Admissions Tests · Stage two
TMUA, ESAT, UCAT and STEP preparation
Oxford and Cambridge now use the same October tests, the TMUA and ESAT, and medicine uses the UCAT. Ten hours one-to-one online with a tutor who sat the same kind of paper, every past paper marked and every mistake talked through. £800 for the package, or from £90 an hour.
The facts
- TMUA
- Two papers of 20 questions, 75 minutes each, no calculator. Maths, computer science and economics.
- ESAT
- Three 40-minute modules of 27 questions, Maths 1 plus two others. Physics, engineering and the sciences.
- UCAT
- Verbal, decision and quantitative reasoning out of 2,700, plus situational judgement. Medicine. Sat by 24 September, and you get your score the same day.
- STEP
- Papers 2 and 3 in June, three hours each. Cambridge Maths offers usually want a grade 1 in both.
Which test, and who books it
The test goes by course. Maths, computer science and economics sit the TMUA. Physics, engineering, natural sciences, biomedical and veterinary sciences sit the ESAT. Oxford's PPE, economics and management, psychology and human sciences sit TARA, which we can advise on but don't teach. Medicine sits the UCAT. One October sitting covers every university that uses them.
Your child books it themselves at UAT-UK, at a Pearson test centre, and booking closes at 6pm on 28 September with no exceptions. If you're in China, Hong Kong or Macau the test is on 12 or 13 October. Results come out on 16 November, after the UCAS deadline, so the application can't wait for the score.
What we do with the ten hours
We start with a timed paper, because the first score is the honest one. On the TMUA, the second paper is the part school doesn't teach, logic and spotting the flaw in a proof, and it's where the marks are. The ESAT is really a speed test, 27 questions in 40 minutes with no calculator, so we drill the arithmetic until 90 seconds a question feels slow.
On the UCAT the enemy is the clock: 44 verbal reasoning questions in 22 minutes. Worth knowing that Cambridge ignores the situational judgement band this year, and Oxford weighs the cognitive score equally with your GCSEs. STEP is six questions from twelve in three hours, and a grade 1 usually means four complete solutions, so picking the right questions matters as much as solving them.
Which test, and who books it
The test goes by course. Maths, computer science and economics sit the TMUA. Physics, engineering, natural sciences, biomedical and veterinary sciences sit the ESAT. Oxford's PPE, economics and management, psychology and human sciences sit TARA, which we can advise on but don't teach. Medicine sits the UCAT. One October sitting covers every university that uses them.
Your child books it themselves at UAT-UK, at a Pearson test centre, and booking closes at 6pm on 28 September with no exceptions. If you're in China, Hong Kong or Macau the test is on 12 or 13 October. Results come out on 16 November, after the UCAS deadline, so the application can't wait for the score.
What we do with the ten hours
We start with a timed paper, because the first score is the honest one. On the TMUA, the second paper is the part school doesn't teach, logic and spotting the flaw in a proof, and it's where the marks are. The ESAT is really a speed test, 27 questions in 40 minutes with no calculator, so we drill the arithmetic until 90 seconds a question feels slow.
On the UCAT the enemy is the clock: 44 verbal reasoning questions in 22 minutes. Worth knowing that Cambridge ignores the situational judgement band this year, and Oxford weighs the cognitive score equally with your GCSEs. STEP is six questions from twelve in three hours, and a grade 1 usually means four complete solutions, so picking the right questions matters as much as solving them.
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Questions
- What score do we need?
- Neither university publishes a cut-off, and scores run from 1 to 9. What we do know is that Oxford shortlists about 10,000 of 23,000 applicants mostly on the test, so it matters more than anything else on paper. We set a target from your first timed paper, and if the gap looks too wide we'll say so.
- Does the PAT still exist?
- No. The PAT, the MAT and the rest of Oxford's tests were dropped in 2026. Oxford Physics and Engineering applicants now sit the ESAT with Maths 1, Maths 2 and Physics, the same as Cambridge Engineering. The old PAT papers are still good practice, and we use them.
- Are there past papers?
- TMUA papers go back to 2016. The ESAT only started in 2024, so we add the old NSAA, ENGAA and PAT papers, which test the same things. UCAT publishes official practice tests. STEP papers go back decades, and Cambridge's free course at step.maths.org is genuinely good.
- When should we start?
- UCAT in the spring of Year 12, so it can be sat in July. TMUA and ESAT over the summer, then one timed paper a week into October. STEP after the interviews, January to June. Ten hours over eight weeks beats ten hours in a fortnight every time.
- Can we do the January sitting instead?
- Not for Oxford or Cambridge. They need the October one. The January sitting, 4 to 8 January, is for universities with a January deadline. Miss the October booking and the Oxbridge application is over for the year, which is why we check.
What score do we need?
Neither university publishes a cut-off, and scores run from 1 to 9. What we do know is that Oxford shortlists about 10,000 of 23,000 applicants mostly on the test, so it matters more than anything else on paper. We set a target from your first timed paper, and if the gap looks too wide we'll say so.
Does the PAT still exist?
No. The PAT, the MAT and the rest of Oxford's tests were dropped in 2026. Oxford Physics and Engineering applicants now sit the ESAT with Maths 1, Maths 2 and Physics, the same as Cambridge Engineering. The old PAT papers are still good practice, and we use them.
Are there past papers?
TMUA papers go back to 2016. The ESAT only started in 2024, so we add the old NSAA, ENGAA and PAT papers, which test the same things. UCAT publishes official practice tests. STEP papers go back decades, and Cambridge's free course at step.maths.org is genuinely good.
When should we start?
UCAT in the spring of Year 12, so it can be sat in July. TMUA and ESAT over the summer, then one timed paper a week into October. STEP after the interviews, January to June. Ten hours over eight weeks beats ten hours in a fortnight every time.
Can we do the January sitting instead?
Not for Oxford or Cambridge. They need the October one. The January sitting, 4 to 8 January, is for universities with a January deadline. Miss the October booking and the Oxbridge application is over for the year, which is why we check.
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