The three official sample papers, the four worked examples GOV.UK publishes, what earns marks in a written DGSA answer, and one Core-style question with a model answer.

DGSA Past Papers and Sample Questions: What’s Official, How It’s Marked

The pass mark in the syllabus (65 %) and on the sample papers (32 of 50), official pass rates for every sitting from 2019 to March 2025, what examiners say loses marks, and what it means for you.

DGSA Pass Mark and Pass Rates: Road Is Lowest in Most Sittings

How the Road paper is built (35-mark case study, 15 marks of questions), a method for reading the scenario, and the 1,000-point small-load rule worked through for a mixed van load.

DGSA Road Paper: Case-Study Method and an ADR 1.1.3.6 Worked Example

The only fixed cost is £135 per exam. What else you pay for, what the free official texts cover, what a course adds, what to ask a provider, and what a resit costs.

DGSA Course Cost vs Self-Study: £405 in Exam Fees, Then What You Choose

The five sittings from November 2026 to November 2027 with every application deadline, how to book and pay, the £135 fee, the ten exam locations, changing a booking, results and appeals.

DGSA Exam 2026–27: Dates, the 3 Papers, Booking, Fees and Venues

What a Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser does, which businesses must appoint one and the exemptions, the three exams that qualify you, and how renewal in the fifth year works.

DGSA Qualification Explained: Who Needs One and Renewing Every 5 Years

Articles related to DGSA Exam (UK Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser) on page 1 

<div style="background:#eef3fb;color:#303846;border:1px solid #c9d7ee;border-radius:12px;padding:14px 18px;margin:0 0 18px"><p style="margin:0;font-size:14px;line-height:1.6"><strong style="color:#171d29">Checked 29 September 2026.</strong> From the Departmental Examination Rules 2024 (G.S.R. 773(E), 18.12.2024) and the NACIN notices for the March 2025 and February 2026 sittings. A new NACIN notice or an amendment to the rules would override this page.</p></div>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Every Inspector of Central Tax and Central Excise who joins by direct recruitment, usually through the SSC Combined Graduate Level exam, has one more exam to clear after the induction course: the <strong>departmental examination for confirmation</strong>. It is set by the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) under the <strong>Departmental Examination (Central Tax, Central Excise, Customs and Narcotics) Rules, 2024</strong>, notified in the Gazette on 18 December 2024. Those rules replaced the 2008 rules and added a sixth paper. This guide goes through the six papers one by one: what each covers, which ones let you bring books, how the Computer paper is split between theory and a practical, and what happens in the exam room. At the end there is a checklist of the books to carry.</p>

<div style="background:#fff8e8;color:#3a3020;border:1px solid #f0d9a8;border-left:4px solid #b7791f;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><p style="margin:0 0 8px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#b7791f">Where other pages get this wrong</p><p style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29;line-height:1.5">Under the 2024 rules the Inspector exam has six papers, not five. Paper-I is now Central Excise and GST, and you may bring books to it. Paper-VI, Computer Application and Use of Internet, is new.</p><p style="margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.6"><strong style="color:#8a5300">Commonly published instead:</strong> The five-paper list from before December 2024: Central Excise without books, then Customs, Administration, Law and a two-hour Hindi paper. NACIN's own sitting of August 2024 still ran on it, and it is the list many older pages copy.</p><p style="margin:0;line-height:1.6">Appendix B of the 2024 rules prints six papers, each "(Time allowed: 3 hours) (Max marks: 100)". Paper-I is headed "CENTRAL EXCISE AND GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (WITH BOOKS)". The Karnataka zone's notice for the February 2024 sitting, held under the old rules, shows Paper-I "(without books)" and Hindi from 10.00 to 12.00.</p></div>

<div style="display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:10px;margin:18px 0"><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">6 × 100</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">papers and marks under the 2024 rules</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">50</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">marks needed in each paper, no aggregate; Computer: 25 in theory and 25 in practical</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">4 of 6</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">papers where books are allowed (Paper-III: not the Conduct Rules)</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">3 days</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">two papers a day, 10:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 17:00</div></div></div><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;margin:-8px 0 18px">DER 2024 rule 4 and Appendix B; NACIN Annexure-I for the March 2025 and February 2026 sittings (official).</p>

Each paper is marked out of 100, and you need 50 in each one. Rule 4 asks for "a minimum of 50% of the total marks in each paper" and nothing more, so the rules set no aggregate, add no grace marks, and a strong paper does not make up for a weak one. In Paper-VI NACIN's scheme adds a second condition: 25 of 50 in theory and 25 of 50 in the practical, separately (see below). On reserved categories, NACIN's instructions (Annexure-III) say the Cadre Controlling Authority declares the result "in consonance with the Recruitment Rules and the instructions in force, if any, by the Ministry / Board", granting SC, ST and OBC relaxations "as may be applicable". No relaxed figure is published in any document we read, and we print none.

Central Excise and Goods and Services Tax

Customs

Administration

Hindi

Computer Application and Use of Internet (Theory and Practical)

<figure style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0;margin:18px 0"><figcaption style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">How the 600 marks are divided</figcaption><div style="margin:0 0 8px"><span style="display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:6px;margin:0 14px 6px 0;font-size:13px;color:#303846"><span style="width:12px;height:12px;border-radius:3px;background:#1f7a45;display:inline-block"></span>Written paper</span><span style="display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:6px;margin:0 14px 6px 0;font-size:13px;color:#303846"><span style="width:12px;height:12px;border-radius:3px;background:#2f6fb0;display:inline-block"></span>Computer practical</span></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="font-size:14px;color:#303846;margin:0 0 4px">Paper-I Central Excise and GST</div><div style="display:flex;height:22px;border-radius:6px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:100.00%;background:#1f7a45;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px;font-weight:700;text-align:center;line-height:22px;overflow:hidden;white-space:nowrap">100</div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="font-size:14px;color:#303846;margin:0 0 4px">Paper-II Customs</div><div style="display:flex;height:22px;border-radius:6px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:100.00%;background:#1f7a45;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px;font-weight:700;text-align:center;line-height:22px;overflow:hidden;white-space:nowrap">100</div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="font-size:14px;color:#303846;margin:0 0 4px">Paper-III Administration</div><div style="display:flex;height:22px;border-radius:6px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:100.00%;background:#1f7a45;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px;font-weight:700;text-align:center;line-height:22px;overflow:hidden;white-space:nowrap">100</div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="font-size:14px;color:#303846;margin:0 0 4px">Paper-IV Law</div><div style="display:flex;height:22px;border-radius:6px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:100.00%;background:#1f7a45;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px;font-weight:700;text-align:center;line-height:22px;overflow:hidden;white-space:nowrap">100</div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="font-size:14px;color:#303846;margin:0 0 4px">Paper-V Hindi</div><div style="display:flex;height:22px;border-radius:6px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:100.00%;background:#1f7a45;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px;font-weight:700;text-align:center;line-height:22px;overflow:hidden;white-space:nowrap">100</div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="font-size:14px;color:#303846;margin:0 0 4px">Paper-VI Computer (theory, then practical)</div><div style="display:flex;height:22px;border-radius:6px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:50.00%;background:#1f7a45;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px;font-weight:700;text-align:center;line-height:22px;overflow:hidden;white-space:nowrap">50</div><div style="width:50.00%;background:#2f6fb0;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12px;font-weight:700;text-align:center;line-height:22px;overflow:hidden;white-space:nowrap">50</div></div></div><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Appendix B gives 100 marks for each paper. The 50/50 split in Paper-VI is NACIN's scheme, from Annexure-I for the March 2025 and February 2026 sittings (official).</p></figure>

