Read the text ‘How to get into Oxbridge’ and arrange logically the steps of getting into these two universities: How to get into Oxbridge

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Decide if Oxbridge is right for you. You may wish to consider top universities overseas, or another university for a specialist degree.

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Get good AS grades. Without good AS grades, they are unlikely to accept you.

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Choose your college. Read up about as many colleges as you can. If you are confident that you are clever enough, apply for the top colleges or colleges that specialise in your course.

Cambridge is different to Oxford, where most colleges specialise in a few subjects. In Cambridge, almost all subjects are offered by all colleges, making it more likely a course is under-subscribed.

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Decide if you are willing to commit yourself. You will be expected to work over 40 hours a week for some subjects, so make sure you are willing to dedicate yourself to the hard work.

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Success. If you get accepted, this is not the end of the road. If you do not study hard for your A levels, they would rather offer that place to someone next year. Once you are notified they have accepted you, it then means you have about 6 months to go over all your A levels and make sure you can get A's. Once you have, congratulations!

Just because you have been offered a place does not necessarily mean that you will automatically get in. Most offers will be conditional on you receiving certain grades.

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Decide what you want to do. This may sound obvious, but if you are not 100% certain, they will realize this at the interview, which will make them reluctant to take you. You must know exactly why you want to take a course. The work load will put you off the course if it is not something you enjoy and you will end up bored for 3 years or dropping out.

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Declined. Congratulations, you are one of the thousands that were intelligent enough to get into Oxbridge but. If you are tempted to wait a year and reapply, you have to be sure you are willing to wait a year longer to get your degree first. If you failed last time to get into Oxford, try for Cambridge.

In your gap year, make sure you do something with it; do not just sit around. Get a job in the course you want to do or go travelling. Make sure that before you go to university, you have had revised so you are ready for the first term whether it's Oxbridge or not. Also, learning parts of the course beforehand can help a lot.

In Oxbridge, it is not about how much you know, it is how you approach a problem. You need to have a deep passion for the subject so that it shines through. You need to have a clarity of expression with high exactness of evaluation and is flexible at debating with an imaginative mind yet logical mind.

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Write an excellent personal statement. Make sure it is perfect. Get several teachers to look over it. Make sure only to take the advice of experienced teachers, as they will know what Oxbridge want. A suggested format is:

• Introduction about the subject, why you want to do it, etc. (show some knowledge of the course)

• Academic achievement

• Non academic achievement

• Extra curricular activities and hobbies

• Conclusion (include what you want to do after university, mainly about the subject).

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Interview. If you are called for an interview, they usually ask you to stay for a few nights. Preparing is highly recommended. There are courses for students to prepare for the interview; however, these are normally extremely expensive, sometimes costing £100's. The University provides much information online. Normally, they will ask you questions not in the syllabus for A level or stuff that you will cover next year. Some colleges even ask you questions on subjects they won't expect you to know until studying at University. So make sure you study topics you will be covering next year in advance and be prepared to answer questions that require independent thought. Every question you will be asked if you study at Oxbridge requires this.

For an essay based subject, be prepared to argue for and against any question.

For a language degree, be prepared to speak fluently in that language during the interview or try to translate a language you have never seen before.

For science based interviews, be prepared to answer obscure questions, such as estimating the number of molecules in your body.

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Make sure you talk about what you do other than school, as interviewers are told to look for hobbies. This suggests you are smart enough to get A's and have free time which you can then give up when you get to university. Also, do not lie; they will realise this if they call you for an interview.