1. What do you expect to get out of this degree?
2. Why do you want to study [insert subject here]?
3. Why do you want to come to this college?
4. Have you been to this college before?
5. What makes you think this University will be the right fit for you?
6. Where do you see yourself in 10 years’time? What about 20 years?
7. What extracurricular activities do you do?
8. How will you contribute to College life?
9. What do you know about the course structure?
10. What is your biggest weakness?
11. What is your biggest strength?
12. How will your experiences from the Duke of Edinburgh scheme benefit your future studies?
13. What makes you want to come here when you would most certainly get a better result at any other university?
14. Oxford is very intense, how will you manage your time to deal with all of the work?
15. What did you read this morning?
16. What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced and how did you deal with it?
17. Who was your best teacher? How have they influenced you?
18. What are your long term plans in life?
19. What are your top three skills?
20. Would you choose a party over an essay?
21. Who’s the most influential: Obama, Merkel or Adele?
22. What colour best represents you?
23. What shape is man? What shape is time?
24. Why do things have names?
25. What international newspapers and publications do you read?
26. Can you hear silence?
27. How many golf balls can you fit in a Boeing 747 plane?
28. How many planes are flying over London right now?
29. How many letters does Royal Mail deliver every day?
30. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in London?
31. How many piano tuners are there in Europe?
32. India introduces a new population control policy to address the gender imbalance. If a couple has a girl, they may have another child. If they have a boy, they can’t have any more children. What would be the new ratio of boys : girls?
33. Why are manhole covers round?
34. How many times per day does a clock’s hand overlap?
35. You are shrunk down so you’re the size of a matchstick and then put into a blender with metal blades. It is about to be turned on – what do you do?
36. You are given 7 identical balls and another ball that looks the same as the others but is heavier than them. You can use a balance only two times. How would you identify which is the heavy ball?
37. What is your favourite number?
38. Who am I? (Always read up on your interviewers!)
39. Is there any question that you wished we had asked you?
40. If you could keep objects from the present for the future, what would they be?
41. Does human nature change over time?
42. Is there such a thing as truth?
43. What is a lie? How do I know what you just said isn’t a lie?
44. If you could have one superpower – which one would it be? Why?
45. Who has had the largest influence on your life?
46. What is more important – art or science?
47. What are you looking forward to the least at this college?
48. If you were me, would you let yourself in?
49. Would you ever go on a one-way trip to Mars? Why/Why not?
50. What do you think my favorite color is? Why do you say that?
51. Define ‘success’ in one sentence.