NACIN sets two papers a day, from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00. Both the March 2025 and the February 2026 schedules used the same order. The papers are sat at centres run by the Commissionerates, not at NACIN, and a candidate whose name is not on the Commissionerate's requisition list cannot sit.

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">The papers are not printed and posted to centres. For the March 2025 sitting NACIN emailed each paper to the nominated nodal officer as a <strong>password-protected PDF</strong>: Paper-I on 18.03.2025, the rest on the exam days. The password followed 40 minutes before the start. The 2024 rules say the exams "shall be Computer Based Examinations and shall be introduced in a graded manner over a period of time" (rule 2(2)), and the 2026-27 calendar says NACIN "has finalized a Technology Partner" for them. Every Inspector sitting we could read still used emailed PDFs and written answer books, though. We print both and do not guess when the change will reach this exam. The month-by-month record is in <a href="/hub/cbic-confirmation-exam-calendar-lucknow-mumbai" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">our calendar guide</a>.</p>

The lists below follow Appendix B of the 2024 rules. Four of the six papers are open-book, so the real test is how fast you can find a provision and apply it to a case, not how much you remember. Appendix B says as much about Paper-III: its questions "will be designed to test the candidate's ability to refer intelligently to the books and to apply the rules and regulation to practical cases".

Three things in that table catch people who prepared from an older syllabus. First, Paper-I is now mostly GST, even though its first five items are the old Central Excise law. Second, Paper-IV has moved from the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Evidence Act to the three 2023 codes. Third, the Hindi paper for Inspectors does not include the "Conversation" item that the Narcotics syllabus in the same Appendix has.

The Computer paper: 100 marks, or 50 and 50?

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Two documents, two ways of describing Paper-VI</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>The Gazette:</strong> Paper-VI is "Computer Application and Use of Internet (Theory and Practical)", with "(Time allowed: 3 hours) (Max marks: 100)". It sets no split and no per-part pass mark.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>NACIN:</strong> Annexure-I for the March 2025 and February 2026 sittings gives 1.5 hours of theory and 1.5 hours of practical, with pass marks shown as "(25+25)/100". Annexure-III adds that "equal marks and time shall be allocated to Theory (Part-A) & Practical (Part-B). The passing marks for each part will be 50%."</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>Who marks the practical:</strong> the Commissionerate or Directorate where you sit, not NACIN. The marked practical answer sheet is then sent to NACIN ZC Lucknow (Annexure-III).</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>Our reading:</strong> the two documents agree on the total and differ only in detail. The 25-in-each-part rule comes from NACIN's scheme, not from the Gazette, so on that scheme 60 in theory and 20 in the practical fails even though it adds up to 80.</li></ul><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">NACIN Chennai used the same split for the June 2026 promotion exam: theory 14:00 to 15:30, practical 15:30 to 17:00, a minimum of 25 in each part (official).</p></div>

Books: what "with books" means in the room

According to Annexure-III, in a with-books paper you may bring only the prescribed books, and in a without-books paper no manual or tariff is allowed at all. For Inspectors, Papers I to IV are with books, but Paper-III excludes the CCS (Conduct) Rules. The Gazette names no editions. NACIN's Annexure-I for the 2025 and 2026 sittings does name one, "Foreign Trade Policy-2015-20", even though a newer policy has since been issued; ask your centre which edition it expects. None of the documents says whether annotated commentaries or your own notes count as prescribed books. Treat the Acts and Rules named in Appendix B as the safe list, and ask your centre before the day about anything else. The checklist below is built from Appendix B and saves your ticks in this browser.

