The Exam House — June 30, 2020

Dubai to Cambridge University by our Exam Tutors

Over the years The Exam House Exam Centre works with our Exam Tutors have taken a range of paths. We like to interview our Exam Tutors to publish their education trajectory in order to shine a light for others.

Especially, if they have a more unique route to Oxford or Cambridge.

Dubai to Cambridge University as an undergraduate

Grades

11 A*s at IGCSE CIE Level
- Highest Mark in the World for IGCSE History, Geography and Coordinated Science
- Highest Mark in the UAE for English Literature and Physical Education
3 A*s in French, History and English Literature, and an A in Maths at A-Level

Course

History at Trinity College, Cambridge

Why Oxford or Cambridge?

Originally I didn’t actually want to go to either Oxford or Cambridge University at all - my plan was to leave school, get sponsored through university by the army and then go onto officer training at Sandhurst. I felt that studying at either of the universities would be too much pressure and too academically focused and therefore I would not get the most out of university. However, my parents convinced me that I should give the application process a shot as I would regret it later on in life if I hadn’t even applied - there would always be that ‘What if?’ in the back of my mind.

Why History at Cambridge?

This decision also altered significantly through the course of my university applications as I originally wanted to go to Magdalene College in Oxford to study English Literature. However, after drafting a couple of personal statements, I realised that what I loved about reading was the context behind the books and how the era which the author was writing in was reflected in their work. Consequently I decided to switch to reading History.

As for why Trinity College, Cambridge, the decision to apply to the college at the top of the Tompkins Table (which I had no clue about when I applied!) was again an ad hoc response to events. In the summer of Year 12, I submitted an entry into the Robson History Prize at the college and eventually was shortlisted as a finalist. I was invited to meet one of the History Fellows at Trinity College, Cambridge. Attempting to apply to Oxbridge from abroad was hard enough so I decided to use any advantage that I could get to set me apart from other applicants and I therefore switched to Trinity College on my application.

Support from School

Having moved schools in Dubai four times as I felt I wasn’t being challenged enough, applying to Oxbridge from there was definitely a challenge. My school had a good system of teaching nominations for Oxbridge candidates, which gave me confidence that I had support behind my application. When I was invited for interview, they also arranged a few meetings with the Headteacher, who was also a History teacher, as he sought to push me beyond my capabilities and get me thinking about History in a different way to how I was studying for my A-Levels; this was the type of knowledge which would be crucial for the interview stage. I also got in touch with my old IGCSE History teacher who had moved back to the UK to head up the department at Wellington College. We had a good rapport and he kindly helped me out choosing which essays worked best as my submitted work and gave me a practice interview the day before the real thing to highlight areas of weakness and things to avoid.

Interview - December 2011

I came over to the UK for my interview as I decided that I would present myself better if face-to-face rather than on Skype. On the day, I faced two interviews: one was based around source material which I was given two hours to study and respond to beforehand, and the other was focused on my personal statement and submitted work. Thankfully I didn’t face any of those apocryphal questions which are publicised in the press although they did stretch me outside of my comfort zone and test how well I responded to sources I had no factual knowledge of. I came away from the interview not really knowing how it went as I couldn’t pinpoint what they were looking for; in these scenarios, there is no right and wrong answer which gives the applicant scope to explore and develop their own ideas without feeling that they are being judged.