52. How does a cheetah run so fast?
53. Why is the structure of an elephant’s foot the way it is?
54. How is a horse’s leg adapted to running?
55. Why do you want to be a vet/doctor?
56. How does respiration differ between fish and mammals?
57. What is your favourite animal?
58. How does an electron microscope work?
59. How does the leg respond to reflexes? What would happen if you stimulated both the sensory and motor neurons at the same time?
60. How can mutations cause an RNA or DNA to be longer or shorter?
61. How would you find out which colours a rat can distinguish? What about an octopus?
62. Why does the brain: body ratio of moles and bats differ?
63. I see from your personal statement that you do a lot of sports. What effects does lactic acid have on the body and brain?
64. What can you tell me about this skull?
65. Female deer appear to select their mates based on the size of their antlers. The older deer have bigger antlers. How would you confirm this experimentally?
66. When competing for mates, male deer engage in "show-fighting", and the loser eventually backs down. Is there an evolutionary advantage to this, rather than fighting to the death?
67. How do dolphins regulate their body temperature in cold and warm water?
68. How many petrol stations are there in Europe?
69. How many molecules of gas are in the room?
70. How many sulphate ions would you expect in a 0.5 litre aqueous sulphuric acid solution at pH 2.0 assuming it was completely dissociated?
71. Draw the structures of as many compounds as you can think of with the formula C4H8O, with an emphasis on the different chemical groups that may be involved.
72. What do you know about the bonding in a benzene ring?
73. An ice cube is floating in a glass of water. What happens to the water level when it melts?
74. How is aspirin synthesised? What organic reaction takes place?
75. Draw the full chemical structure of DNA.
76. Why are diamonds so expensive?
77. What is entropy?
78. Why are bacterial infections easier to treat than viral infections?
79. Does the molecular structure of glycine change with pH?
80. How long is a gene?
81. How many genes are in a cell?
82. Give an example of when specialist biological knowledge has helped a global issue.
83. Was Lamarck right?
84. How would you mass produce insulin?
85. How would you tell if a mouse could differentiate between the smell of an apple and the smell of chocolate?
86. Should all stem cell therapy be legalised?
87. If senses work only because our brain interprets electrical signals, what is reality?
88. How many guinea pigs would you use in an experiment?
89. Is euthanasia too broad a term to use? What are the different types of euthanasia?
90. Should patients always have complete autonomy?
91. How much money should the NHS spend on palliative care?
92. Why do some people describe the NHS as the 'crown jewel of the welfare state'?
93. How well can we compare public and private healthcare?
94. Should patients with a terminal illness be able to use an experimental drug, even if it has not yet been rigorously tested?
95. What is a clinical trial and why are they so important?
96. Will 3D printing revolutionise medicine?
97. Why are cancer cells more susceptible to destruction by radiotherapy than regular cells?
98. If you had £1billion to spend on a specific area of research, what would it be and why?
99. What is the most significant medical breakthrough in the last 10 years?
100. What is an ECG and how does it work?
101. How could you justify the legalisation of ecstasy?
102. Should every hospital have an MRI machine?
103. What are the ethical implications of genetic screening from birth?
104. Should placebos be used in hospitals? What about GP surgeries?
105. How would you differentiate between salt and sugar without tasting them?
106. What do you understand by the words perception, self- awareness and consciousness?
107. If a psychologically ill person commits a crime, are they a criminal?
108. If you had to give human rights to one of either chimpanzees, dolphins or elephants, which would you choose?
109. How many litres of blood does your heart pump in your lifetime?
110. Why do men often go bald, but women rarely do?
111. Why is there no cure for the common cold? How does the flu vaccine work?
112. Why do the atria contract before the ventricles?
113. Why do we need ATP? Why not just release energy from glucose directly?
114. What is DNA fingerprinting and why is it used in forensics?
115. What is normality?
116. Has the enhancement of medical knowledge destroyed human evolution?
117. How can we cure global warming if environmental measures fail?
118. Why do leaves have stomata on their bottom and not top?
119. Why are so few flowers and animals coloured green?
120. Radiation can cause cancer yet we use radiotherapy to treat cancer. What could explain this apparent paradox?
121. How would you find out what function a gene has in humans? What about in plants?
122. What is the Red-Queen effect? What is its significance?
123. What is your favourite pathogen?
124. What is the difference between bacteria and viruses?
125. How does a caterpillar transform into a butterfly?
126. Why do some habitats support higher biodiversity than others?
127. Why do so many animals have stripes?
128. Here's a cactus. Tell me about it.
129. If you could save either the rainforests or the coral reefs, which would you choose?
130. Is it easier for organisms to live in the sea or on land?
131. Why do lions have manes?
132. Ladybirds are red. So are strawberries. Why?
133. Would it matter if tigers became extinct?
134. Why do cats’ eyes appear to 'glow' in the dark?
135. Why are dogs the most common type of pet?
136. How does a fridge work?
137. How do stem cells become specialised?
138. If money was no barrier, how would you scientifically prove life on Mars?
139. What is a neurotransmitter?
140. Why are infectious diseases no longer the biggest killer in the UK?
141. What is a gene?
142. Why can you stay balanced whilst cycling, but not on a stationary bike?
143. Why did E = mc2 change the world?
144. What are the problems with the current taxonomy system?
145. Draw a graph of how a bacterial population changes over time and one for the human population. Why is there a difference?
146. I have just injected myself with an unknown substance. Work out what it is doing to my body by asking me simple questions. (Answer= it blocked the function of motor neurons).
147. How would you measure the mass of nitrogen in this room?
148. What is the most important technology available in medicine?
149. Is humour a useful skill for a doctor?
150. If you lived in the 18th century, how would you prove that different areas of the brain have different functions?
151. Why is glass transparent but the sand that it’s made from not?
152. Will the population of mankind ever stop increasing?
153. Why do people have different gaits when they walk?
154. How do you measure blood pressure?
155. Talk about a piece of recent scientific research. Why was it important and how could it be improved?
156. How could you measure how much blood is in your body right now?
157. What did you have for breakfast?
158. Describe and draw a Volume/Pressure curve of a balloon and compare it to workings of the lung.
159. You are with a nurse who takes blood and makes a labelling mistake on a patient who has a needle phobia. What do you do? What do you say to the patient and what do you say to the nurse?
160. Describe how the human nose is adapted anatomically and physiologically to perform its function?
161. How would you classify diseases?
162. What do you understand by the term 'apoptosis'?
163. Why is the heart so well adapted to performing its role?
164. What are QALYs?
165. Draw a schematic diagram of the heart and tell me about the circulatory system.
166. Interviewer places a skeleton foot on the table. What is this?
167. Is this a left or right foot? How do you know which side the foot is?
168. How do you know it is a foot and not a hand?
169. Describe the processes that occur at a synapse.
170. What causes the common cold?
171. What is cerebral palsy?
172. What is an amino acid?
173. How do amino acids bond to form a peptide?
174. Please look at this picture (brain slice after a stroke). What does it show?
175. What are the two main types of stroke?
176. What can cause strokes in young patients?
177. What are fluid balance charts used for?
178. What are the most important characteristics of a good doctor?
179. Is it more important to be competent or compassionate?
180. What will you do if the senior doctor is not at the hospital and you have to perform a life-threatening procedure for the first time to save someone's life?
181. Are disabled lives worth saving?
182. Why can't you breathe underwater through a 1-metre straw?
183. What is the difference between meiosis and mitosis?
184. Genes- why are we not more like bananas?
185. Why do we need lungs?
186. Why are people obese?
187. How does a bird fly?
188. What is the relationship between flow through a vessel and its diameter?
189. What is a pulse?
190. Why do you drown faster in sea water than fresh water?
191. How does blood get back from your feet to your heart?
192. Why is blood red when you bleed even though your veins actually look blue?
193. How can you stand upright and balanced even with your eyes closed?
194. How would you break the news to a farmer that his cow has died?
195. Explain the respiratory system using this snorkel.
196. What is the point of cellular compartmentalisation?
197.How true is it to say that the modern meal is the culmination of a long journey away from biology?
198. What are the effects of cocaine on cerebral and coronary blood flow?
199. Which is better adapted- a human or a chimpanzee?
200. What is the best way to tackle the obesity epidemic?
201. How would you stop the spread of Ebola if you were in charge?
202. How much of human behaviour is genetically determined?
203. Why is sustainability so difficult to achieve?
204. What are the dangers of an ageing population? Is ageing a disease?
205.Do we actually need a brain?
206. What does the kidney do?
207.Why does our heart beat faster when we exercise?
208. What else do doctors do apart from treating patients?
209. If you have the money to do either 1 heart transplant or 100 hip replacements? Which one would you do and why?
210. Discuss the ethical dilemma of Huntingdon’s disease when one family member knows they have it and don't want anyone else to know.