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0" id="cbicbooks"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Books-to-carry checklist, Inspector exam</h3><p style="margin:0 0 12px;line-height:1.6">Tick each book or compilation once it is in your bag. The list is our reading of Appendix B; your centre's instructions come first.</p><div style="background:#f1eee6;border-radius:6px;height:12px;overflow:hidden;margin:0 0 6px"><div id="cbicbooks-bar" style="width:0%;height:12px;background:#1f7a45"></div></div><p id="cbicbooks-txt" style="margin:0 0 14px;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">0 of 30 done</p><div style="margin:0 0 12px" data-g="0"><div style="font-weight:700;color:#171d29;margin:0 0 6px">Paper-I Central Excise and GST (with books) <span data-gc="0" style="font-weight:600;color:#5b6472;font-size:13px">(0/13)</span></div><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="0" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Central Excise Act 1944 and Central Excise Rules 2002</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="1" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Central Excise Tariff Act 1985</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="2" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1931</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="3" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>CENVAT Credit Rules 2004</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="4" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Board standing orders, notifications and circulars on Central Excise</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="5" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>CGST Act and CGST Rules 2017</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="6" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>IGST Act and IGST Rules 2017</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="7" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>State GST Acts and Rules (Appendix B says all SGST Rules), and the UTGST Act</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="8" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>GST (Compensation to States) Act 2017</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="9" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>GST notifications, circulars and orders</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="10" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Constitution (101st Amendment) Act 2016</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="11" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Finance Act 1994 (service tax chapter) and Service Tax Rules 1994</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="12" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Place of Provision of Services Rules 2012</span></label></div><div style="margin:0 0 12px" data-g="1"><div style="font-weight:700;color:#171d29;margin:0 0 6px">Paper-II Customs (with books) <span data-gc="1" style="font-weight:600;color:#5b6472;font-size:13px">(0/7)</span></div><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="13" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Customs Act 1962 with the rules and regulations</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="14" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Customs Tariff Act 1975</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="15" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Customs allied Acts and rules</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="16" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Foreign Trade Policy and the Handbook of Procedures</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="17" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Export promotion schemes</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="18" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>SEZ Act 2005 and rules</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="19" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>NDPS Act 1985 and PITNDPS Act 1988</span></label></div><div style="margin:0 0 12px" data-g="2"><div style="font-weight:700;color:#171d29;margin:0 0 6px">Paper-III Administration (with books, not the Conduct Rules) <span data-gc="2" style="font-weight:600;color:#5b6472;font-size:13px">(0/5)</span></div><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="20" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>FR and SR</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="21" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>CCS (CCA) Rules 1965</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="22" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>CCS (Leave) Rules 1972</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="23" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>GPF (Central Services) Rules</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="24" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>General Financial Rules 2017</span></label></div><div style="margin:0 0 12px" data-g="3"><div style="font-weight:700;color:#171d29;margin:0 0 6px">Paper-IV Law (with books; not needed if a law degree exempts you, rule 8(3)) <span data-gc="3" style="font-weight:600;color:#5b6472;font-size:13px">(0/5)</span></div><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="25" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Constitution of India (bare text)</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="26" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="27" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="28" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023</span></label><label style="display:flex;gap:8px;align-items:flex-start;margin:0 0 6px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5;color:#303846;cursor:pointer"><input type="checkbox" data-i="29" style="margin-top:4px;width:16px;height:16px;flex:0 0 auto"> <span>Code of Civil Procedure 1908</span></label></div><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Ticks are saved only in this browser on this device.</p><script>(function(){var R=document.getElementById('cbicbooks');if(!R)return;var K='psCbicBooks_v1',N=30,bx=R.querySelectorAll('input[type=checkbox]'),s={};try{s=JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem(K)||'{}')}catch(e){}function up(){var d=0;for(var i=0;i<bx.length;i++){if(bx[i].checked)d++;}document.getElementById('cbicbooks-bar').style.width=(d/N*100)+'%';document.getElementById('cbicbooks-txt').textContent=d+' of '+N+' done';var gs=R.querySelectorAll('[data-g]');for(var j=0;j<gs.length;j++){var c=gs[j].querySelectorAll('input'),k=0;for(var q=0;q<c.length;q++){if(c[q].checked)k++;}var sp=R.querySelector('[data-gc="'+gs[j].getAttribute('data-g')+'"]');if(sp)sp.textContent='('+k+'/'+c.length+')';}}for(var i=0;i<bx.length;i++){(function(b){if(s[b.getAttribute('data-i')])b.checked=true;b.addEventListener('change',function(){s[b.getAttribute('data-i')]=b.checked?1:0;try{localStorage.setItem(K,JSON.stringify(s))}catch(e){}up();});})(bx[i]);}up();})();</script></div>

For readers without JavaScript: the checklist covers Papers I to IV only, because Appendix B and Annexure-III say nothing about books for Hindi or the Computer paper. Its Paper-III list deliberately leaves out the Conduct Rules, the one set of rules the Gazette excludes from that paper.

Three separate routes lead to a Hindi exemption. Rule 8(4): you "passed his matriculation or an equivalent or higher examination with Hindi as one of the subjects", and the concerned Commissioner may exempt you; this route is closed if you offered Hindi as an optional subject and failed it. Rule 8(5): you did not pass Hindi at matriculation but passed first-year Intermediate Arts with Hindi as a compulsory subject. Rule 8(6): you passed the Pragya examination, and the Commissioner may exempt you. The optional-subject catch is written into rule 8(4) only. The March 2025 notice says the exemption rests with the jurisdictional Commissionerate, not with NACIN, so ask for it through your Cadre Controlling Authority and get it recorded before the requisition goes to NACIN. In the March 2025 statement of marks, far more Hindi entries are marked exempted than for any other paper. By our rough count, about 230 were exempted and about 204 passed.

