Cambridge University has announced plans to introduce entrance exams as part of its application process in a letter to UK schools and sixth forms this week. School leavers will now have to sit one to two hour exams either before or at their interview, in a similar style to exams sat by Oxford applicants. Dr Sam Lucy, Director of Admissions at Cambridge, told schools that “no advance preparation will be needed, other than revision of relevant recent subject knowledge where appropriate”.
A Cambridge spokesperson told Cherwell that the decision was taken after the government’s move to scrap the AS qualifications for students sitting their exams in 2017. The University has been critical of government exam reforms, having voiced support for the AS qualification, and claimed that AS level results are the best indicator of A-Level success in a majority of subjects.
When Cherwell asked Cambridge whether the move was in response to a report condemning Oxbridge for failing to improve access to students from state schools published in December, a spokesman for the University responded, “We have the expertise needed to devise assessments which are appropriate for academically gifted Year 13 students from all backgrounds. This decision runs in parallel with our ongoing and extensive work to widen participation. We have consulted teachers from state schools and colleges and taken on board their constructive feedback.”
Response to the entrance exam has been mixed. Niamh Ryle, a Cambridge undergraduate, told Cherwell, “The current at-interview assessments run on a college-by college, subject-by-subject basis are more difficult to predict than entrance tests or AS exams and thus a much fairer measure of academic potential. Preparation for the new application process will be available to the wealthier students whereas those at state comprehensives will not be able to afford it.”
Eleanor Smith, who reads Anglo Saxon Norse and Celtic (ASNAC) at Clare College, told Cherwell, “I can’t say the decision thrills me. With ASNAC, what subject knowledge could they possibly be testing? If they were testing based on knowledge, it would depend heavily on the books you’ve read, some of which are pretty expensive. One of the things I liked about interview was that it gave me the chance to show skills in a setting which was more like a conversation.”
However, Katherine Griffiths, a Cambridge offer-holder, argued that standardised admissions test would lead to greater fairness for candidates. “At the moment, it seems unfair that some candidates have to sit a test at their chosen college at interview when other candidates have no test at all. This surely means it’s difficult to judge candidates equally and fairly when you have different amounts of information from each candidate.”
Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Sutton Trust, which works to improve social mobility, told the Financial Times, “Cambridge should be aware that tests could present a disadvantage for lowand middle-income students as there is a thriving market in private tuition for the extra admissions tests used at Oxford and Cambridge.”
The courses which will have pre-interview assessments are Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Chemical Engineering, Economics, Engineering, English, Geography, History, Human, Social, and Political Sciences, Medicine (BMAT), Natural Sciences, Psychological and Behavioural Sciences, Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion and Veterinary Medicine (BMAT).
There will be at-interview assessments for Architecture, Classics, Computer Science, Education, History of Art, Land Economy, Law, Linguistics, Modern and Medieval Languages and Philosophy.
This announcement follows The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s finding that Oxbridge places are “out of reach of most locals.” Not one pupil eligible for free school meals in Cambridgeshire was accepted into Oxford or Cambridge in 2014, and no such Oxfordshire pupil managed it in 2013.