211. What is phantom limb syndrome?
212. How can you treat phantom limb syndrome?
213. Why haven't you applied for Medicine?
214. Explain why the perception of pain might rise steeply as stimulation increases and level off at the top (shown a graph).
215. How would you create a model of the human brain?
216. What makes a face special?
217. Tell me something interesting about one of the Oliver Sacks books you read.
218. Why does experimental psychology appeal to you?
219. Shown some data from a possible psychology experiment - how would you go about interpreting this?
220. Could we ever make a computer as complex as the human brain?
221. What aspects of psychology interest you most?
222. Are our phenotypes due to nature or nurture?
223. Do you think children are born with their IQ naturally or can this be developed?
224. What is consciousness? How do you know if you are conscious?
225. Can fishes hear sound?
226. Where does neuroscience begin and psychology end?
227. What does heroin do to the brain?
228. To what extent do you agree with Freud?
229. Can machines make decisions?
230. Should a chimpanzee have human rights?
231. Should interviews be used for selection?

232. Draw the structure of Al3O6.
233. How do the double bonds in this hydrocarbon affect its solubility?
234. Can you draw an alkane where every carbon atom is in a different NMR environment?
235. Can you think of any ways that playing in your school band would make you better at chemistry? What is wrong with the periodic table?
236. Compare and contrast electronegativity and ionisation energy.
237. Why is life carbon based and not silicon based?
238. The nucleus and electrons are oppositely charged. Why do electrons not crash into the nucleus?
239. What is the significance of bonding in benzene?
240. How do you make aspirin?
241. What is the difference between diamond and graphite?
242. What is the cause of le chatelier’s principle?
243. What does pH stand for?
244. Estimate the mass of oxygen in this building.
245. What determines whether an acid is ‘strong’ or ‘weak’?
246. What is your favourite element? Why?
247. Why are the transition metals so colourful?
248. How many isomers of C4H8 can you draw?
249. Why are the transition metals good catalysts?
250. How many moles of water are there in this bottle of water?
251. What is the density of air in this room? What about outside? What about in Beijing?
252. What’s the difference between entropy and enthalpy?
253. How do glow sticks work?
254. Why does food taste better when it’s hot?
255. You have 30 seconds to name as many functional groups as possible.
256. Why do we use water to dilute solutions?
257. Compare and contrast hydrochloric acid to phosphoric acid.
258. Why is Vanadium so special?
259. Where does chemistry end and physics begin?
260. Can you change an endothermic reaction into an exothermic one?

261. How did the Greek astronomer, Aristarchus, determine the distance to the sun?
262. How much is the mass of nitrogen in this room?
263. The titanic weighed over 50,000 tonnes. Why did it not sink earlier?
264. If a sand timer was turned over onto a weighing scale, would there be any fluctuations in the weight displayed as the sand fell through?
265. If you have a helium balloon on a string in a car, and the car accelerates, what happens to the balloon?
266. How can a plane fly upside down?
267. Explain the different between entropy and enthalpy.
268. How would you go about calculating the number of atoms in the world? What information would you need to calculate it? Given this data, work out the answer.
269. An alkane has 750 carbon atoms. Given the length of a carbon-carbon bond and a carbon-hydrogen bond calculate the total length of the molecule.
270. Draw the shape of the molecule B2H6.
271. Calculating the speed at which a coin will hit the floor when dropped from a certain height above the ground.
272. Suggest a method of storing large amounts of hydrogen.
273. Integrate
274. Why did the Titanic initially float? Why did it split into two?
275. What is centrifugal force? How do you measure it?
276. Why does ‘heat rise’?
277. How do forest fires spread so quickly?
278. How can light be both a wave and a particle?
279. What safety mechanisms prevent a plane from being damaged by lightning?
280. How would you weigh the Earth?
281. Why was 2011 an incredible year for physics?
282. What is the area of your skin?