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">From Annexure-III (official)</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Report 30 minutes before the paper starts. A candidate who is not in the requisition sent to NACIN cannot sit.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>Do not write your name in the answer book.</strong> Annexure-III treats that as a FAIL for the paper, and the EO/PO notices say an answer sheet that reveals the candidate's identity will be cancelled.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">No mobile phones. In a without-books paper, no manual and no tariff; in a with-books paper, only the prescribed books.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Centres are asked to use CCTV where possible.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Marks go only to the Cadre Controlling Authorities and nodal officers. The CCA declares the result, applying any SC/ST/OBC relaxation.</li></ul></div>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">NACIN also puts public statements of marks online: on its own website for the sittings of 7 to 9 August 2024 and March 2025, and on CBIC's Departmental Examinations list for 2 to 4 September 2025 (posted 30.12.2025) and 11 to 13 February 2026 (posted 06.07.2026). We use them for counts only. They carry names and roll numbers, and we do not reproduce either. By our approximate count, the March 2025 statement has about 948 roll entries. Most are Inspectors, and 58 are Executive Assistants who sat only Paper-IV (Law), which the <a href="/exam/cbic-promotion-to-inspector" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">promotion exam to Inspector</a> guide explains. We do not print a pass rate: the rows mix first attempts with repeat candidates, and our count is a parse of a PDF, not an official figure.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">If you fail a paper you keep the papers you have passed, and only the failed ones are sat again (rule 8(2)). A law graduate is not required to pass Paper-IV at all (rule 8(3), our reading of "that paper"). The number of chances, the two-year limit and what happens to your increments are covered in <a href="/hub/cbic-departmental-exam-chances-increment-rules" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">our chances and increments guide</a>. Preventive Officers and Examiners of Customs sit a different set of six papers, covered in <a href="/hub/cbic-preventive-officer-examiner-confirmation-papers" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">our PO and Examiner guide</a>. If you joined as an Executive Assistant or a Stenographer Grade-I, the exam you need is probably the <a href="/exam/cbic-promotion-to-inspector" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">promotion exam to Inspector</a>, which uses the same syllabus block but is a different exam; <a href="/hub/cbic-confirmation-vs-promotion-exam-inspector" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">this comparison</a> sets the two side by side. Official notices are on the <a href="/hub/exam-alert-and-updates-for-cbic-departmental-exam" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">CBIC departmental exam notice board</a>.</p>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">More in this series</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/cbic-departmental-exam-chances-increment-rules" style="color:#255a45">Chances, increments, consequences</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/cbic-preventive-officer-examiner-confirmation-papers" style="color:#255a45">PO and Examiner papers, 2008 vs 2024</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/cbic-confirmation-exam-calendar-lucknow-mumbai" style="color:#255a45">Calendar vs sittings held</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/cbic-confirmation-vs-promotion-exam-inspector" style="color:#255a45">Confirmation or promotion exam?</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/exam-alert-and-updates-for-cbic-departmental-exam" style="color:#255a45">CBIC departmental exam notice board: official updates</a></li></ul></div>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Sources</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/Documents/Examination/DeptOfficer/DER%202024.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">Gazette of India Extraordinary No. 711, G.S.R. 773(E) dated 18.12.2024: Departmental Examination (Central Tax, Central Excise, Customs and Narcotics) Rules, 2024, with Appendix A and Appendix B (copy hosted by NACIN)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/Documents/Announcements/DepartmentalExaminationofInspectorsofCentralConfirmation-Lucknow(English).pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN ZTI Lucknow, NACIN/Sys/54/2024: Departmental examination of Inspectors of Central Tax for confirmation, 19-21.03.2025 (English notice)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/Documents/Announcements/Annexure-I%20(2025-March-Scheduled%20%26%20Syllabus)-Lucknow.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN ZTI Lucknow, Annexure-I to the March 2025 notice: schedule and syllabus</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/Documents/Announcements/Annexure-III%20(2025-March-Instruction%20for%20Exam)-Lucknow.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN ZTI Lucknow, Annexure-III to the March 2025 notice: instructions for the examination</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/Documents/Examination/DeptOfficer/Annexure-I%20(1).doc" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN ZTI Lucknow, Annexure-I for the February 2026 Inspector sitting (schedule and syllabus, Word file)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://gstkarnataka.gov.in/" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">GST Karnataka (Bengaluru zone), letter GCCO/II/12/5/2026 relaying NACIN/TRNG/EXAM/DE/1/2026: Inspector confirmation exam 11-13.02.2026 (read from the zone site)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://gstkarnataka.gov.in/media/pdf/departmental-examination/EGSO%2004_2024.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">GST Karnataka, EGSO 04/2024: Inspector confirmation exam 26-28.02.2024 under the 2008 rules</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/Documents/Announcements/Marksheet%20for%20Inspectors%20confirmation%20examination%20(March%202025).pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN ZTI Lucknow: statement of marks, Inspector confirmation exam, March 2025 (used for counts only)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/Documents/Examination/DeptOfficer/Marksheet%20-%20Departmental%20Examination%20of%20Inspectors%20of%20Central%20Tax%20for%20Confirmation%20from%2007.08.2024%20to%2009.08.2024.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN: statement of marks, Inspector confirmation exam 07.08.2024 to 09.08.2024 (used for its paper columns only)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.cbic.gov.in/content/anotherfile/media/CONTENTREPO/DPMT_OFFICERS/Examinations/Departmental_Examinations/Frwdng-ltr-Ins-30122025.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN ZTI Lucknow forwarding letter NACIN/TRNG/EXAM/DE/4/2025 (e-file I/3686987/2025) and statement of marks, Inspector confirmation exam 02.09.2025 to 04.09.2025, posted on CBIC 30.12.2025 (we print no names, roll numbers or counts)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.cbic.gov.in/content/anotherfile/media/CONTENTREPO/DPMT_OFFICERS/Examinations/Departmental_Examinations/forwarding-letter-06072026.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN ZTI Lucknow forwarding letter (digitally signed 06.07.2026) and statement of marks, Inspector confirmation exam 11.02.2026 to 13.02.2026, posted on CBIC 06.07.2026 (we print no names, roll numbers or counts)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/NACINExamDeptOfficers.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN Annual Calendar of Departmental Examinations 2026-27, NACIN/II/12/3/2026-EXAM-NACIN-PALASAMUDRAM dated 26.03.2026, and Corrigendum 1 (linked from the NACIN pages)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/Documents/Examination/DeptOfficer/Bilingual%20notification-%20promotion%20to%20the%20grade%20of%20Inspectors%20-JUNE%202026.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN Chennai notification dated 28.04.2026: departmental examination for promotion to the grade of Inspector (Central Tax, Preventive Officer, Examiner), 17-19.06.2026 (bilingual)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.nacin.gov.in/NACINExamDeptOfficers.html" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">NACIN: Departmental Examination (Officers) page, listing notices, calendars and statements of marks (seen 29.09.2026)</a></li></ul><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472"><strong style="color:#1f7a45">official</strong> = a document published by the conducting body. <strong style="color:#8a5300">reported</strong> = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.</p></div>

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<div style="background:#eef3fb;color:#303846;border:1px solid #c9d7ee;border-radius:12px;padding:14px 18px;margin:0 0 18px"><p style="margin:0;font-size:14px;line-height:1.6"><strong style="color:#171d29">Checked 8 November 2026.</strong> Interview dates, formats and statistics are Oxford’s for 2027 entry (interviews in December 2026), read on ox.ac.uk and history.ox.ac.uk on 8 November 2026; your college’s email is what counts for your own interview. The statistics are 3-year averages for 2023-25.</p></div>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7"><strong>Oxford History interviews are online academic conversations, in the common college format of one 30-minute interview with two tutors (joint courses have an interview for each subject), in which you may discuss your submitted essay and personal statement and may be asked to read and talk about a short passage of historical writing.</strong> For 2027 entry, first college interviews for History run from Monday 7 to Friday 11 December 2026, and decisions arrive on 12 January 2027 via UCAS (<a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/interview-timetables" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">Oxford interview timetables</a>; <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">Oxford Interviews guide</a>). Tutors are not testing what you know so much as how you think: the Faculty of History says the interview is “not a test of knowledge, but your ability to think, be flexible, understand concepts, and express yourself” (<a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/making-application" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">history.ox.ac.uk</a>).</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">This page keeps to what is specific to History: the History rows of the 2026 timetable, the seven qualities the Faculty says it looks for, the kinds of questions that grow out of your essay and statement, and two worked exercises, a passage of historical writing and a primary source, talked through the way you would in the room. For how Oxford interviews work across all subjects, see <a href="/hub/oxford-interview-questions" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">Oxford interview questions: what to expect, dates and examples</a>.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Independent practice, not affiliated with the University of Oxford. Every fact about admissions and interviews on this page comes from ox.ac.uk and history.ox.ac.uk, linked where it is used and read on 8 November 2026. The practice questions, the two worked discussions and the plan are ours: ways of thinking to try out loud, not answers to learn, and nobody outside a college can know what its tutors will ask.</p>

