<p>Applying for Classics at Oxford runs through three separate stages, and understanding what each is testing took a lot of the fear out of it for me. Here's how I approached the written work, the admissions test and the interview.</p><p><strong>The three stages</strong></p><p>You submit written work, sit the Classics Admissions Test (the CAT), and then interview. They're assessing different things, your existing writing, your language ability, and how you think on your feet, so it's worth preparing for each on its own terms rather than as one blur.</p><p><strong>Choosing your written work</strong></p><p>You send in two essays already marked as part of normal schoolwork. My advice is to pick pieces on topics you genuinely enjoyed and know solidly, because the interview may well circle back to them. Mine were a translated Italian literature test on Lucretius and an essay on the vocabulary of light and darkness in Euripides' Bacchae, both things I was happy to be quizzed on in detail.</p><p><strong>The Classics Admissions Test</strong></p><p>The CAT checks your language ability through prose and verse translation. It's untimed, and you don't get a dictionary, which sounds brutal but really just means they're testing your foundations rather than expecting perfection. I prepared by practising translation steadily and drilling my Latin and Greek grammar until it was close to automatic.</p><p><strong>The interview</strong></p><p>The interviews use texts as springboards for discussion. You usually get around fifteen minutes to read the passages beforehand, then you talk them through with the tutors. What they want is someone responsive, who doesn't flinch at the unfamiliar but takes it on with a bit of nerve and curiosity, and who can bring their existing knowledge to bear on something new.</p><p><strong>The mindset that carried me through</strong></p><p>The most useful thing I can tell you is that it is never about having all the answers. It's about bringing the knowledge you do have and being willing to use it on something you've never seen before. When I hit a passage I found hard, I said so, then had a go anyway, and that willingness to try mattered more than getting it perfectly right.</p><p><strong>Final thoughts</strong></p><p>Classics selection can look like three intimidating tests, but they add up to one simple question: can you read carefully, think rigorously, and stay game when you're out of your depth? If you'd like help preparing for Classics at Oxford, Oxbridge Solution can guide you through all three stages.</p>