283. How does Earthquake-proofing work?
284. You create a circular hole in a sheet of metal and then heat it up. What happens to the size of the hole?
285. Why do large ships like aircraft carriers not sink despite weighing several thousand tonnes?
286. What are the difficulties with building a bridge that connects the UK and USA?
287. What is the significance of superconductors?
288. What limits the size of a computer chip?
289. How do aeroplanes fly? Why can some fly up-side-down?
290. What would be your first invention?
291. Derive the equation that links voltage, charge and capacitance.
292. Fast bowlers in cricket can ‘swing’ and ‘reverse-swing’ the bowl. What allows this to happen?
293. Why do windmills never appear stationary?
294. What is the strongest naturally occurring material? How is it cut into shapes?
295. How does an aeroplane fly?
296. Are engineering bridges more stable on concrete or on soil? Why?
297. Derive the formula for the area of a circle.
298. What are the main assumptions that we make when we model potential flow?
299. What is Moore’s law? What limits how small computers can get?
300. How do aeroplanes fly? Why can some planes fly upside down?
301. How do you tell if a website is busy because it has lots of visitors or because it is hosted in Australia?
302. How do trains go around bends?
303. What is the difference between a gun and a rifle? What advantage does a spinning bullet have?

304. What is the difference between carbon and carbon fibres?
305. What is a space ship made of? Why?
306. This is graphene [shows a tube of graphene flakes]. Do you know what it is?
307. How do you think you make it?
308. What do you think is special about it?
309. How would you build a lift to outer space?
310. What do you think it's made from?
311. Why is it made from those materials?
312. Differentiate y = sinx + cosx + tanx
313. What is the dissociation constant of this reaction given these concentrations? Why is the dissociation constant important?
314. What are submarines made of? Why? Wouldn’t a harder metal be better?
315. What are aeroplanes made of? Why? Wouldn’t a less dense metal be better?
316. What is a polymer? Why are they so useful?
317. Why is gold such a valuable material?
318. What do we use to cut metals precisely?
319. What do we use to cut diamond precisely?
320. A new compound is found at a suspected alien landing site. How would you work out what it is?
321. What would you expect alien spaceships to be made of?
322. What is the difference between the material sciences course and engineering?
323. Derive the formula for the surface area of a sphere.
324. What is the strongest material in the world? How would you cut it?

325. Do you know what a hyperbolic function is? [Gives a definition of sinh or cosh].
326. Sketch sinh(x) or cosh(x).
327. Plot x2/1-x
328. Plot ln x
329. Plot ex
330. PlotX2+X
331. What is your favourite number?
332. Why do we approximate many functions in maths to be sine and cosine?
333. How would you prove that the square root of 3 is irrational?
334. ex = yx. For what value of x is there only one solution?
335. How would you prove that e is irrational?
336. How would you derive Pi?
337. How would you prove that any integer can be expressed as prime factors or is itself a prime number?
338. I drove to this interview at 50 kmph and will drive back at 30 kmph because of the traffic. What is my average speed?
339. How would you write down 0.1 recurring as a fraction?
340. Estimate the fifth root of 1.2
341. There are 30 people in one room. What is the probability that exactly 2 of them have the same birthday?
342. Derive the formula for the volume of a sphere.
343. Integrate ysiny with respect to y.
344. Sketch y = sinx and y = (sinx)-1
345. Prove Pythagoras’ theorem.
346. What is the significance of Euler’s equations?
347. What do know about Fermat’s last theorem?
348. What are modular functions?
349. Sketch the graph of Y=exx
350. Sketch the graph of y=xee
351. Differentiate both of these curves – what do you notice?

352. What would happen if there was no inflation?
353. Do economists rely too heavily on models?
354. Is sociology useful for studying economics?
355. Can we really measure GDP?
356. What influences a country's productive potential?
357. Should governments have debts?
358. Should inequality matter to economists?
359. Does a balance of trade deficit matter?
360. Should government intervene in the market?
361. Was the financial crisis of 2008 a failure of regulation?
362. The value of the US Dollar and Japanese Yen are swapped with each other overnight. What would happen to global markets?
363. What is the best way to win in monopoly? Is this possible in real life?
364. Why are diamonds so expensive? Why is steel so cheap?
365. Imagine you have just opened up a new airline that flies a unique route (London and Tokyo). How would you determine what price to set tickets at to ensure maximal profit?
366. What is the golden ratio? Why do banks and investments firms obsess over it?
367. How can we predict future economic recessions and avoid depressions?
368. Should we still be giving aid to countries that have international space programmes e.g. India?
369. What is the difference between capitalism and communism? Are they really that different?
370. Why are we privatising large services like Royal Mail and the NHS?
371. Why is there a Starbucks or Costas every 100 meters or so in crowded cities?
372. What is the difference between a firm and a company?
373. How would you eliminate the national debt?
374. What is Gambler’s Ruin? Why does it tell us about how casinos operate?
375. What drives immigration and emigration?
376. Why is Dubai expanding so rapidly given that it has no tax generated income?
377. You are the captain of a pirate ship and have found a treasure chest. Your crew gets to vote on how the treasure is shared. If fewer than half of the pirates agree with you, you die. How would you share the gold in such a way that you get a maximum share and survive?
378. Why do teachers become plumbers and who should pay for their training?
379. Would it be feasible to have an economy entirely based on the service sector?
380. Are there too many people in the world?
381. What is the point of using NHS money to keep old people alive?
382. What is the difference between the buying and selling of slaves and the buying and selling of football players?
383. Why is a film actor wealthier than a theatre actor?
384. Why is deflation a scare to the UK?
385. If you and a business owner each have 10 loyal customers who will always buy from you unless you sell above £10, and there are an additional 80 who will choose who to buy from based on price alone, at what price does it become more profitable to stop undercutting your competitor and sell at £10 instead?
386. What is the difference between the chancellor and the governor of the bank of England?
387. What would be the implications of Scotland leaving the UK? What about Wales?
388. What will happen to oil prices in the next 10 years? What about 100 years?
389. Why is the American economy so strong?
390. What is the point of the G8? What about the G20?
391. Compare and contrast the Indian and Chinese economy.
392. This graph shows salt prices for the last 200 years. They follow a very predictable and cyclical pattern. Given that there was a huge depression and two world wars, how is this possible?
393. What is the difference between management and leadership?
394. How would you calculate the return on investment of Christopher Columbus’ voyages?
395. How would you calculate the return on investment for NASAs operations?
396. A new country is formed in Africa. They introduce a new currency. How does the international market value what it is worth?
397. Why don’t we use Euros? 

