Improve your application to Cambridge

There are many different things you can do before you apply to Cambridge to improve your chances of being offered a place on an undergraduate course.

What we look for when you apply

You need to meet the entry requirements for the course at the College you're applying to.

Check entry requirements for your course. In your UCAS personal statement and at interview you’ll need to show that you:

have your own thoughts and opinions, critical thinking and analytical skills
can consider different points of view and arguments
are curious about the world and open to new ideas
feel confident that you‘ve picked an area of study that’s right for you
are passionate and enthusiastic about your subject

How to make your application stand out

Before you apply to Cambridge, you should explore the subject that you’re interested in beyond what you’ve learnt at school, sixth form or college.

Some suggestions of the things you could do:

read books about your subject, specialist magazines and journals. You can do this by checking the suggested reading for the course you’re interested in. You'll find these in the next section on this page
browse websites related to your subject. Our department websites are a good place to start
visit museums, exhibitions and galleries
watch films and documentaries
listen to podcasts
attend seminars and lectures, online or in person
volunteer, or get some work experience that's relevant to your course
take part in academic competitions or projects

We call these types of activities super-curricular activities. Super-curricular is different to extra-curricular.

You can explore as many of these options as you like. Some may be more or less relevant depending on the course you're applying to.

Extra-curricular activities are activities or interests you do outside of school that are unrelated to your chosen subject, such as playing sports or an instrument.

How to explore your chosen subject

If you know which course you want to study, take a look at our suggestions for things you can do to explore your chosen subject.

Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNC)

Books

Websites

Videos

Cambridge Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Society YouTube channel

Podcasts

Radio 4 - In Our Time, History

Extra resources

Check the History and Languages sections below.

Archaeology

Books

Archaeology department reading list

Journals and articles

Current Archaeology: Home

Websites

Podcasts

Extra resources

Check the Classics, History, Geography and Human Social and Political Sciences sections below.

Architecture

Books

Barnabus Calder, Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency
Mark Miodownik, Stuff Matters
Davidson Cragoe, How to Read Buildings
Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin

Journals and articles

Architects to familiarise yourself with

Le Corbusier
Alvar Aalto
Carlo Scarpa
Louis Kahn
Peter Zumthor
David Chipperfield
Yasmeen Lari

Websites

Podcasts

Dezeen, architecture and design magazine

Activities

10 essential freehand drawing exercises for architects

Extra resources

Check the History of Art and Mathematics sections below.

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES)

Books

Websites

News media

Al Jazeera

Extra Resources

Check the Language, English, and History sections below.

Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology

Books

Solen and Harb, Introduction to Chemical Engineering: Tools for Today and Tomorrow
Denn, Chemical Engineering: An Introduction

Journals and articles

Science news and science articles from New Scientist

Websites

Other activities

Women in STEM - Women & girls in science, tech, engineering and maths

Extra Resources

Check the Engineering, Mathematics, and Natural Sciences sections below.

Classics

Books

Journals and articles

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Other activities

Extra Resources

Check the English, History of Art, and Philosophy sections below.

Computer Science

Books

Computer Science department
Dewdney, The New Turing Omnibus: 66 Excursions in Computer Science
Gribbin, Computing with Quantum Cats
Houston, How to Think Like a Mathematician
Penrose, The Emperor's New Mind
Hromkovic, Algorithmic Adventures: From Knowledge to Magic
Singh, The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Code-breaking

Journals and articles

Websites

Video

Podcasts

University of Oxford - Computer Science

Competitions

Activities

Extra Resources

Check the Mathematics and Natural Sciences sections below.

Design

Books

Barnabus Calder, Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency
Mario Salvadori, Why Buildings Stand up
David Bergman, Sustainable Design: a Critical Guide
Mark Miodownik, Stuff Matters

Journals and articles

Designers to familiarise yourself with

Shigeru Ban
B.V. Doshi
Yasmeen Lari
Thomas Heatherwick

Websites

My HE Plus - Architecture
Learning programme
Explore Green Architecture and Materials via Google
Young Architect

Podcasts

Activities

10 essential freehand drawing exercises for architects

Extra resources

Check the History of Art and Mathematics sections below.

