Cambridge University is one of the world's best universities - a total of 89 Nobel Prize winners are affiliated with - and is notorious for its odd and difficult interview questions for those trying to join.
Cambridge candidates are said to have been posed a number of mind-twisting questions over the years including: 'Is this question a question?' The wily student reportedly replied: 'Yes... if this is an answer.'
Another was reportedly asked: 'Do you like Birmingham?'
Now Richard Prager, head of engineering at the university, which was founded in 1209 making it the world's third-oldest surviving university, has posted some of these questions online to help would-be students.
The questions, aimed predominantly at maths, physics and engineering students, give an insight into the difficult tasks applicants have faced in previous tests.
They are on a new website, I-Want-To-Study-Engineering.org, and include subjects as varied as goats, game show hosts, eyeballs, pirates and bungee jumps.
At the bottom of this post are two sample questions for you to try and answer.
Are you cleverer than an undergraduate? Professor releases some of the questions put to students wanting to study at Cambridge
Top university famed for its notoriously odd and difficult questions
Academic hopes to 'level the field' for pupils less prepared for grilling
Bizarre question subjects include game shows, pirates and bungee jumps
By Sam Webb
23 October 2013
Daily Mail
Daily Mail
A Cambridge professor has posted some of the university’s legendarily tough interview questions online to help would-be students.
Richard Prager, head of engineering at the historic university, said he wanted to try and 'level the playing field' for hopeful undergraduates.
He has launched an online question bank to prepare candidates for the notoriously difficult entry interviews which have become the stuff of legend.
Fiendish: A Cambridge professor has launched an online question bank to prepare candidates for the university's notoriously difficult entry interviews
The questions, aimed predominantly at maths, physics and engineering students, give an insight into the difficult tasks applicants have faced in previous tests.
They are on a new website, I-Want-To-Study-Engineering.org, and include subjects as varied as goats, game show hosts, eyeballs, pirates and bungee jumps.
Prof Prager said: 'Some schools are more experienced than others at preparing their pupils for competitive engineering entrance interviews.
'I-Want-To-Study-Engineering.org aims to level the playing field by providing a collection of technical interview questions that everyone can use for practice.
'The exercises on the website are designed to inspire and challenge students. We hope that this will encourage them to consider studying engineering at university.
'By developing their problem-solving skills we can also help them to turn that ambition into a reality.'
Cambridge candidates are said to have been posed a number of mind-twisting questions over the years including: 'Is this question a question?' The wily student reportedly replied: 'Yes... if this is an answer.'
Student legend also has it that one was asked 'what would you do if you were a magpie?' and another 'how would you poison someone without the police finding out?'
Another was reportedly asked: 'Do you like Birmingham?'
SO HOW WOULD YOU DO? A PAIR OF EXAMPLE QUESTIONS (See the answers here: Cambridge professor releases questions put to prospective students | Mail Online)
1.
I start with a pint glass full of lemonade. I drink half of it and give it to you. You then drink half of what is left and give it back to me. I then drink half of what is left, and pass it back.
We keep drinking half of the remaining lemonade then passing it across until there is a negligible amount of drink left.
In total, what proportion of the pint did I drink?
a) 1/3
b) 5/8
c) 2/3
d) 3/4
e) none of the above
e) none of the above
2.
On a clear day, you are on an aeroplane which is at 38,000 ft above the middle of the Pacific ocean. Taking the radius of the earth as 6,400km, what is the approximate distance between you and the horizon of the earth? (1ft=0.3048m)
a) 130km
a) 130km
b) 390km
c) 700km
d) 1,300km
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