Biology Oxford & Cambridge University Interview Questions

Past admissions interview questions for Biology

• Why is water so important to life? (submitted)

• If you could save either the rainforests or the coral reefs, which would you choose? (Oxford University website)

• Here is a piece of bark, please talk about it. (Oxford University website)

• Here’s a cactus. Tell me about it. (Oxford University website)

• Why do some habitats support higher biodiversity than others? (Oxford University website)

• Why don't most herbivores have green fur? (New Media Medicine)

• What percentage of the world's water is in a cow? (New Media Medicine)

• Why are there so few large predators? (New Media Medicine)

• Why do you want to study biology?

• Tell me about a banana. (Scribd)

• Why do many animals have stripes? (Oxford University website)

• Is it easier for organisms to live in the sea or on land? (Oxford University website)

• Why do lions have manes? (Oxford University website)

• Ladybirds are red. So are strawberries. Why? (Oxford University website)

• Would it matter if tigers became extinct? (Oxford University website)

• Why is there salt in the sea? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How do amino acids behave in both acidic and basic conditions? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What is the significance of the human genome project? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How does DNA fingerprinting work? What is its use? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why are there so many steps in the cascade of reactions? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How do you tell if a protein codes for a transmembrane protein? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why are there only twenty amino acids? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What shape are bacteria and why? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What is the concentration of water? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What problems do fish face underwater? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why does an egg rot? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why can’t humans live forever? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Comment on a population pyramid. (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Is shopping the new religion? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What does George Bush have in common with a monkey? How can you see they are related? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How could you tell how long a disease had been prevalent in an area (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Tell me about this log (Oxford Interview Questions)

• If a brain was placed in front of you, how would you describe it? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• If you were a virus, how would you communicate your opinions to me? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why do leaves have their stomata on the lower surface? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why don’t animals have wheels? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How can you tell how genetically identical the individuals of a species are? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What evidence is there to suggest that humans are still evolving? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Can you design an experiment to test the effect of bird faeces on lichen growth? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why it is easier for oxygen to associate after one oxygen molecule has already done so? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why is it that everyone regards Darwin as such a great man? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Explain the differences between bacteria and viruses. (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How would you test to see if a rat could tell red from blue? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How has the human diet changed in the last three decades and why? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What would you define as a species? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Give me an example of how specialist biological knowledge has helped food production. (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why is there a higher probability of being killed by an asteroid collision than by a heart attack? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What kind of changes would occur to the environment if a large asteroid impacted earth? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What are the arguments for preserving biodiversity? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What makes drugs physiologically active? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• What would you do if I were a Magpie? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How many animals did Moses take on the arc? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• If a carrot can grow form one carrot cell, why not a human? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Discuss ways in which plants are adapted to dry conditions. (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Why are big, fierce animals so rare? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• How does the immune system recognise invading pathogens as foreign cells? (Oxford Interview Questions)

• Describe a potato and then compare it to an onion. (Oxford Interview Questions)

• is it possible to grow mushrooms in the bathroom (Oxford, Oxbridge applications)

• for which disease do you think it is an advantage to be a carrier of cystic fibrosis? (Oxford, Oxbridge applications)

• If I said that when I tossed this coin and every time it said heads you have to give me 50p but every time it showed a tails I give you a pound, how many times would you let me flip it and the coin show heads in a row before you would stop playing the game? (Oxford, Oxbridge applications)

• The viruses that infect us are totally dependent on human cells for their reproduction; is it therefore surprising that viruses cause human diseases?

• I was shown a skull, a video of lemmings jumping from a cliff, a video of gentically engineered baterium moving about, graphs and data on tits and their nesting sites and a fossil. for each i was asked the following. what is interesting, what it was, why it had evolved like that. (apply.oxfordsu.org)

• I mentionned a few books on my personal statement and they asked me which one i liked the best and why (apply.oxfordsu.org)

• why do you want to study biology?

• If you found these sample interview questions for biology useful, please remember to submit your questions, post interview, to oxbridgeinterview@gmail.com