The mysterious nature of the Oxford University application interview was revealed with the release of some of the more outlandish questions put to this year's applicants.
Interviewers routinely asked questions such as: "Is Taggart an accurate portrayal of Glasgow?", "Compare these bottles of Tesco and Timotei shampoo" and "Why are you such a bigoted right-wing ideologue?" to test applicants' mental agility and capacity to think laterally.
Arcane as the questions may seem, admissions tutors said they were the best way to test candidates' capacity to reason, and more effective than asking applicants to recite facts they had learned.
Dr Emma Smith, an admissions tutor at Hertford College, said: "All the questions interviewers ask are an attempt to get beyond what candidates may have prepared or studied in advance.
"We want them to pick up the ball and run with it.
"We don't want them to cram up with lots of knowledge, it's not Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? We want to know how they think."
The sample of questions was compiled by Oxbridge Applications, a company set up by Oxford graduates which prepares school leavers for the interviews.
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