398. What is the point of studying English?
399. What do you want to get out of this course?
400. What is 'literature'?
401. What's the difference between poetry and prose?
402. Tell me about something you've read recently.
403. Should politicians study English?
404. Why do we bother studying literature that is hundreds of years old?
405. Is a protagonist’s gender important?
406. Don’t you think Hamlet is a bit long? How would you shorten it?
407. Do we have the right to interpret the story of the birth of Christ as a comment on Tony Blair’s current political situation?
408. Have you read Macbeth / King Lear / Hamlet? If yes- what makes that play a 'tragedy'?
409. The first two years of the Cambridge English course is structured around period papers: 1350-1550, 1500-1700, etc. Do you think it is important to study literature in chronological order?
410. Have you ever visited an author's birthplace or home, or a place that a text is about? If yes- did this change the way you read the text? Is it a valuable thing to do?
411. Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare's plays?
412. What Elizabeth Bishop poems have you read?
413. What is haiku? Why are they so different in structure to a sonnet?
414. If you could design the Cambridge English course, what would you change?
415. Define tragedy?
416. Is the Bible a fictional work? Why?
417. Should every piece of literature have a moral to it?
418. What do you mean by words not being trusted in Elizabeth Bishop's poetry?
419. Is poetry a particularly good medium for expressing doubt over words?
420. What do you think about Malcolm Lowry's references of other writers in Under the Volcano?
421. Compare and contrast Harry potter and lord of the rings.
422. To what extent is Romeo a rebel? What about Shakespeare?
423. Do you think there is any point to reading criticism?
424. Who is your favourite character? Why?
425. Can a carrot be considered a theatrical fruit, if it is used as a prop during a play?
426. Do you think the ending of ‘The Mill On the Floss’ is poor?
427. What is your favourite book of all time?
428. Does Malcolm Lowry overwrite his prose?
429. Tell me about your coursework.
430. What's significant about family relations in Hamlet?
431. What does the Ghost in Hamlet have to do with madness?
432. Hamlet speaks to the Ghost; what significance does this have?
433. Do you think Hamlet knows he is being listened to when he says 'To be, or not to be'?
434. Have a look at this poem (by Yeats, but I wasn't told so at the time). What do you think about it?
435. What makes a short story different from a novel?
436. Is poetry meant to be difficult to understand?
437. Is literature a different language to speech?
438. Coronation Street has been running for 50 years – why is that interesting from an English viewpoint?
439. Why is English a formal subject?
440. How is poetry linked to music and media?
441. What is your opinion on ambiguity?
442. If you could make up a word, what would it be?
443. How would you describe a cucumber to an alien?
444. What type of literature is bad for you?
445. Why is a classic novel a classic? Can a modern novel be a classic?
446. Is an understanding of rhythm important when writing poetry? What about prose?
447. Is an author’s life important when looking at their work?
448. Would you rather be a novel or a poem?
449. Is there such a thing as an immoral story?
450. What is your favourite word?