<div style="display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:10px;margin:18px 0"><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">74%</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">of History applicants were interviewed (3-year average, 2023-25)</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">23%</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">of History applicants were successful (same period)</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">30 min</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">standard interview with two tutors, says the Faculty of History</div></div><div style="flex:1 1 140px;background:#fbfaf6;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:10px;padding:12px 14px"><div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:800;color:#171d29;line-height:1.2">12 Jan 2027</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;line-height:1.4;margin-top:4px">decisions for shortlisted candidates, via UCAS</div></div></div><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472;margin:-8px 0 18px">Sources: ox.ac.uk History course page (admissions statistics), history.ox.ac.uk Making an application, ox.ac.uk Interviews. Read 8 November 2026.</p>

What happens in an Oxford History interview

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Each college decides its own format, and the discussion develops in response to your answers, so there is no fixed order. The Faculty describes the ingredients. Your written work “can be used to form the starting point for discussions”, and you will “probably be asked about the definition of terms you have used, to compare your submitted work with another historical example you have studied, or how new information could affect your arguments”. You may be asked about your personal statement and wider questions about history, and some colleges give you a short passage to read just before the interview (<a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/making-application" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">history.ox.ac.uk</a>).</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7"><span style="font-size:14px;color:#5b6472">Sources: <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk Interviews</a>; <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/history" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk History course page</a>; <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/technology" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk Interview technology</a>; <a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/making-application" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">history.ox.ac.uk Making an application</a>. Read 8 November 2026.</span></p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">The tutors’ own description of the tone is useful: interviews “are not intended to be confrontational although they will undoubtedly be intellectually challenging”, “your interviewers will not mind if you pause to think”, and you should “try not to go in with some prepared speech you are determined to deliver at all costs” (<a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/making-application" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">history.ox.ac.uk</a>). On Oxford’s sample-questions page one History tutor goes further and says prepared scripts “are always a waste of time” (<a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/sample_questions" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk</a>).</p>

2026 interview dates for History and the joint History courses

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Oxford publishes interview windows by course. All times are UK time, and Oxford notes you may be asked to attend outside these windows. If you applied for a joint course, the Faculty says you may be offered an interview for single-honours History instead.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7"><span style="font-size:14px;color:#5b6472">Source: <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/interview-timetables" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk Interview timetables 2026</a>, read 8 November 2026. Your college’s email gives your own day and time.</span></p>

<div style="background:#fff8e8;color:#3a3020;border:1px solid #f0d9a8;border-left:4px solid #b7791f;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><p style="margin:0 0 8px;font-size:12px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#b7791f">Where other pages get this wrong</p><p style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29;line-height:1.5">For 2027 entry, Oxford History needs no admissions test and the first interviews run from 7 to 11 December 2026.</p><p style="margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.6"><strong style="color:#8a5300">Commonly published instead:</strong> interview weeks dated around 9 and 16 December, and a History Aptitude Test (HAT) to sit first. The Faculty of History’s own application page still mentions both, so use the course pages and the 2026 timetable for these details.</p><p style="margin:0;line-height:1.6">The ox.ac.uk History course page says “You do not need to take a written test as part of an application for this course”, and the 2026 timetable gives Monday 7 to Friday 11 December for first college interviews and 14 to 17 December for second college interviews. Only the joint courses with Politics or Economics need a test, and it is TARA, not the HAT.</p></div>

What History tutors are looking for: the seven criteria

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">The Faculty of History lists the qualities it looks for in applicants. They are the best guide to what an interview is for, because every question is a way of seeing some of them. If you applied for a joint course, the Faculty notes these criteria apply to the History side.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7"><span style="font-size:14px;color:#5b6472">Criteria quoted from <a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/making-application" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">history.ox.ac.uk Making an application</a>; the middle and right-hand columns are our suggestions. The ox.ac.uk course page sums it up as “intellectual curiosity as well as a flexible approach to engaging with unfamiliar concepts or arguments and an enthusiasm for history”.</span></p>

<figure style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0;margin:18px 0"><figcaption style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Applicants recorded as successful, Oxford History courses (3-year average, 2023-25)</figcaption><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;gap:10px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 4px"><span style="color:#303846">History</span><strong style="color:#171d29;white-space:nowrap">23% (interviewed 74%)</strong></div><div style="background:#f1eee6;border-radius:6px;height:12px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:76.7%;height:12px;background:#1f7a45;border-radius:6px"></div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;gap:10px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 4px"><span style="color:#303846">History and Modern Languages</span><strong style="color:#171d29;white-space:nowrap">25% (interviewed 84%)</strong></div><div style="background:#f1eee6;border-radius:6px;height:12px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:83.3%;height:12px;background:#2f6fb0;border-radius:6px"></div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;gap:10px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 4px"><span style="color:#303846">History (Ancient and Modern)</span><strong style="color:#171d29;white-space:nowrap">23% (interviewed 71%)</strong></div><div style="background:#f1eee6;border-radius:6px;height:12px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:76.7%;height:12px;background:#b7791f;border-radius:6px"></div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;gap:10px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 4px"><span style="color:#303846">History and English</span><strong style="color:#171d29;white-space:nowrap">12% (interviewed 57%)</strong></div><div style="background:#f1eee6;border-radius:6px;height:12px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:40.0%;height:12px;background:#8e3b8e;border-radius:6px"></div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;gap:10px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 4px"><span style="color:#303846">History and Economics</span><strong style="color:#171d29;white-space:nowrap">12% (interviewed 43%)</strong></div><div style="background:#f1eee6;border-radius:6px;height:12px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:40.0%;height:12px;background:#c2553a;border-radius:6px"></div></div></div><div style="margin:0 0 10px"><div style="display:flex;justify-content:space-between;gap:10px;font-size:14px;line-height:1.4;margin:0 0 4px"><span style="color:#303846">History and Politics</span><strong style="color:#171d29;white-space:nowrap">13% (interviewed 41%)</strong></div><div style="background:#f1eee6;border-radius:6px;height:12px;overflow:hidden"><div style="width:43.3%;height:12px;background:#2a8f8f;border-radius:6px"></div></div></div><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Source: each course’s ox.ac.uk page, admissions statistics, 3-year average 2023-25, read 8 November 2026. Intakes differ widely: History 215, History and Politics 46, History (Ancient and Modern) 24, History and Modern Languages 19, History and Economics 17, History and English 12.</p></figure>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Single-honours History interviewed about three applicants in four over 2023-25, so for most History applicants the interview is a real stage of the process, not a rare extra. History and Politics and History and Economics interviewed smaller shares over the same years, and both require TARA for 2027 entry; the statistics do not show how much the test contributes to shortlisting. None of these figures tells you your own chances: they are three-year averages.</p>

