Which university admissions test does your child sit for 2027 entry?
The most common mistake families make is assuming the admissions test follows the university. It does not — it follows the course. Two students applying to the same Oxford college in the same year can sit two completely different tests, because one is reading Physics and the other is reading History and Politics. Find the course first, then find the test, and only then book preparation.
The map changed substantially for 2027 entry. Oxford has stopped setting its own admissions papers and moved to tests owned and managed by UAT-UK, a collaboration between Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge whose computer-based tests are delivered online by Pearson through its worldwide network of test centres. Oxford's own guidance puts it plainly: “From 2026, Oxford will be using admissions tests owned and managed by UAT-UK, in addition to the existing LNAT and UCAT tests for Law and Medicine courses.” One practical benefit of the change is that an applicant to several universities using the same UAT-UK test only needs to sit that test once.
The six tests in use, and the courses that require them
- UCAT — Medicine and Dentistry. Oxford uses it for Medicine and Graduate-entry Medicine; Cambridge for Medicine (Standard Course A100) and the Graduate Course, and it is required by the majority of UK medical and dental schools. The UCAT sits outside the UAT-UK suite and was not affected by the reorganisation. We also offer dedicated UCAT tutoring and a wider medicine preparation programme.
- LNAT — Law. Oxford requires it for Law (Jurisprudence) and Law with Foundation Year; Cambridge requires it for Law. A number of other UK law schools use it as well, each setting its own deadline, and Oxford's falls significantly earlier than the UCAS deadline. Like the UCAT, the LNAT is unchanged by the UAT-UK move.
- ESAT — engineering and the physical sciences. At Oxford it is required for Engineering Science, Physics, Physics and Philosophy, and Biomedical Sciences. At Cambridge it is required for Engineering, Natural Sciences, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, and Veterinary Medicine. UAT-UK states that Imperial College London, Cambridge, Oxford and UCL all use the ESAT. Note that Biomedical Sciences is an Oxford ESAT course — it is frequently left off third-party lists.
- TMUA — mathematics, computer science and economics. At Oxford it is required for Mathematics, Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Mathematics and Philosophy, Computer Science, and Computer Science and Philosophy. At Cambridge it is required for Mathematics, Computer Science and Economics. UAT-UK says seven universities now use the TMUA for selection to some courses in mathematics, economics or computer science, so check your specific course page rather than assuming.
- TARA — humanities and social sciences. At Oxford it is required for Philosophy, Politics and Economics; Economics and Management; History and Economics; History and Politics; Human Sciences; Psychology (Experimental); and Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics. UAT-UK states that “the TARA is currently used by the University of Oxford and UCL in a range of subject areas”, so it is the one UAT-UK test with a user outside the Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial group.
- STEP — the exception, and the one most often described wrongly. Cambridge's pre-application test for Mathematics is the TMUA, not STEP. STEP is an offer condition rather than a shortlisting test: Cambridge's own Mathematics course page states that you do not need to take STEP before you apply and that you will be asked to sit it as part of your offer conditions, with Colleges usually requiring at least grade 1 in two STEP papers (STEP 2 and STEP 3). Because it is sat in the summer after A-Levels, its preparation window is completely different from every other test on this page — and the students who struggle are usually the ones who only start after the offer arrives.
Which Oxbridge admissions tests have been retired?
If a school timetable, a revision guide or a preparation course is still organising your autumn around one of the tests below, it is working from a cycle that has closed. Oxford's in-house suite has gone as a set.
- MAT — Oxford's Mathematics Admissions Test ran from 2007 to 2025, and the final sitting was on 22 and 23 October 2025. Oxford Maths and Computer Science applicants now sit the TMUA. See what replaced the MAT.
- TSA — Oxford's final Thinking Skills Assessment sitting ran from 21 to 27 October 2025. PPE and the other courses that used it now sit the TARA. See what replaced the TSA.
- PAT — autumn 2025, for 2026 entry, was the final sitting of the Physics Aptitude Test. Oxford Physics, Physics and Philosophy and Engineering Science applicants now sit the ESAT. See what replaced the PAT.