451. Why are temperatures rising more in polar regions than in tropical regions?
452. What is culture?
453. Why are glacier melting rates non-linear?
454. What is the relationship between global population and atmospheric CO2?
455. Plot the graph of CO2 emissions vs. time starting from the 10th century.
456. Why did India progress more quickly through the DTM than the countries it was based on originally?
457. How do human and physical geography overlap?
458. What are natural hazards?
459. Define risk.
460. What is the role of maps in modern day society?
461. Why is it that in some developing countries, slum settlements have sprung up near high-rise buildings/wealthier neighbourhoods?
462. What is the point of conservation?
463. Why do you think some people don’t take global warming seriously?
464. How can ICT help geographers understand physical process and natural hazard events?
465. Can we consider nature as natural in today’s world?
466. How can volcanic eruptions change global climate, and at what timescales?
467. Given a graph showing the number of years that people have been driving on one axis and the amount of accidents they experience on the other axis.
468. What is Malthus’s ‘principle of population’?
469. Why is biodiversity not evenly distributed around the world?
470. Why is it important to know the number of living species on Earth?
471. What are the challenges in trying to assess this number?
472. Why is place important in geography?
473. What is the impact of the economy/policy on social inequality?
474. Do you think that access to education lies at the heart of development?
475. What are the limitations of hazard mapping?
476. What percentage of the world’s water is contained in one watermelon?
477. The atmospheric pressure is 10,000 Pa. Calculate the mass of Earth’s atmosphere.
478. What is the difference between a volcano and a mountain?
479. What would happen if a 10km wide asteroid smashed into the Pacific Ocean?
480. Would you rather conserve Antarctica or the Amazon?
481. How do we know what the Earth’s core consists of?
482. How did the ancient Greeks know that the earth wasn’t flat?
483. How do we know that Pangaea existed?
484. How does carbon dating work?
485. What would happen if the Earth had two Moons of equal size?
486. Where would you survive longer- in the arctic or Sahara?
487. Would it matter if pandas became extinct?
488. How do we measure sea levels? Why is this a poor method?
489. How do we know that dinosaurs once existed?
490. How would you definitively prove that global warming was man-made?
491. What is the impact of globalisation and multi-national corporations?
492. Could the great biblical flood have ever happened?
493. Why is Antarctica so much colder than the Arctic?
494. Compare and contrast Venus and Mars.
495. Why do we know so little about the depths of the Ocean? How could this be rectified?
496. Why do rainforests contain so much biodiversity compared to the Sahara Desert?
497. Give me an example of a geological phenomenon that has had a significant impact on humans.

498. What are the problems that come up when analyzing colonial societies from a postcolonial context?
499. What is the role of student uprisings in historical progress?
500. Do you think eras such as Progressive, Romantic, etc. should be written with a capital letter?
501. Why do you want to study history?
502. How can we justify public funding of the study of history to the taxpayer?
503. Do you think history can have any practical purpose?
504. Is there any justification for the argument that we can learn 'lessons' from history?
505. Do you think that Ancient History should be seen as a different subject from Modern History?
506. What are the main differences between Modern and classical sources?
507. Can we take anything written in a classical source at face value?
508. Is race a useful concept for historians?
509. Does history repeat itself?
510. Is medieval history relevant to us today?
511. What is a Revolution?
512. Is there such thing as ideology?
513. How do we know what people in the past really thought?
514. Is class a useful concept for historians?
515. Should we study contemporary history?
516. Should we simply narrate the past?
517. Is religion important for modern historians?
518. Assess the role of dance in history?
519. Is Marxist history still worth studying?
520. Are verbal sources more useful than written sources?
521. Compare the French Revolution with a modern event.
522. Did 9/11 change the way we write history?
523. Do we ever learn from the past?
524. Does Keynes still influence economic policy today?
525. How should we remember World War One?
526. Do you think all history is the history of great men?
527. What do you need to consider when evaluating the reliability of a source?
528. Would history be worth studying if it didn’t repeat?
529. What do shoes tell us about the past?
530. What is the difference between a terrorist and a patriot?
531. If you could have dinner with anyone who’s ever lived, who would it be and why?
532. How is the Arab Spring similar to the Russian Revolution?
533. Compare and contrast the rule of Hitler and Stalin.
534. Do you consider history a science?
535. To what extent can a historian remain impartial?
536. When was the British Empire at its strongest?
537. All historical records in the world are lost to a natural disaster. All that remains are historical records on sports. How much of the past could we relearn?
538. How would you have stopped Hitler?
539. Where does history end?
540. Compare and contrast the French and Russian revolutions.
541. Compare and contrast WWI and WWII.
542. Can losers ever write history? How?
543. Why is there a United States of America but not a United States of Europe?
544. Who was a better leader – Alexander the great or Napoleon?
545. Can we still learn lessons from 18th-century warfare?

546. What is the difference between race and ethnicity?
547. What is the difference between state and society?
548. What are the similarities between the Roman empire and the UN?
549. Some neoliberals say that poor people are poor because they are too lazy to work, what do you think?
550. Why is it that nationalism has strengthened in Europe over the last few years?
551. How are national borders drawn?
552. What is free will and how does that relate to the concept of the state of nature?
553. Should a chimpanzee have human rights?
554. What is something you find interesting about the place you're from and why?
555. How would you begin to decipher these cave paintings?
556. What do you think constitutes love?
557. Which area of the world would you want to learn more about and why?
558. What is a current affair at the moment that you find particularly indicative of a world issue?
559. Give me an example of material culture in contemporary society.
560. Do you think perception of colour is culturally specific?
561. What do you first look for when deciphering a symbol?
562. What makes us human?