Worked exercise 1: a passage of historical writing

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Oxford says applicants “may also be asked to read and talk about a short passage” (<a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/history" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">History course page</a>), and the Faculty says some colleges use “a short passage of historical writing”. Nobody outside a college knows which passage it will be. What you can practise is the method: say what it says, notice the detail that changes its meaning, ask who made it and why, and say what it is good evidence for. Here is a public-domain passage from a famous Victorian historian.</p>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><p style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Worked exercise 1: read this passage, then talk about it</p><p style="margin:0 0 10px;line-height:1.65">Set a timer for five minutes and read it twice, the way you would if a college sent it the day before or handed it to you just before the interview. Then say out loud what the author is arguing before you read our discussion.</p><blockquote style="margin:0 0 12px;padding:12px 16px;background:#fbfaf6;border-left:4px solid #8a5300;border-radius:8px;color:#303846;font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7">Yet, unless I greatly deceive myself, the general effect of this chequered narrative will be to excite thankfulness in all religious minds, and hope in the breasts of all patriots. For the history of our country during the last hundred and sixty years is eminently the history of physical, of moral, and of intellectual improvement. Those who compare the age on which their lot has fallen with a golden age which exists only in their imagination may talk of degeneracy and decay: but no man who is correctly informed as to the past will be disposed to take a morose or desponding view of the present.<br><br>[…] It will be my endeavour to relate the history of the people as well as the history of the government, to trace the progress of useful and ornamental arts, to describe the rise of religious sects and the changes of literary taste, to portray the manners of successive generations and not to pass by with neglect even the revolutions which have taken place in dress, furniture, repasts, and public amusements.<footer style="margin-top:8px;font-family:inherit;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">— Thomas Babington Macaulay, <em>The History of England from the Accession of James the Second</em>, vol. 1, chapter 1 (1848). Public domain; <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1468" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">Project Gutenberg #1468</a>.</footer></blockquote><p style="margin:12px 0 6px;line-height:1.65;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">One way to think it through aloud</p><ol style="margin:0 0 10px;padding-left:22px"><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>1. Say the claim in your own words first.</strong> Something like: “He is telling his readers that English history since about 1688 is a story of improvement, and that anyone who thinks things are getting worse simply does not know enough about the past.” Tutors want to see that you have understood the argument before you criticise it.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>2. Do the small arithmetic the passage invites.</strong> The book came out in 1848, and 1848 minus 160 is 1688, the year of the revolution of 1688–89. The book itself starts a little earlier, with the accession of James II in 1685, so the arithmetic is a clue, not proof: it suggests the change of 1688–89 is the hinge of his story of improvement, which is worth saying and then testing. Being accurate about small details like this is one of the Faculty’s criteria (“accuracy and attention to detail”).</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>3. Look at the words that do the persuading.</strong> “Thankfulness”, “hope”, “patriots”, “correctly informed”. He is not only describing the past; he is telling the reader how to feel about the present, and he treats disagreement as ignorance. That is a strong rhetorical move, and you can name it without being rude about him.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>4. Ask: improvement for whom?</strong> The second paragraph promises “the history of the people as well as the history of the government”. Push on that: which people? Macaulay is not blind to cost: elsewhere in this chapter he calls Ireland “a withered and distorted member” of the empire. But a historian today might push further, on the lives of the poor in early industrial towns or of people under British rule in India, where Macaulay sat on the Governor-General’s Council from 1834 to 1838. You do not need to know the answer to ask the question well; asking it is the historical instinct the Faculty calls “the capacity to engage with alternative perspectives”.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>5. Give him credit where it is due.</strong> Writing about dress, furniture, meals and entertainment as real history was a broad ambition for a political historian of the 1840s. A good answer holds both thoughts: the subject matter is broad, the story he tells with it is one of improvement overall. In the paragraph just before this extract he does admit “disasters mingled with triumphs” and “great national crimes and follies”, so ask whether those admissions really reckon with the people who paid the price.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>6. Connect it to a name if you know one, then go beyond it.</strong> If you have read about it, this is the habit Herbert Butterfield criticised in <em>The Whig Interpretation of History</em> (1931): studying the past with one eye on the present and sorting people into friends and enemies of progress. Butterfield attacked a way of writing history rather than Macaulay by name, though Macaulay is often given as its classic example. If you have not read it, say the idea in plain words. Then test it: is every “progress” story wrong, or only one that leaves out the losers?</li></ol><p style="margin:10px 0 4px;line-height:1.6;color:#171d29"><strong>Tutor might push:</strong> “Is there anything wrong with a historian writing to give his readers hope?”</p><p style="margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.65;padding-left:12px;border-left:3px solid #c9d7ee">A strong reply makes a distinction rather than picking a side: a historian may care about the present, but the evidence has to be allowed to disappoint them. You might add that every historian writes from somewhere, including us reading Macaulay in 2026, so the question is less “is he biased?” than “how does his position shape what he looks at and what he leaves out?”</p><p style="margin:10px 0 4px;line-height:1.6;color:#171d29"><strong>Tutor might push:</strong> “If you wanted to test Macaulay’s story of improvement, what would you study?”</p><p style="margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.65;padding-left:12px;border-left:3px solid #c9d7ee">There is no single right answer, so justify your choice and say its limits. Pick a starting point or a unit and say what it lets you see, for example a different date, or a town, a trade or a family rather than the nation. Then say what that choice would hide. That is comparing and speculating, which the Faculty names in its criteria (“the ability to speculate and compare”).</p><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Our discussion, not a model answer to memorise. The extract is from a public-domain edition; the questions and the discussion are ours. Oxford’s own History tutors explain their sample questions <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/sample_questions" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">on ox.ac.uk</a>.</p></div>