Economics

Books

Economics department reading list

Journals and articles

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Competitions

Young Economist of the Year

Extra Resources

Check the Mathematics section below.

Education

Books

Matheson, An Introduction to the Study of Education
Reay, Miseducation: Inequality, Education and the Working Classes
Young, The Rise of the Meritocracy

Journals and articles

Philosophy of Education (Stanford Encyclapedia of Philosophy)
Cambridge Journal of Education, Faculty of Education
Research and Theory Behind the Sociology of Education
Times Education Supplement
Routes: a peer-reviewed journal giving sixth form and undergraduate geographers the chance to read and publish geographical knowledge. Read articles and potentially think about submitting an article yourself.

Authors to familiarise yourself with

Diane Reay
Michael Young
Raewyn Connell
David Gillborn
Kalwant Bhopal

Websites

My HE Plus - Education
Educational Psychology Interactive
Department for Education
Challenges of 21st Century Education - Online Course
The Conversation: articles from leading academics, many focusing on geographical issues

Video

Podcasts

Ask the Geographer: produced by the Royal Geographical Society

Extra Resources

Check the English, Psychology, and HSPS sections below.

Engineering

Books

Journals and articles

Websites

Videos

Example Cambridge Engineering Interview

Podcasts

Competitions

School Science Competitions

Activities

Extra Resources

Check the Chemical Engineering section (above) and the Mathematics and Natural Sciences sections below.

English

Books

Auerbach, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature
Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction
Eco, The Name of the Rose
Fisher, Ghosts of my Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures
Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare
Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature
Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller
Nuttall, Shakespeare the Thinker
Paterson, Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets: A New Commentary
Scarry, The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World
Stewart, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the
Souvenir, the Collection

Journals and articles

Poets to familiarise yourself with

Frank O’Hara
John Ashbery
W.S. Graham
Lorine Neidecker
Joan Murray
Geoffrey Hill
Denise Riley

Websites

Video

The Paris Review - discussions with authors

Podcasts

Extra Resources

Check the Classics section (above) and the Philosophy section below.

Geography

Books

Dorling and Lee, Geography: Ideas in Profile
Jackson, Prosperity without growth: economics for a finite planet
Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate
Massey, For Space
Oppenheimer, Eruptions that shook the world
Pascoe, Dark Emu
Platt, The Great Flood: travels through a sodden landscape
Solnit, Infinite City

Journals and articles

Authors to familiarise yourself with

Danny Dorling
Naomi Klein
Robert Macfarlane
Hans Rosling
Rebecca Solnit

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Activities

Extra Resources

Check the HSPS, Land Economy and Natural Sciences sections below.

History

Books

John Arnold, What is Medieval History?
Nicholas Guyatt, The Hated Cage: An American Tragedy in Britain’s Most Terrifying Prison
Clare Jackson, Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588-1688
Helen McCarthy, Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood
Ulinka Rublack, A Concise Companion to History
Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire

Journals and articles

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Activities

Extra Resources

Check the Economics section (above) and the HSPS section (below).

History and Modern Languages

Books

MMLL department resources for students
Pierre Nora, Realms of Memory
Ludmilla Jordanova, History in Practice
Edward Saïd, Orientalism

Journals and articles

Authors to familiarise yourself with

Carlos Fuentes
García Márquez
Isabel Allende

Websites

Podcasts

Radio 4 - In Our Time, History

Extra Resources

Check the History section (above) and the Languages section (below).

History and Politics

Books

Politics reading list

Journals and articles

Websites

Podcasts

Extra Resources

Check the History section (above) and the HSPS section (below).

History of Art

Books

History of Art department preparatory reading
E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art
John Berger, Ways of Seeing
Griselda Pollock, Vision and Difference
Svetlana Alpers, The Art of Describing
Erwin Panofsky, Studies in Iconology
Edward Said, Orientalism
T.J. Clark, Image of the People
Alberti, On Painting, On Sculpture, On the Art of Building
Vasari, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, Architects

Journals and articles

Websites

Podcasts

Extra Resources

Check the Architecture, Classics, and History sections (above).

Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS)

Books

Journals and articles

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Competitions

RA Butler Prize — Department of Politics and International Studies

Extra resources

Check the Economics and History sections above and the Psychology sections below.

Land Economy

Books

Land Economy department suggested reading

Websites

Video

Open City Documentary Festival Films - UCL Urban Lab

Activities

Finance and Quantitative Modeling for Analysts

Extra resources

Check the Economics and Geography sections (above) and the Law section (below)

Law

Books

Barnard, O’Sullivan and Virgo, What About Law
Berlins and Dyer, The Law Machine
Bingham, The Rule of Law
Kennedy, Misjustice: How British Law is Failing Women
McBride, Letters to a Law Student: A Guide to Studying Law at University
Williams, Learning the Law

Journals/Articles

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Law in Action

Activities

Exploring Law Course: Studying Law at University

Extra resources

Check the History and Human, Social and Political Sciences sections (above).

Linguistics

Books

MMLL department preliminary reading
Adger, Language Unlimited: The Science Behind Our Most Creative Power
Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
Peterson, The Art of Language Invention
Roberts, The Wonders of Language, or How to Make Noises and
Influence People

Authors to familiarise yourself with

David Crystal
Steven Pinker

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Competitions

The Babel Young Writers' Competition

Other activities

Extra resources

Check the Modern and Medieval Languages and the Psychological and Behavioural Sciences sections (below).

Mathematics

Books

Mathematics Faculty reading list
Neale, Why Study Mathematics?

Journals and articles

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Competitions

Activities

Extra resources

Check the Computer Sciences and Engineering sections (above) and the Natural Sciences (below)

Medicine

Books

Oxford Introductory Reading
Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Marmot, The Health Gap: The Challenge of an Unequal World
Nashef, The Naked Surgeon

Journals and articles

Authors to familiarise yourself with

Ben Goldacre
Atul Gawande
Michael Marmot

Websites

Video

Podcasts

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Science

Activities

Extra resources

Check the Natural Sciences section (below)

Modern and Medieval Languages

Books

Pinker, The Language Instinct
A Concise History of… published by Cambridge University Press
French/German/Italian/Russian/Spanish Literature: A Very Short
Introduction published by Oxford University Press

French texts

Albert Camus, L’étranger
Françoise Sagan, Bonjour tristesse
Joseph Joffo, Un sac de billes

German texts

Franz Kafka, Die Verwandlung
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Der Besuch der alten Dame
Bernhard Schlink, Der Vorleser

Italian texts

Italo Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno
Primo Levi, Se questo è un uomo
Natalia Ginzburg, Lessico famigliare

Portuguese texts

José Saramago, A viagem do elefante
Lygia Fagundes Telles, Antes do Baile Verde
Luís Bernardo Honwana, Nós matámos o cão tinhoso

Russian texts

Natalia Baranskaia, A week like any other
Alexander Pushkin, Any short stories
Nikolai Gogol, Revizor

Spanish texts

Federico García Lorca, La casa de Bernarda Alba
Gabriel García Márquez, Crónica de una muerte anunciada
Isabel Allende, La casa de los espíritus

Journals and articles

Polyglossia

Websites

French

Le Monde.fr - Actualités et Infos en France et dans le monde
Le Figaro - Actualité en direct et informations en continu
Libération
Culturethèque
TF 1 and France 2 (French TV channels)
L'Express
RTVC Radio Television Caraibes, 94.5 FM, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Internet Radio for Caribbean Radio
Sud Quotidien - one of Senegal's main daily papers.
Le Soleil de Québec – French Canadian news

German

Online Resources for German, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics. Dozens of links to newspapers, videos, podcasts, museum and cultural institutions, dictionaries and much more!
Der Spiegel

Italian

Portuguese

Russian

Spanish

Corpus de conversaciones en español: short clips featuring everyday conversations with speakers from various Spanish-speaking countries.
Catálogo de voces hispánicas (Instituto Cervantes): short clips featuring examples of Spanish from different parts of Spain and Latin America
Lyricstraining: listen to your favourite music while listening to Spanish and improving your listening skills and vocabulary.
Prensa escrita: links to all daily papers in the Hispanic world.
BBC Mundo
RTVE Televisión española: Spanish TV

