If the initial examination of graduate students is a professional knowledge examination within the prescribed scope, then the interview is a comprehensive test of candidates' comprehensive professional quality, communication and expression ability and oral English level. Although the interview process is very short, each person only has 20 minutes to half an hour, but the contents and forms of the interview are varied. It is not easy to answer the teacher's questions in Chinese and English in such a short time, and at the same time show your professional level and ability to win the teacher's affirmation.

Be prepared for professional knowledge

In the interview, the professional questions asked by the teacher are nothing more than four categories:

(1) Basic professional knowledge. The preparation of this kind of knowledge is relatively easy. As long as teachers are fully and comprehensively prepared for the key points in their usual lectures, the contents that they are particularly interested in and the contents that they think have room for development, they will lay a certain foundation for the second interview. Firmly grasp the knowledge within the scope of the initial examination, and you will pass the interview smoothly.

(2) Frontier issues and controversial issues in the current professional field. This kind of knowledge should be accumulated in peacetime: I dabble in some authoritative journals in related professional fields and have a deep understanding of the academic opinions, papers and monographs of the tutors I apply for. Some of these problems may be due to the limited professional level of candidates, even after reading the papers in this field, they can't figure it out. This requires you to seize the opportunity to ask more questions to the teacher or communicate with the teacher by email. The teacher's reply to the candidates is long or short, but in any case, many times the teacher's words can play a guiding role. You know, in liberal arts, many questions are mutually inspiring. Maybe when you think about this problem, you are inspired to solve another problem. When you have a certain understanding of many problems and can understand them, then you can answer the teachers' various questions. The preparation of this knowledge is the focus of the interview, because mastering the frontier problems of this major is the basic quality that a master student of this major should have. If you can do well in this respect, the teacher will definitely have a good impression on you.

(3) graduation thesis. During the interview, the teacher will also ask some questions about the graduation thesis, because it is a summary of four years of professional study in the university, which reflects the research ability of the candidates to some extent. Therefore, before the interview, we must grasp the content of the graduation thesis. When the teacher asks, it will not be unclear.

(4) professional works. In the interview, candidates will often encounter such a question: Please introduce a professional book you have read, which is almost a necessary question in the interview of liberal arts majors. This problem can be completely solved in the usual review. Reading related professional works can not only make you enjoy reading in boring review, but also enlighten yourself with the wisdom of scholars. In the process of reading, we should write down reading notes, write down our experiences, and at the same time, we should actively think about summing up. You might as well write a complete reading report after the initial test, which will help you clear your mind and have a deeper understanding of the book. You can describe it in an orderly way during the interview, reflecting your professional quality.

Get ready for oral English

In the interview, the examination of English is also a very important link. The oral test can be roughly divided into two types: one is to take the oral test alone, just like the IELTS oral test, but the difference is that the content is more professional; The other is that oral English is not examined separately in the interview, and one or two English questions are often interspersed among many Chinese questions. In contrast, the latter is more difficult, because the questions are random, which may be academic or life-related, and you need to respond quickly.

To prepare for an English interview, you'd better write a self-statement, just like introducing yourself in Chinese, and try to write it in detail, including all aspects of your life and study, and then translate it into English and recite it fluently. Many teachers' questions can be answered by sentences.

Here, candidates who have taken the IELTS speaking test have an advantage, because part of the IELTS review can be used directly, and students who have not taken this kind of test can also be used as a reference. In addition, many candidates have prepared a large number of obscure professional vocabulary to prepare for the exam, which is actually unnecessary. In the interview, the examination of professional English needs to be based on certain professional vocabulary, but it is definitely not a simple vocabulary memory, so it is enough for candidates to master a certain amount of commonly used professional vocabulary. It is important to use these vocabulary to accurately express their thoughts and discuss problems. To do this, candidates need to accumulate more common phrases and sentence patterns in their daily life. When preparing the initial English composition, they can recite more model essays and remember common expressions, which is of great benefit to improve their oral English.

Pay attention to communication skills in the interview.

Preparing for the interview should start with the initial test. Although the preparation of the interview and the review of the preliminary test are interspersed, the first stage of review should focus on the content of the preliminary test. If you feel that you can't review both aspects, you'd better give up the preparation of the interview content and prepare for the initial test first. After all, the first test is the first. If the initial test fails, the interview will be impossible.

In addition, communication skills are also very important in the interview. First of all, be polite when interviewing, smile and say hello when meeting the teacher, and pay tribute to the teacher after the interview. Secondly, speak calmly and confidently during the interview, but don't appear careless; Be calm, but don't die. When communicating with teachers, we must accurately express our views, especially the bright spots of independent thinking, and fully demonstrate our good professional quality.

When answering the teacher's questions, try to use professional words and quotations, and when appropriate, you may wish to directly quote the original words in professional works to answer questions. Many times, the teacher's question may be too abstract, and the candidate can't give a complete and clear answer for a while, so you can give a small example, explain the question with a small point of view, and leave yourself time to think about how to answer it.

When you don't hear the question clearly, you might as well ask it again. Don't pretend to understand, answer irrelevant questions, just kidding. (Gao Fengqing, Shaanxi Normal University)

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