563. How many people are in this room?
564. Can we be said to 'know' anything?
565. If you and a business owner each have 10 loyal customers who will always buy from you unless you sell above £10, and there are an additional 80 who will choose who to buy from based on price alone, at what price does it become more profitable to stop undercutting your competitor and sell at £10 instead?
566. Tell me about some philosophical works you've read.
567. What would happen if there was no inflation?
568. Do economists rely too heavily on models?
569. Is sociology useful for studying economics?
570. Can we really measure GDP?
571. What influences a country's productive potential?
572. Should governments have debts?
573. Should inequality matter to economists?
574. Does a balance of trade deficit matter?
575. Should the government intervene in the market?
576. Was the financial crisis of 2008 a failure of regulation?
577. The value of the US Dollar and Japanese Yen are swapped with each other overnight. What would happen to global markets?
578. What is the best way to win in monopoly? Is this possible in real life?
579. Why are diamonds so expensive? Why is steel so cheap?
580. Is outsourcing a good thing?
581. Imagine you have just opened up a new airline that flies a unique route (London and Tokyo). How would you determine what price to set tickets at to ensure maximal profit?
582. What is the golden ratio? Why do banks and investment firms obsess over it?
583. How can we predict future economic recessions and avoid depressions?
584. Should we still be giving aid to countries that have international space programmes, e.g. India?
585. What is the difference between capitalism and communism? Are they really that different?
586. What 3 simple things could you recommend to a shopkeeper to increase their sales? They only have £25 to spend.
587. What causes some brands to go global whilst others to fail?
588. What caused the great American depression in the early 20th century? What can we learn from it? 

589. Can you speak German, French or other languages?
590. Can you justify a classics degree when it is subsidised by the taxpayer?
591. Would you say Sulla was a tyrant? Why not a dictator?
592. Compare and contrast ancient Greece and Rome.
593. What was the difference between Roman and Greek gods?
594. When did the roman republic end? Why?
595. Was Alexander the Great, actually great?
596. What can we learn about Roman foreign relations from Jugertha?
597. How is the study of classics useful to the modern world?
598. How do we separate fact from fiction given that myth and reality are so intertwined?
599. How would you have ended the siege in troy more quickly?
600. To what extent is the film ‘300’ historically true?
601. What is the significance of Stonehenge?
602. What is the significance of the change in artistic style between the republic and mid empire?
603. Was Triumvirate a success?
604. Was Alexander the Great gay? Is this unusual for the time period?
605. Romans watched gladiators fight in large arenas. What can we learn about them from this?
606. How civilised was the Persian Empire?
607. What makes a book a ‘classic’?
608. What is a neoteric?
609. Is the ending to the Iliad really necessary?
610. What is Turnus’ role in the Aeneid?
611. Is Aeneas an ancient hero or a modern one?
612. Compare and contrast Ovid and Catullus.
613. What rhetorical devices does Cicero use?
614. What is Catullus’ sparrow really about?
615. Do you think Ovid is a good love poet?
616. If you were making a movie about the odyssey, would you include Poseidon?
617. Name Heracles’ twelve labours – what can we learn from them?

