2 ms·

This is why Oxbridge admissions are a bit of a crap shoot. What they're really after is whether you can keep thinking and not be intimidated into silence. Just

This is why Oxbridge admissions are a bit of a crap shoot. What they're really after is whether you can keep thinking and not be intimidated into silence. Just about any subject that a professor understands can be taken to where a high school graduate is stumped. You can always add twists to just about anything interesting. They key is to realise they are testing whether you'll interact well, not whether you can figure out the answers. I was quite fortunate, they kept asking me things that I knew and they weren't disappointed with where my limits were. It does come off as a bit confrontational to the modern observer I'd say, and it does give the impression that tutorials are some sort of intellectual sparring match. They're not, clearly you'd be flattened by the professor if they were.

d136o 5y ago
When it comes to programming puzzle interviews I went through a similar sort of realization, there is a baseline level of knowledge about algos/design/experience, but beyond some point it seemed to be about how well I could explain my way through a problem. For a problem which I didn’t know off the bat I had to talk with the interviewer to eventually get to a working solution. A *huge* part of that is about not losing my cool, about not getting into a mental headspace of being stuck. Interestingly, the less I need a particular job opportunity the more comfortable I have been with these probing conversations.
gnufx 5y ago
It was a long time ago, but I don't remember the interview being confrontational, just thinking the tutors seemed a bit odd -- I'd led a sheltered life. (Most interviews and tutorials surely won't be conducted by professors.)