- HAT and ELAT — Oxford's History Aptitude Test and English Literature Admissions Test went with the rest of the in-house suite. Neither appears anywhere on Oxford's current list of courses requiring an admissions test.
- NSAA and ENGAA — Cambridge's Natural Sciences Admissions Assessment and Engineering Admissions Assessment were replaced by the ESAT.
The reasoning these papers measured has not gone anywhere, and a student who has already done serious work on argument analysis or on unfamiliar problem-solving has not wasted it. What has gone is the exam craft built around each paper: the structure, the timing, the mark scheme and the booking calendar are all different now, and those are exactly the things that late preparation tends to concentrate on.
When are the tests, and when does booking close?
The deadlines moved with the tests, and this is where believing an old timetable does the most damage. Applicants for Oxford's undergraduate courses with a 15 October UCAS deadline must book the October sitting; there is no fallback later in the cycle. The dates below are Oxford's published key dates for the October UAT-UK tests — the ESAT, TARA and TMUA.
- Registration opens — 1 June 2026
- Test booking opens — 20 July 2026
- Deadline for requesting access arrangements — 14 September 2026
- Test booking closes — 28 September 2026
- Test dates — 12 to 16 October 2026
- Candidates receive results via their UAT-UK account — 16 November 2026
A second UAT-UK sitting runs from 4 to 8 January 2027, but for a standard Oxford application it effectively does not exist: it is open to Astrophoria Foundation Year applicants, who have a January UCAS deadline, and to Cambridge mature-college applicants. Everyone else has one chance, in October. The UCAT and the LNAT run to their own separate timetables, and Oxford's LNAT deadline is earlier than the UCAS one.
Official sources for the mapping above
Course requirements are reviewed annually. Always confirm on your own course page before you book a test.
Our admissions tests hub carries a full preparation guide for each test, and our Oxbridge admissions preparation and subject-specific Oxbridge coaching pages cover the interview and written-work stages that follow.
What does GCSE and A-Level tuition involve?
Every programme opens with a diagnostic rather than a syllabus sweep. A tutor works through a recent past paper or a set of topic questions with the student, watching not only which answers are wrong but why — a dropped mark caused by a misread command word needs a completely different response from one caused by a genuine gap in understanding. Most students arrive believing they have a knowledge problem when what they actually have is a technique problem, and the two are fixed in different ways.
From there the work is planned around the student's specific exam board, because specifications diverge more than most families expect. Sessions are one-to-one and subject-specialist, they are recorded so the student can revisit an explanation later in the week, and parents receive progress reports rather than having to ask how it is going. Between sessions the student works on a short, targeted task list drawn from the errors that actually appeared in their work, not a generic revision schedule.
Closer to the exams the emphasis shifts from content to performance: timed papers, mark-scheme reading so the student understands what an examiner is instructed to reward, and rehearsal of the question types that have historically cost them marks. The habit we care most about building is the one that survives the exam hall — knowing what to do in the first thirty seconds after reading a question that looks unfamiliar.
How does 11+ and 13+ preparation work?
Entrance preparation is school-specific from the first session, because the papers are. A child sitting a grammar school's reasoning paper, a London day school's own maths and English papers, and a boarding school's pre-test is being asked three different questions about three different skill sets, and a single generic course serves none of them well. We start by fixing the target list, then work backwards from what those particular schools actually set.
The core of the programme is timed practice under conditions that match the real assessment, followed by a detailed review of every error. Younger candidates lose far more marks to pace and to misreading than to difficulty, so a large part of the work is teaching a child to read a question twice, to move on from a stuck item and come back, and to check in the way that catches their own most common mistakes. Reasoning practice is built in steadily rather than crammed, because verbal and non-verbal reasoning improve with spacing and not with volume.
We are also candid about fit. If a target school is a genuine stretch, families are better served hearing that early, while there is still time to build a sensible list, than discovering it in March. We have supported students into Eton, Harrow, Winchester and the leading grammar schools, and the honest version of how that happens involves a realistic list as often as it involves a strong candidate.