Films and series

Netflix language films and series
Mubi – films in many languages

French film

Jean-Luc Godard, A bout de souffle
Mathieu Kassovitz, La Haine
Laurent Cantet, Entre les murs

German film

Wolfgang Becker, Good bye, Lenin!
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Das Leben der Anderen
Marc Rothemund, Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage

Italian film

Vittorio de Sica, Ladri di biciclette
Federico Fellini, La dolce vita
Matteo Garrone, Gomorra

Portuguese film

Margarida Cardoso, A costa dos murmúrios
Walter Salles, Central do Brasil
Fernando Mereilles and Kátia Lund, Cidade de Deus

Russian film

Andrey Zvyagintsev, Leviathan
Sergei Bodrov, Prisoner of the Mountains
Andrei Tarkovskii, Ivan’s childhood

Spanish film

Guillermo del Toro, El laberinto del fauno
Pedro Almodóvar, Volver
Sebastián Leilo, Una mujer fantástica

Extra resources

Check the History, HSPS, Philosophy, and Linguistics sections (above).

Music

Books

Cook, Music: A Very Short Introduction
Harper-Scott and Samson, An Introduction to Music Studies

Journals and articles

Open Music Library

Websites

Video

Podcasts

Radio 3 - Composer of the Week

Extra resources

Check the History section (above).

Natural Sciences

Books

Cambridge Natural Sciences reading list

Biological Sciences

Dawkins, The Selfish Gene
Margulis, What is Life?
Mukherjee, The Gene
Mukherjee, Emperor of All Maladies
Mukherjee, The Song of the Cell
Reich, Who We Are, and How We Got Here
Ridley, Nature via Nurture
Sapolsky, Behave
Schilthuizen, Darwin Comes to Town

Physical Sciences

Hawking, A Brief History of Time
Mann and Crease, The Second Creation
Orzel, How to Teach Quantum Physics to your Dog
Povey, Professor Povey’s Perplexing Problems
Warner, A Cavendish Quantum Mechanics Primer
The Feynman Lectures on Physics

Journals and articles

All Sciences

New Scientist, Science news and science articles (requires a subscription)
Nature Journal
Young Scientists Journal
Scientific American: Science News, Articles, and Information

Biological Sciences

Educational Magazines - Biological Sciences Review (requires a subscription)
The Scientist Magazine - Life Sciences News and Articles

Physical Sciences

Websites

All Sciences

Biological Sciences

Physical Sciences

Videos

All Sciences

Biological Sciences

iBiology

Physical Sciences

Podcasts

All Sciences

Biological Sciences

Department of Biology, Oxford

Physical Sciences

Competitions

All Sciences

Biological Sciences

British Biology Olympiad

Physical Sciences

Activities

All Sciences

Biological Sciences

Extra resources

Check the Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine sections (above).

Philosophy

Books

Annas, Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
Beaney, Analytic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
Blackburn, Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy
Critchley, Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy
Mill, On Liberty
Plato, Meno
Russell, The Problems of Philosophy

Websites

Video

David Chalmers (Philosophy of Mind)
Daniel Dennett (Philosophy of Mind)
Jaegwon Kim (Philosophy of Mind)
Noam Chomsky (Philosophy of Language)
Peter Singer (Ethics)
Philippa Foot (Ethics)

Podcasts

Extra resources

Check the Classics, History, and Maths sections (above).

Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (PBS)

Books

Blakemore, Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain
Eysenck and Keane, Cognitive Psychology: A Student’s Handbook
Damasio, Self comes to mind: constructing the conscious brain
Hogg and Vaughan, Essentials of Social Psychology
Hrdy, Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding
Johnson and de Haan, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: An Introduction
Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow
LeDoux, Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are
Pinker, How the Mind Works
Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Schaffer, Key Concepts in Developmental Psychology
Ward, A Student’s Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience