Oxford Mathematics and Statistics interview

The Oxford Mathematics and Statistics interview is the same tutorial-style maths interview as for Mathematics, because the two degrees share one application and you choose statistics later. You work through an unfamiliar maths problem out loud, while tutors watch how you absorb new ideas, use their hints and explain your thinking. Shortlisted candidates usually have one or two interviews at their first college and at least one at a second, randomly assigned college, each about 25 minutes on Microsoft Teams. For 2027 entry most run from 14 to 17 December 2026.

Key facts

What happens in the interview

Mathematics and Statistics applicants are interviewed exactly as Mathematics applicants. You don't choose between the two degrees until your fourth term, so the interviews are maths interviews, not statistics interviews.

They're "largely mathematical". Tutors may ask about an area of maths you've studied, look in detail at a point of technique or a curve sketch, set an unfamiliar problem, or give you a new definition and ask what follows from it.

Tutors run it like a tutorial:

• They start with small cases ("try n = 1, 2, 3, 4"), then ask why the pattern holds.
• They ask for a prediction before the working.
• They give hints when you're stuck. Hints are expected and normal.
• They change the problem once it's solved, for example to a point a third of the way up a sliding ladder.
• If a problem is going nowhere, or you've cracked it, they move on.

Small slips don't matter much, and not reaching a complete solution is very common. Tutors can't read minds, so talk through your thinking, ask questions and say when you're unsure.

You'll write on a shared Miro whiteboard, so have a touchscreen of at least 8 inches and a basic stylus, plus paper and pens.

What tutors look for

The Mathematical Institute's selection criteria, the same as for Mathematics:

• Mathematical aptitude and technical skill: accurate, fluent use of school maths (algebra, curve sketching, calculus) as a tool for the problem.
• Absorbing and using new ideas: picking up a new definition, hint or method and putting it straight to work.
• Thinking independently: making your own progress: trying small cases, spotting patterns, making conjectures and building an argument for them.
• Perseverance and enthusiasm: staying with a hard problem, and enjoying it.
• Explaining your thinking: a running commentary that lets tutors see the thought process, and clear arguments.

How the interview is marked

Oxford doesn't publish a marking scale for Mathematics and Statistics interviews. Maths tutors grade each interview from 1 to 9 against agreed descriptors, but the descriptors, and any grade that leads to an offer, aren't public.

The grades are shared across colleges with your admissions test score, UCAS form and contextual information, so no single interview decides the outcome.

Example questions

These are questions published by Oxford departments and tutors, in the form Toby asks them. Because the interviews are maths interviews, none of them is about statistics. Tutors set their own questions, so yours will differ.

When is a quintic increasing?

Published by Oxford Mathematics: MAT livestream: Fluency

Let p, q and r be real numbers, with p ≠ 0. Find conditions on p, q and r such that f(x) = px⁵ + qx³ + rx is a strictly increasing function. There are several cases.

• Why tutors ask it: it shows whether you can turn a condition on a function into a condition on a polynomial, organise the cases cleanly, and think precisely about what a definition actually says.
• A hint a tutor might give: "What does strictly increasing tell you about the gradient? Write down f′(x)."
• A strong answer works from the gradient, simplifies it with a substitution, sorts the answer into clean cases, and checks the boundary cases against what "strictly increasing" actually means.
• A common slip is forgetting that p could be negative.

Sketching sin x over x

Published by Oxford Physics: mock interview pack

Sketch the graph of y = sin x / x, for both positive and negative x. Talk through your thinking as you build it up.

• Why tutors ask it: it shows whether you can build a sketch from a limit, zeros, symmetry and an envelope, and solve an equation with no exact solution graphically.
• A hint a tutor might give: "What happens to the fraction if you swap x for minus x?"
• A strong answer works out what happens at x = 0 before drawing anything, then uses symmetry, the zeros and an envelope to get the shape quickly, and takes care over where the turning points sit.
• A common slip is saying the graph is zero or infinite at x = 0.

A sum of square roots

Published by an Oxford tutor on the Computer Science department's website: Interview Question 6

Suppose x₁, …, x₈ are positive real numbers that add up to 27. Can you find the minimum of the following expression? √(1² + x₁²) + √(2² + x₂²) + … + √(8² + x₈²)

• Why tutors ask it: it shows whether you can see a geometric picture behind an algebraic expression, justify a minimum rather than guess it, and handle an upper bound that is never reached.
• A hint a tutor might give: "Draw a right-angled triangle with sides 1 and x₁. What does the square root of 1 squared plus x₁ squared measure?"
• A strong answer finds a picture for the whole expression, justifies the minimum rather than guessing it, and checks it against an easy choice, such as all the x's equal.
• A common slip is guessing that equal x's give the minimum.

Practise with Toby

Toby is an AI interviewer that runs practice interviews by voice. The Oxford Mathematics and Statistics interview is built from Oxford's own guidance and follows the real format:

• First college: first interview. An unfamiliar problem, often opening with a point of technique or a curve sketch, built up from small cases to a general argument.
• First college: second interview. A new definition or problem to explore, testing how quickly you absorb and use a new idea. Some colleges hold only one first-college interview.
• Second college. One interview at a randomly assigned second college, with fresh tutors and a fresh problem.

It draws on 30 problems, each with hints and follow-ups. Fourteen are published questions from Oxford and Cambridge sources, and the rest were written to the same style and level, with every result independently re-derived. As in the real interviews, they're maths problems, and no statistics is assumed.

Toby puts the problem on screen, gives you time to think and asks you to talk it through. He gives a hint only when you're stuck, asks why a pattern holds, and changes the problem once you've solved it. Like a real tutor, he doesn't praise every answer.

You can add your personal statement so Toby can ask about it, and choose a 10, 20 or 30-minute interview. Your prep page has the format, the department's criteria and practice problems with hints and worked solutions. Afterwards, your debrief gives you a practice mark out of 10 (6 is acceptable, 7 good, 8 strong), a score against each criterion, notes on every question and the full transcript. A practice mark is a guide, not a prediction.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Last checked October 2026.

• University of Oxford: Interviews
• University of Oxford: Mathematics and Statistics course page
• Oxford Mathematics: Which course
• Oxford Mathematics: Mathematics and Statistics
• Oxford Mathematics: Interviews
• Oxford Mathematics: Admissions criteria
• Oxford Mathematics: Admissions feedback 2025
• Oxford Statistics: Undergraduate study
• Oxford Mathematics: MAT livestream: Fluency
• Oxford Physics: Mock interview pack
• Interview Question 6 (an Oxford tutor's page on the Computer Science department's website)

Related interviews

• Oxford Mathematics interview
• Oxford Mathematics and Computer Science interview
• Cambridge Mathematics interview

All Oxford and Cambridge interviews·University admissions

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