PPE and economics interviews at Oxford and Cambridge

What are the interviews like?

Oxford’s PPE course page says shortlisted candidates are invited to at least one online interview, and its interview timetable for 2026 has most first-college PPE interviews on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 December, with decisions about second-college interviews by 4pm on Thursday 10 December and second-college interviews from Friday 11 to Wednesday 16 December. For Economics and Management, first-college interviews are on 9 to 11 December and second-college interviews on 15 and 16 December. Both use a shared online whiteboard as well as the video call.

At Cambridge, Trinity says its Economics candidates normally have one interview with two economists, about half of it spent on an article you are asked to read beforehand and the rest on mathematical problems that need no more than the first year of A level maths. Other colleges differ, and the university says most applicants have one or two interviews lasting 35 minutes to an hour in total.

What are the tutors looking for?

Oxford’s course page for PPE says tutors want to find out if you can think clearly and analytically, that they are less concerned with what you know than how you think, and that they look for interest in all three subjects. The PPE faculty sets out four criteria for interviews: understanding, intellectual flexibility, critical thinking and problem-solving, and communication, which it describes as addressing the point under discussion rather than veering off it.

For Economics and Management, Oxford looks for an interest in how businesses and the economy are organised, the ability to build and criticise arguments and express ideas clearly, and independence and flexibility of thought, and says the interview is not primarily a test of existing knowledge, and in particular not of any economics or management you have studied.

Questions Oxford has published

Oxford’s sample questions for PPE include a philosophy argument from a Lincoln College tutor, which runs roughly like this: air transport contributes to harmful climate change, but the plane will fly whether or not I take a particular flight, so I have no moral reason not to fly. Is that convincing? The tutor says you may be asked to accept the premise for the sake of argument, and then to compare it with other cases, such as voting, where one person’s action seems to make no difference.

Others ask why income per head is between 50 and 100 times larger in the United States than in countries such as Burundi and Malawi, which the tutor calls perhaps the most important economic question there is, and whether a fault in the British political system stops it dealing with long-term problems, using the pensions crisis as the example. There is also a question about the difference between the words lie, deceive and mislead, which tests whether you can draw fine distinctions between concepts.

For Economics, a St Anne’s College tutor describes a puzzle given to candidates ten minutes before the interview, about two cousins with the same budget for a four-day holiday, one of whom is impatient, and how each should spread their spending. The tutor says it involves some simple mathematical ideas, that no calculations are expected but a diagram often helps, and that the point is to see whether you can abstract from a real situation and put economic principles to work. For Economics and Management, a Lady Margaret Hall tutor asks whether bankers deserve the pay they receive, and whether the government should limit it, looking for the economics of pay rather than whether it seems fair.

Tests and written work for 2027 entry

Oxford’s PPE and Economics and Management applicants take the TARA (Test of Academic Reasoning for Admissions) between 12 and 16 October 2026, all three modules. UAT-UK says each module lasts 40 minutes and that the writing task, one essay from a choice of three with a 750-word limit, is not scored by UAT-UK but goes to the university. Cambridge requires all Economics applicants to take the TMUA in the same October window. Oxford asks for no written work for either course, and Cambridge does not usually ask for any for Economics.

How to prepare

For PPE and Economics and Management, practise taking an argument apart: find the premises, ask whether the conclusion follows, look for a counter-example and then try to repair the argument. Reading a short opinion piece and asking what it assumes is good practice, and so is explaining an economic idea, such as why a price cap creates a shortage, with a simple diagram.

For Cambridge Economics, make sure your A level maths is fluent, since some of the interview is likely to be problems, and practise reading a short article and summarising its argument in a minute. Whichever you are applying for, reread your personal statement, because tutors often begin with something in it.

With an account, cookie’s Interview prep runs a mock Oxford or Cambridge interview in this subject with an AI interviewer. It writes problems in the style of the universities’ published examples, not real interview questions, gives a hint when you go quiet and writes a report at the end. It uses credits, and it is for practising beforehand: Cambridge says using AI during an interview is prohibited.