Oxford and Cambridge admissions tests, course by course

What changed, and is the MAT still used?

No. Oxford’s mathematics department says the MAT was used from 2007 to 2025 and was last sat on 22 and 23 October 2025, and the last PAT was held on the same dates. From 2027 entry, for tests sat in October 2026, Oxford uses the TMUA, the ESAT and the TARA instead, and English, Modern Languages, Classics and History at Oxford have no written admissions test at all, assessing applicants through written work and at interview.

Cambridge moved earlier, using the ESAT and TMUA from the October 2024 sitting, for 2025 entry. The BMAT, which some medical schools used, is no longer used either; Oxford and Cambridge medicine now ask for the UCAT.

Old MAT and PAT papers are still good practice for the maths and physics in the new tests, and they are linked with the TMUA, ESAT and LNAT papers on cookie’s admissions test past papers page.

Which course needs which test?

The table below is taken from the UAT-UK course list for 2027 entry and the universities’ own pages. Cambridge’s other courses, including Classics, English, History and Philosophy, use assessments that the college sets at interview, with nothing to register for in advance. Always check the course page itself, because the list can change from one year to the next.

How do the TMUA, ESAT and TARA work?

All three are run by UAT-UK and taken on a computer at Pearson VUE test centres. There are two sittings, 12 to 16 October 2026 and 4 to 8 January 2027, but Oxford and Cambridge applicants have to sit in October, with a few exceptions. You can sit each test only once in an admissions cycle, booking closes two weeks before the sitting, and the results go to your UCAS choices.

The TMUA is two papers of 20 multiple-choice questions, 75 minutes each, with no calculator. The ESAT is made up of 40-minute modules: Maths 1 for everybody, then usually two of Maths 2, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, depending on the course, again with no calculator. The TARA has three modules, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and a Writing Task in which you write one essay from a choice of three.

What about the LNAT, the UCAT and STEP?

The LNAT is for law. It does not test knowledge of law: it is a reading and reasoning test with an essay. Oxford and Cambridge applicants have to register and book by 15 September and sit it by 15 October 2026. The UCAT is for medicine and is sat in the summer before applying, between 13 July and 24 September 2026 for 2027 entry.

STEP is different: it is not sat before interview but is part of the offer. Cambridge uses STEP 2 and STEP 3 in almost all its conditional offers for Mathematics, and they are sat in June of Year 13; OCR, which runs STEP, names Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial as universities that use it. Cambridge mathematics applicants also sit the TMUA in October.