618. What do you understand by the rule of law?
619. Why is the rule of law important?
620. Is it fair to impose a height restriction on those wanting to become fire-fighters?
621. If your neighbour fixed your collapsing roof while you were away on holiday, should you pay him for this?
622. What does it mean to 'take' another's car?
623. If the penalty for parking on a double yellow were death, and therefore nobody did it, would that be a just and effective law?
624. If we lived in a world of angels, would there be any need to have the law?
625. Does a girl scout have a political agenda?
626. Why did you choose to study law?
627. Is someone guilty if they did not set out to commit a crime, but they ended up doing so?
628. When does the state have the right to violate privacy?
629. Should the state have the right to violate our privacy?
630. Should the media be more regulated by the state?
631. Where does honesty fit into law?
632. Should the law exist to protect us from ourselves?
633. If a law limits or restricts our freedom to do something, is that an unjust law with regards to autonomy?
634. Should the law restrict our freedom of speech?
635. If a baby in a shopping centre was strapped with a bomb, would you shoot the baby to save x number of people?
636. Should people have the right to die?
637. Should fat people have to pay extra on planes if they need to take two seats?
638. Should airlines be allowed to charge people for using the toilet on a plane?
639. Would it be a good idea for there to be a minimum IQ for jurors in a trial?
640. What would it be like to live in a country with no laws?
641. In France, if a person sees somebody drowning, they have a legal obligation to help them. Should this be the case in the UK?
642. Should the law be black and white, or should it be flexible enough to look at each case on an individual basis?
643. Should the law be based on morality?
644. The Supreme Court has taken over the judicial functions of the House of Lords. What impact do you think this will have?
645. Should those who make the laws (i.e. politicians) and those who enforce the laws (i.e. judges) be kept separate?
646. Would it be wrong for judges to be elected?
647. What stops countries from invading each other on a daily basis?
648. A cyclist is injured following a road traffic accident in the day. He was cycling in a car lane rather than the cycle lane. Who is liable the cyclist or the motorist? How about if the accident occurred at night and the cyclist had no lights?
649. What is the difference between the House of Lord and the House of Commons? Who has more power?
650. Why are some professions exempt from Jury-duty?
651. If you were the prime minister, what laws would you change?
652. A manufacturing defect stops a parachute from deploying in a charity skydive, leading to two people dying. Is this manslaughter or murder?
653. A man is sentenced to seven years in prison after falsely being convicted of murder. It later transpires that the ‘victim’ is still alive. Can the ‘convict’ be sentenced again if he kills the ‘victim’ after he is released from prison?
654. Lots of legislation includes phrases like “beyond reasonable doubt”- what does this actually mean?
655. What are the legal implications of gay marriage?
656. To what extent should our data be available to the government? What about the data of foreign citizens?
657. What are the fundamental differences between US and British Law? What are the implications of this?
658. You’ve got a client who refuses to go to court despite being summoned for multiple charges. What advice would you give him?
659. A Field Marshall orders a soldier to kill his squad mate. Would this be murder?
660. A doctor is asked by a patient’s family member to kill the patient as they are in a lot of pain. Would this be murder?
661. Which law is broken most frequently?
662. What is the point of having a judge when decisions are made by the jury?
663. It’s raining and you forgot your umbrella, so you shelter in an unlocked car. Are you guilty of the offence of allowing yourself to be carried in a conveyance without the owner’s consent?
664. I'm having trouble with the meaning of three words: Lie, Deceive, Mislead. They seem to mean something a bit similar, but not exactly the same. Help me to sort them out from each other.
665. What is the difference between manslaughter and murder? What is its significance?
666. Should we make stalking illegal?
667. What’s the difference between a civil and criminal case?
668. What are the pros & cons about juries?
669. How do you know what you don’t know?
670. What is the difference between a barrister and a solicitor?
671. What is a Queen’s Counsel? How does one become it?
672. A parent slaps their child because they behaved badly. Is that abuse? What about if they caused a bruise?
673. Why is there no United States of Europe but there is a USA?
674. What were the consequences of 9/11 on western law?
675. Who has the power to write and change laws?
676. If you could change 3 laws, which ones would they be?
677. To what extent did the NSA revelations impact on the British public?
678. What is the hierarchy of courts in the UK?
679. What law is broken every day by most people?
680. Are school uniforms a contravention of human rights?
681. A man holds a gun up to your head and says “Shoot your father or I’ll kill you both”. You then shoot. Are you guilty of murder?
682. What about if he had said “Shoot your father or I’ll kill you”.
683. Finally, what about it he had said “Shoot your father or I’ll kill him”.
684. Are babies born with a moral code or is it learned?
685. Do we have an obligation to obey the law?
686. Why is Roman law relevant to our modern study of law?
687. What law is broken most frequently?
688. What laws could we introduce to curb the obesity epidemic?
689. Why do we bother with environmental protection?
690. What is a country?
691. Define a miracle

692. Why do some languages have so many tenses yet others manage fine with very little grammar?
693. Do you think the number of languages in the world will change in the next century?
694. Why can we infer from someone’s accent?
695. How would you simplify English?
696. What are the difficulties in translating books like the Bible?
697. Compare and contrast Spanish and Portuguese.
698. What determines how ‘easy’ a language is to learn?
699. Why do we desire fluency so badly when we can communicate adequately even as a beginner?
700. How is the German mindset different to the Russian mindset?
701. What was the most recent film you saw?
702. What was it about this book (mentioned in Personal Statement) that particularly caught your attention?
703. What does language mean to you?
704. How has travel influenced your relationship with language?
705. What is a language?
706. Translation is reproduction. How would you respond?
707. Why learn a language in a globalising world?
708. How would you describe the relationship between speech and writing in relation to language?
709. In your Personal Statement, you describe music as a language. Would you care to expand?
710. What attracts you to French/Spanish/Italian culture?
711. What is it that interests you about Latin American culture in particular?
712. Does language define our identity?
713. What French poetry have you read?
714. Is poetry a different language to a novel or a short story?
715. In your A-Level course, you have looked at social tensions in France. Tell me about what you have learned?
716. Is literature a different language to speech?
717. What is your opinion on ambiguity?
718. What is your favourite word?
719. If you could make up a word, what would it be?
720. What is the difference between Chinese whispers and translation?
721. How would you describe a cucumber to an alien? How would you do it in Spanish?
722. How malleable are our thoughts?
723. Is there any point studying languages with the advent of modern electronic translators?
724. Britain declares war on Europe. What advice would you give to the ministry of defence if they asked you what level of French/German/Spanish each of their personnel should have?
725. What causes a language to evolve? Can this be stopped? How?
726. What is an accent? How do they arise?
727. To what extent does a country’s culture dictate a language’s vocabulary?
728. How do babies learn a language?
729. What is the quickest way to learn a language?
730. How many languages could someone learn?
731. What difficulties arise if you study two languages at the same time?
732. How can you tell if a noun is masculine, feminine or neutral in German?
733. What difficulties do Europeans have with English? What about Asians?
734. How would you improve Google Translate?
735. Who is your favourite author? What other works of theirs have you read?
736. Can a language ever truly die?
737. Does a language need to have letters? Can it be made just of numbers? Is grammar, therefore, necessary?
738. What makes a language ‘modern’?