Worked exercise 2: a primary source with a provenance problem

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Not every passage will be a historian’s prose. Tutors may hand you “a text, a poem, a graph, or an object” (<a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk Interviews</a>). This document shows why the question of who wrote a source down, and when, can matter more than its most quoted line.</p>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><p style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Worked exercise 2: a famous speech, and the problem of who wrote it down</p><p style="margin:0 0 10px;line-height:1.65">Oxford asks for written work that is an argued essay, not a source analysis, but the conversation in the interview can still turn to a document. This one is a good test because the famous part is not the hardest part. First the words, as they were printed in 1654:</p><blockquote style="margin:0 0 12px;padding:12px 16px;background:#fbfaf6;border-left:4px solid #8a5300;border-radius:8px;color:#303846;font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7">My loving people, we have been persuaded by some, that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of treachery: but I assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful, and loving people. […] I know I have the body, but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and Stomach of a King, and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any Prince of Europe should dare to invade the borders of my Realm […]<footer style="margin-top:8px;font-family:inherit;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">— Elizabeth I to the army at Tilbury, August 1588, as given in a letter from Leonel Sharp to the Duke of Buckingham, printed in <em>Cabala, sive scrinia sacra</em> (London, 1654). Text as in the EarlyPrint reading edition of the 1654 printing; omissions marked […]. Public domain; <a href="https://texts.earlyprint.org/works/A31592.xml" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">EarlyPrint A31592</a>.</footer></blockquote><p style="margin:0 0 10px;line-height:1.65">Now the frame around it. In the same letter Sharp writes: “I remember in 88 waiting upon the Earl of Leicester at Tilbury Camp”; the Queen made “an excellent Oration to her army, which the next day after her departure, I was commanded to redeliver to all the Army together, to keep a Public Fast”; and, of the text he is sending, “no man hath it but myself, and such as I have given it to”. The letter is not dated in the 1654 book, but it calls Buckingham “your Grace”, talks about the marriage negotiations and about Buckingham speaking in Parliament, and argues that war with Spain may be coming.</p><p style="margin:12px 0 6px;line-height:1.65;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">One way to think it through aloud</p><ol style="margin:0 0 10px;padding-left:22px"><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>1. Separate the event from the text.</strong> That Elizabeth went to Tilbury and addressed the troops is one question; whether she used these exact words is another. Saying this early shows you know what kind of claim each piece of evidence can support.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>2. Date the letter from inside it.</strong> Buckingham was made a duke in 1623, so “your Grace” means the letter was written no earlier than that, and its talk of the marriage negotiations, of Parliament and of a possible war with Spain fits the early to mid-1620s. The printed letter is undated, so this is an inference, but it puts roughly thirty-five years between the speech and this record of it. Working out a date from clues inside a document is exactly the kind of detail tutors notice.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>3. Ask why he is writing.</strong> Sharp is arguing for war with Spain. Remembering Elizabeth defying Spain is useful to that argument. That does not make him a liar; it means the reason he chose to send this text, at that moment, is part of the evidence.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>4. Then weigh what makes him credible.</strong> He says he was there, and that on the day after the Queen left he was ordered to repeat the speech to the whole army, which would give him reason to know it well. A good answer puts the two points side by side instead of choosing one.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>5. Ask what else survives.</strong> You might not know the details, and you can say so: “I’d want to know whether any other account was written down closer to 1588, and whether it says the same thing.” Historians do this: they compare James Aske’s verse account printed in 1588 and a different version William Leigh published in 1612, and they treat a manuscript copy of Sharp’s text as another witness to the same version, not an independent account. Comparing them is how historians argue the point; it has not settled it, and whether these were her exact words is still debated.</li><li style="margin:8px 0;line-height:1.65"><strong>6. Say what the source is good evidence for, whatever the answer.</strong> Even if the wording was polished later, the letter is good evidence of how Sharp presented Elizabeth to Buckingham in an argument against Spain, and of an image built around gender and kingship (“the body […] of a weak and feeble woman”, “the heart and Stomach of a King”). Claims about how Protestants in general remembered her would need more sources. Shifting the question from “is it true?” to “what is it evidence of?” is a move tutors value.</li></ol><p style="margin:10px 0 4px;line-height:1.6;color:#171d29"><strong>Tutor might push:</strong> “So should a textbook print this speech or not?”</p><p style="margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.65;padding-left:12px;border-left:3px solid #c9d7ee">Make a judgement and give its conditions: print it, with a line saying where the text comes from and when it was written down. That answer shows you can decide something while being honest about what you do not know.</p><p style="margin:10px 0 4px;line-height:1.6;color:#171d29"><strong>Tutor might push:</strong> “Why do you think this version became the famous one?”</p><p style="margin:0 0 8px;line-height:1.65;padding-left:12px;border-left:3px solid #c9d7ee">Speculate, and label it as speculation: it is vivid, it puts the gender contrast in one sentence, and it reached print in 1654, when the Elizabethan past was still being argued over. Then say how you would test that, for example by looking at when the line started to be quoted.</p><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Our discussion, not a model answer. Speech text and quotations from Sharp’s letter are from the public-domain 1654 printing; the dating clues are read from the letter itself.</p></div>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">The steps in both exercises come down to the same four moves, and they work for almost anything you might be handed: <strong>say what it says</strong>, <strong>notice the detail that changes its meaning</strong> (a date, a word, a number), <strong>ask who made it, when and why</strong>, and <strong>say what it is good evidence for</strong>. Then let the tutor push you, and change your mind out loud if they give you a reason to.</p>

Six kinds of question to practise (without answers)

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">These are our own practice questions, grouped by where an Oxford History conversation tends to start according to the Faculty: your essay, your statement, and wider questions about history. They are not Oxford questions and not a forecast. Give a short first answer out loud, then ask a practice partner to challenge it and keep the discussion going.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Oxford’s own History tutors publish a few sample questions with an explanation of what they are looking for. Read them on <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/sample_questions" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk</a> rather than in copied lists: the explanations are the useful part. Use them to practise reasoning, not to memorise an answer in the hope that a particular question comes up.</p>

Your written work and personal statement: where the questions start

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Re-read your submitted essay and write down the three terms it depends on. Can you define each in one sentence? The Faculty says you will “probably be asked about the definition of terms you have used”.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Pick one other historical example, from a different period or place, that you could compare with your essay’s topic. Practise saying where the comparison works and where it breaks.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Imagine the tutor gives you one new fact that cuts against your argument. Practise saying whether it changes your conclusion, and why. The Faculty says “It’s OK to have changed your mind since you wrote the work, we’ll be interested to hear why!”</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Check every book, podcast, programme and visit in your personal statement. The Faculty says the statement “will probably be used in interviews” and asks you to be sure you have read any book you mention “thoroughly”.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6">Prepare a short, honest answer to why you want to study history at Oxford, and say it out loud to another person. Oxford’s top tip is to keep practising explaining what you are thinking, “almost as if you are thinking out loud”.</li></ul><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Quotations from history.ox.ac.uk Making an application and ox.ac.uk Interviews, read 8 November 2026. The checklist is ours.</p></div>

