Pre-CAS Interview Practice / Readiness Check
Pre-CAS Interview Readiness Check
Ten questions. A score out of 100. And the three things to fix before your credibility interview, in the order they matter. Free, no signup, and it will never tell you whether you are going to pass.
0 of 10 answered
No signup, and no account.
Answer all 10 questions to see your score.
How the score works
Every question is worth 0, 5 or 10 points, so the most you can score is 100. The scoring is fixed and the same for everyone — no AI decides your number. Where you land puts you in one of three bands.
0–40
Not ready yet
There are real gaps here — the good news is that they are all fixable, and you have found them before your interview did.
45–70
Nearly there
You know your material — what is missing is the practice of saying it out loud, under pressure, without hesitating.
75–100
Close — keep drilling
You are well prepared on paper, and the work left is keeping it sharp out loud.
There is no fourth band that says you will pass, because no honest tool can tell you that. What this gives you is a picture of how prepared you are right now, and what to do next.
What it checks
These are the ten areas a pre-CAS interviewer probes, and the ten this check scores you on.
1. Course knowledge
Can you name two modules from your course?
2. Your first-year fee
Do you know your exact first-year tuition fee?
3. Your living-cost figure
Do you know your monthly living-cost figure?
4. Funding and paperwork
Who is paying for your studies, and do you have the documents?
5. The 28-day bank rule
Has the money been in the account for 28 consecutive days or more?
6. Explaining study gaps
If you have study gaps, can you explain each one in two sentences?
7. Why the UK
Why the UK, rather than studying at home?
8. Your plan after graduating
What is your plan after you graduate?
9. Rehearsing out loud
Have you actually said any of these answers OUT LOUD?
10. Interview timing
How close is your interview?
FAQs
What is a pre-CAS interview?
A short credibility interview a UK university runs before it issues your CAS. It checks that you are a genuine student: that you know your course, know what it costs, know who is paying, and can explain your plans. It is separate from the UKVI credibility interview, though the questions overlap heavily.
Does this check tell me whether I will pass?
No, and it never will. Nobody can tell you that, and any tool that claims to is guessing. This gives you a preparation score out of 100 and shows you which areas you are weakest on, so you know what to work on. The decision is the university’s and UKVI’s alone.
How is the score worked out?
Each of the 10 questions is worth 0, 5 or 10 points depending on which answer you pick, for a maximum of 100. The scoring is fixed and identical for everyone — no AI decides your score. The written verdict is the only part an AI writes, and it is written from your answers and your calculated score.
Do I need to sign up? What happens to my answers?
No signup, no account, and we never ask who you are. Your score is worked out in your own browser. Your answers are then sent to our server so an AI can write the short verdict, and that generated verdict is cached for 24 hours so identical answers do not cost a second run — it is not linked to you, because we have nothing to link it to. We also keep a salted, one-way hash of your IP address purely to apply a daily usage limit; the address itself is never stored.
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Merra is an independent interview and visa-preparation practice platform and is not affiliated with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), the Home Office, GOV.UK, or any university. This readiness check is a self-assessment of how prepared you feel, not an assessment of your application. It is general interview-practice information, not legal or immigration advice; Merra does not review your application and does not predict whether it will be approved.