Who teaches these programmes?
Every tutor on the roster came through a five-stage selection process, and about three in every hundred applicants complete it. The stages are an application and CV screen; a written subject-knowledge assessment set at the level they would be teaching; a teaching interview in which they are asked to explain a genuinely hard concept to someone playing a confused student; a supervised trial lesson with a real student, assessed on pacing, rapport and explanation quality; and finally an enhanced DBS check with two references taken up independently before any placement.
Our tutors hold degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and other leading universities, but the degree is the entry ticket rather than the qualification — subject knowledge is screened, and then teaching ability is what actually decides the outcome. After joining, tutors are reviewed continuously through lesson recordings, parent feedback and student progress data. Matching is done on learning style, personality and exam board rather than on availability, and if the fit is not right we rematch, no questions asked. You can read the full selection process on our tutors page.
Not sure which test your child needs to sit?
Send us the course and the university and we will confirm the current requirement against the university's own published list before you commit to any preparation. Book a free consultation or message us on WhatsApp.
Admissions tests: frequently asked questions
Is the MAT still running for Oxford Maths?
No. Oxford's Mathematics Admissions Test ran from 2007 to 2025 and its final sitting was on 22 and 23 October 2025. Applicants to Mathematics, Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Mathematics and Philosophy, Computer Science, and Computer Science and Philosophy now sit the TMUA instead. MAT past papers still have real preparation value, because the mathematics being examined overlaps heavily, but the paper structure, the timing and the booking calendar are all different. If you have been sold a MAT course for a 2027-entry application, that is a signal worth acting on.
My child is applying for PPE. Do they still sit the TSA?
No. Oxford's final Thinking Skills Assessment sitting ran from 21 to 27 October 2025, and PPE applicants now sit the TARA — the Test of Academic Reasoning for Admissions. The same change applies to Economics and Management, History and Economics, History and Politics, Human Sciences, Psychology (Experimental), and Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics. TARA places more weight on evaluating real-world arguments than the TSA did, so critical-thinking work transfers well while TSA-specific exam craft does not.
Does my child have to sit the same test twice for two universities?
No. That is one of the genuine benefits of Oxford moving onto the UAT-UK tests. Oxford's guidance confirms that applicants who also apply to other universities using the same UAT-UK test only need to take that test once, and the score is shared with each institution. So a candidate applying to Cambridge Engineering and Oxford Engineering Science sits one ESAT, not two. The UCAT and the LNAT work the same way within their own groups of universities, though each institution still sets its own deadline for when the test must be taken.
Does Cambridge Mathematics still require STEP?
Yes, but not before you apply, and this catches families out every year. Cambridge's pre-application test for Mathematics is the TMUA. STEP appears in the offer conditions instead: Cambridge's own course page states that you will be asked to sit STEP as part of your offer, with Colleges usually requiring at least grade 1 in two STEP papers, STEP 2 and STEP 3. Because STEP is sat in the summer after A-Levels, the preparation window runs alongside final revision — which is why we recommend starting it well before results day rather than after the offer lands.
Which Oxford science courses use the ESAT rather than the TMUA?
Engineering Science, Physics, Physics and Philosophy, and Biomedical Sciences all use the ESAT at Oxford. Biomedical Sciences is the one that is most often missed, because it does not read like an engineering or physics course and is regularly left off third-party summaries. The TMUA covers Oxford's mathematics and computer science courses instead. At Cambridge the ESAT covers Engineering, Natural Sciences, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, and Veterinary Medicine, and UAT-UK confirms that Imperial College London and UCL use it too.
How can Leading Tuition help with admissions test preparation?
We start by confirming which test your child's specific course actually requires, checked against the university's own published list rather than against a summary, because the requirement follows the course and not the institution. From there a specialist tutor works one-to-one on the paper your child will genuinely sit: the question types, the timing, and the reasoning style each test rewards. We also cover the stages that come after the test — interviews, written work and personal statements. Send us the course and the university and we will confirm the current position before you commit to anything.