How to practise in the weeks before the interview

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Oxford’s advice is that practice does not have to be a formal mock interview: chats with teachers, friends or family work, and so does explaining an idea aloud on your own (<a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk Interviews</a>). A simple routine that follows the Faculty’s criteria:</p>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>Three times a week, one passage.</strong> Read a page of history written by someone else (a book chapter, a long review, a public-domain classic like the one above) for five minutes, then talk for five: what does it argue, what is the key detail, what would you ask the author?</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>Twice a week, one source.</strong> Take a document, image or object and ask the four questions: what it says, the detail that changes its meaning, who made it and why, and what it is good evidence for.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>Once a week, a full run.</strong> Ask someone to read you a question from the table above, interrupt with “but what if…”, and keep going for 20 minutes. Afterwards, pick one moment where you changed or kept your view and ask whether your reasons justified it.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>Every day, ten minutes on your own material.</strong> Your essay, your statement, the books in it.</li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><strong>Well before the day:</strong> test Teams, your camera, microphone and internet connection, so there is time to fix problems or find another room. <strong>The day before:</strong> check them again, have paper and a pen, your personal statement and essay to hand, and do any pre-reading the college sends, which is normally emailed the day before.</li></ul><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Our plan, built on the practice advice on ox.ac.uk and the Faculty’s criteria.</p></div>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><p style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Applying for History and Politics or History and Economics?</p><p style="margin:0 0 10px;line-height:1.65">These two joint courses also need the TARA admissions test (History and Politics: all three modules; History and Economics: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving). For 2027 entry it was taken on 12 to 16 October 2026, so it is behind you now; your interview will have a History side and a Politics or Economics side, and the Economics side may include a short problem. If you are applying in a later year, check that year’s requirements on ox.ac.uk first; ProSyllabus has <a href="/kits/tara-practice-tests" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">TARA practice tests</a> covering Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and the Writing Task. Single-honours History, History (Ancient and Modern), History and English and History and Modern Languages need no admissions test.</p><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472">Test requirements from <a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/making-application" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">history.ox.ac.uk</a>, <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/history-and-politics" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">History and Politics</a> and <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/history-and-economics" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">History and Economics</a> course pages, read 8 November 2026.</p></div>

On the day: online rules that apply to History

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">Interviews are on Microsoft Teams. Single-honours History and the other joint History courses are video only (tier 1); History and Economics is tier 2 and adds a shared virtual whiteboard. You do not need a Microsoft account (<a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/technology" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk Interview technology</a>). Oxford’s code of conduct asks you not to share interview content in any form, not to research any pre-interview material online unless permitted, not to record, not to let anyone else watch, not to search online for answers during the interview, and not to use assistive technology, including AI and automatic transcription, beyond what your subject requires unless permitted; breaking it puts any offer at serious risk (<a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk Interviews</a>). Practise with real people now so that on the day you are used to thinking without help.</p>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">If you do not know something, say so and keep reasoning. Oxford’s guidance is that there may be more than one right way to answer, that tutors are interested in your thought process, and that interviewers “are not trying to make you feel ignorant or catch you out, but to stretch you” (<a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">ox.ac.uk Interviews</a>). Questions you ask at the end are not part of the assessment.</p>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><p style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Practise the rest out loud</p><p style="margin:0 0 10px;line-height:1.65">The two exercises above are the kind of thinking Oxford’s tutors describe. The ProSyllabus pack <a href="/kits/oxford-interview-history" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">Oxford Interview Questions: History</a> has 25 original History questions, each worked as thinking aloud, a 30-minute mock interview for a parent or friend to run, with follow-up cards so they can push you, and a self-review checklist. The free warm-up on this page is a few questions from it.</p><p style="margin:0;line-height:1.65">The questions are written by us. They are not Oxford questions, nobody can tell you what a college will ask, and the pack is practice for thinking, not answers to memorise. Independent practice, not affiliated with the University of Oxford.</p></div>

<p style="margin:0 0 16px;line-height:1.7">All Oxford interview pages: <a href="/hub/oxford-interview-questions" style="color:#255a45;font-weight:600">Oxford interview questions: what to expect, dates and examples</a>. Independent practice, not affiliated with the University of Oxford.</p>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">More in this series</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/oxford-interview-questions" style="color:#255a45">Oxford interview questions: what to expect, dates and examples</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/oxford-interview-questions-ppe" style="color:#255a45">Oxford interview questions: PPE</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/oxford-interview-questions-maths" style="color:#255a45">Oxford interview questions: maths</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/oxford-interview-questions-physics" style="color:#255a45">Oxford interview questions: physics</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><a href="/hub/oxford-interview-questions-chemistry" style="color:#255a45">Oxford interview questions: chemistry</a></li></ul></div>

<div style="background:#ffffff;color:#303846;border:1px solid #e4e1d8;border-radius:12px;padding:18px 20px;margin:18px 0"><h3 style="margin:0 0 10px;font-size:17px;font-weight:700;color:#171d29">Sources</h3><ul style="margin:0;padding-left:20px"><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/history" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">University of Oxford: History course page (admissions statistics 2023-25, written work, interview, what tutors are looking for), read 8 November 2026</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/making-application" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">Faculty of History, University of Oxford: Making an application (selection criteria, interview format, admissions tests for joint courses), read 8 November 2026</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/interview-timetables" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">University of Oxford: Interview timetables 2026 (History and joint History courses), read 8 November 2026</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">University of Oxford: Interviews, guide for applicants (code of conduct, practising, decisions on 12 January 2027), read 8 November 2026</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/technology" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">University of Oxford: Interview technology (tier 1 and tier 2 subjects), read 8 November 2026</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying/guide-for-applicants/interviews/sample_questions" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">University of Oxford: Sample interview questions (History tutors’ own examples, linked and not reproduced here), read 8 November 2026</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/course-listing/history-and-politics" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">University of Oxford: course pages for History and Politics, History and Economics, History (Ancient and Modern), History and English, History and Modern Languages (statistics and admissions tests), read 8 November 2026</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1468" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">T. B. Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, vol. 1, chapter 1 (1848), Project Gutenberg eBook #1468 (public domain)</a></li><li style="margin:6px 0;line-height:1.6"><span style="color:#1f7a45;font-weight:700">official</span> — <a href="https://texts.earlyprint.org/works/A31592.xml" rel="nofollow noopener" style="color:#255a45">Leonel Sharp to the Duke of Buckingham, in Cabala, sive scrinia sacra (London: G. Bedel and T. Collins, 1654), EarlyPrint / Text Creation Partnership A31592 (public domain)</a></li></ul><p style="margin:12px 0 0;font-size:13px;color:#5b6472"><strong style="color:#1f7a45">official</strong> = a document published by the conducting body. <strong style="color:#8a5300">reported</strong> = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.</p></div>

<a href="/exam/oxford-interview">This article has been published in Oxford Interview (University of Oxford undergraduate admissions interviews). Explore everything related to it here.</a>

What Oxford History tutors ask about and how they assess it, the 2026 interview dates by History course, and two passages talked through as thinking aloud: Macaulay (1848) and Elizabeth I at Tilbury.