how fluid is that definition? What do we mean by value, and how might it be measured? Are the effects of religion in the past as important as its consequences in the present?

　　A candidate might also want to ask what we mean when we say 'there is a God?' Is affirming this statement enough, or should religious or theological enquiry be more specific – is talk of God in the abstract as helpful as discussion of particular religious ideas or texts? How would we construct a case for the value of religion in the absence of belief in God?

　　A good answer could engage with one or more of these problems, and we would hope in conversation develop further questions. For example, can we adjudicate competing claims in conversations such as these? Is a worldwide religion such as Christianity or Islam intrinsically more or less valuable because of its number of adherents? Do ethics or aesthetics have a part to play: can I claim religious ideas have value if they inspire great art or music or poetry? Who gets to decide what is great? Does religion affect this decision?

　　All these possible questions represent directions in which the conversation might go – none is particularly wrong or right, but strong candidates will see a number of different routes available for them to explore, and could choose whichever interested them most.

　　地球科学专业

　　面试官: Conall MacNiocaill, Exeter College

　　问题1:How can we estimate the mass of the atmosphere?

　　Conall:This question can be addressed in variety of ways and addresses several of our selection criteria: an aptitude for analysing and solving a problem using a logical and critical approach; lateral thinking and hypothesis generation; the ability to manipulate quantities and units; and the ability to apply familiar concepts (pressure, force etc.) to unfamiliar situations.

　　Candidates often like to start off by thinking about the composition of the atmosphere, and how we might know that, what its density is, and then to ways of estimating its volume. We look to see if there are ways of simplifying the problem: for example, could you treat the Earth and atmosphere as a sphere slightly larger than the Earth and subtract the volume of the Earth from the larger sphere to get a volume for the atmosphere? The difficulty with this approach often lies with determining where the atmosphere ends and how the density might vary with altitude, how applicable concepts like the ideal gas law are in these circumstances, and these are uncertainties that we might explore in a discussion.

　　An alternate approach is to see if there are properties of the atmosphere that we can observe at the surface that might enable us to estimate the mass. One such property is atmospheric pressure, which is a force per unit area. The force can also be described as a mass multiplied by an acceleration, which on Earth is the acceleration due to gravity. Hence, if we have some idea about atmospheric pressure we can calculate the mass pressing down on a unit area. If we can estimate the total surface area of the earth (approximated by the surface area of a sphere) we can therefore calculate the total mass of the atmosphere.

　　面试官: Roger Benson, St Edmund Hall

　　问题2:Tell me what this rock looks like.

　　Roger: For this question, you are given a hand sample of rock to examine, and are asked to describe what you see. In the second part of the question, you are asked to suggest how the rock formed, and why it looks the way it does (it is made of crystals of several different types, and the types of crystal vary in their average size).

　　This question does not rely on pre-existing knowledge of geology or rocks. In fact, what we are interested in is whether the candidates can make accurate and critical observations (what does the rock look like?) and are able to interpret the meaning of those observations using their knowledge of physical and chemical processes (reasoning ability: aptitude for analysing and solving problems using logical approaches). As with many of our questions, we don't want candidates necessarily to tell us the 'right' answer straight away. We want to see that they are motivated, and keen to engage with the topic. We don't want to intimidate or overwhelm the candidates with difficult questions that they haven’t encountered before. But we do want to see that they can get to grips with new information and use it in their reasoning. So we often provide suggestions and small questions that help to guide the conversation at various points.

　　In the first part of the question, when describing the rock, we want candidates to organise their observations, so they have some structure. For example, the rock is made of crystals, some of which have well-defined shapes. The crystals vary in colour and size, and probably represent different chemical compositions (different minerals). The smaller types of crystals generally have less well-defined edges.

　　In the second part of the question, we want to see that candidates can use their knowledge of crystal formation – from GCSE and possibly A-level – to interpret why the rock appears as it does. The crystals indicate that the rock formed by crystallisation of molten rock from a liquid to a solid. Some crystals might be larger because they took longer to form.Crystalswith poorly-defined shapes may have formed last, fitting into whatever space was available at the end of the process. These observations can be used to discuss the history of cooling of molten rock.

　　历史专业

　　面试官: Sian Pooley, Magdalen College

　　问题:What can historians not find out about the past?

　　Sian:The aim of this question is to encourage candidates to think critically, creatively and comparatively about how historians know what happened in the past. I would use this sort of open question to allow a candidate to talk about the availability of historical evidence in whatever time period, place or theme interested them from their school-work or wider reading. For instance, a candidate might start off by saying that they had been studying Tudor England and historians don't know much about the lives of the poor because they were less likely to be able to write. Given these lower levels of literacy, we could then talk about what sources historians can use to learn about the lives of the majority of the population in sixteenth-centuryEngland. This would require the candidate to think creatively about alternative sources (and their drawbacks), such as, for instance, criminal court records in which people who could not write were required to give oral testimony as witnesses.

　　Historians are always interested in explaining continuity and change over time, so I might then ask the candidate to compare what historians can know about Tudor England to another time period or place that interests them. For instance, if they had also studied theUSAduring the Depression, I might ask the candidate whether the gaps in historical evidence are different in interwarAmerica. By thinking comparatively across four hundred years and in different continents, a candidate might be able to draw some thoughtful conclusions. They might want to think about how structures of power have altered over time or about how social norms for what can be recorded and kept in archives have changed. This is the sort of conversation that no candidate could predict in advance. The hope is that the discussion allows candidates to show their understanding of, and enthusiasm for, history, and – most importantly – their ability to think independently, flexibly, and imaginatively about the past.

　　以上是昨天牛津给出的全部例题。这些面试题还不够?没有找到自己申请的专业?小伙伴们先不要慌!牛津面试页面也给出了更多专业的面试问题以及指导，这个链接大家收好!http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/guide/interviews#content-tab--3

　　这里我们先列举部分热门专业的部分面试问题：

　　医学专业

　　Put these countries in order by their crude mortality (deaths per thousand of the population):Bangladesh,Japan,South Africa, theUK.

　　数学专业

　　Imagine a ladder leaning against a vertical wall with its feet on the ground. The middle rung of the ladder has been painted a different colour on the side, so that we can see it when we look at the ladder from the side on. What shape does that middle rung trace out as the ladder falls to the floor?

　　How many ways are there to cover a 2 x n rectangular grid with 2 x 1 tiles?

　　法律专业

　　What does it mean for someone to ‘take' another's car?

　　If the punishment for parking on double yellow lines were death, and therefore nobody did it, would that be a just and effective law?

　　Should it be illegal to run a red light in the middle of the night on an empty road?

　　PPE专业

　　I agree that air transport contributes to harmful climate change. But whether or not I make a given plane journey, the plane will fly anyway. So there is no moral reason for me not to travel by plane.' Is this a convincing argument?

　　Are our deaths bad for us?

　　物理专业

　　A ball, initially at rest, is pushed upwards by a constant force for a certain amount of time. Sketch the velocity of the ball as a function of time, from start to when it hits the ground.

　　生物化学专业

　　Would you expect this compound to be more soluble in octanol or water? (The student will be shown the structure of an organic compound with functional groups that they will be familiar with from A-level/IB studies)

　　申请牛津大学，面试真的相当重要了，多少人淘汰在这个环节，与名校遗憾擦肩。毕竟与剑桥相比，牛津的A-level要求宽松很多，但名校也是有固定招生名额的，牛津的面试这关就会卡得相当严格