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Subject admissions tests

UCAT, LNAT, MAT and friends

Subject admissions tests

Extra tests that specific courses make you sit — medicine, law, maths, engineering. They have their own registration deadlines, months before the application, and missing one simply ends that application.

When
Summer and autumn of Grade 12, before the application deadline
Where it counts
Mostly UK, with equivalents in Australia, Ireland and Singapore; a few are used worldwide

How it works

These are course-specific rather than universal. A course either requires one or it does not, and the requirement is published on the course page. There is no general rule and no way to guess: two medical schools in the same city can want different things, and the same university can require a test for maths and nothing for physics.

Almost all of them are registered for and sat in the summer or autumn of Grade 12 — before the UCAS deadline, not after — and the registration deadline is typically weeks before the test itself. The most common failure here is administrative rather than academic: a student who would have scored well but registered too late.

They test aptitude and speed rather than syllabus. That makes them coachable in the same limited way the SAT is coachable: practice under time pressure moves scores, and there is a ceiling on how much.

How it is graded

Every test scores differently and none of them convert into each other. What matters is the score distribution in the year you sit it and how the specific university uses it — some rank on it, some use a threshold, some weight it against your grades, and a few use it only to decide interviews.

When to sit it

UCAT is sat over the summer before the application. The Oxford and Cambridge tests and most others fall in October, with registration closing weeks earlier — often at the same time as the mid-October Oxbridge and medicine application deadline. Put the registration date in a calendar in Grade 11.

What it is good for

  • UK medicine, dentistry, law, mathematics, computer science and engineering at the universities that require them.
  • Nothing at all if your courses do not require them — this is the one section on the site that many students can correctly skip entirely.

When it happens

Months rather than dates — the exact dates are republished every year, and the official calendar is linked below.

  1. July to SeptemberUCAT testing window, sat at a test centre.Booking opens in June and closes in mid-September — weeks before you sit it, and before the October UCAS deadline.
  2. September to JanuaryLNAT testing window for most law courses.Oxford law applicants must sit the LNAT by a date in October; other universities allow until January.
  3. OctoberMost Oxford and Cambridge subject tests — TMUA, ESAT, PAT, TSA.Registration closes in late September or early October, generally before the 15 October application deadline.
  4. JuneSTEP, sat alongside A-Levels as a condition of a Cambridge or Warwick offer rather than for shortlisting.

Medicine and dentistry

  • UCAT

    closes doors without it

    OpensMedicine · Dentistry — at most UK universities and in Australia and New Zealand

    Verbal reasoning, decision making, quantitative reasoning and situational judgement, sat at a test centre over the summer. Speed is the entire difficulty. Most UK medical schools now use it, and several rank applicants on it directly — which means it can matter as much as your grades.

    On this siteGeneral PractitionerGeneral SurgeonDentistEmergency PhysicianPsychiatristRadiologistAnesthesiologist

  • GAMSAT

    OpensGraduate-entry medicine in the UK, Ireland and Australia

    For applicants who already have a degree. Not something to think about at seventeen, but worth knowing exists — graduate entry is a real second route into medicine.

    On this siteGeneral PractitionerPsychiatrist

Law

  • LNAT

    closes doors without it

    OpensLaw at Oxford, UCL, LSE, KCL, Bristol, Durham, Glasgow, Nottingham and SOAS

    Multiple-choice comprehension and reasoning plus an essay. It tests argument, not legal knowledge — there is nothing to revise and a great deal to practise. Only some law courses require it, so check each one.

    On this siteLitigatorCorporate Lawyer

  • LSAT

    OpensUS and Canadian law school — a graduate degree there, not an undergraduate one

    Relevant only after a first degree, because law in the US is postgraduate. Included so the map is complete, not because you should be preparing for it.

    On this siteLitigatorCorporate Lawyer

Mathematics, computing and engineering

  • TMUA

    closes doors without it

    OpensMathematics and Computer Science at Oxford · Mathematics · Computer science · Economics at Cambridge, Imperial, Warwick, LSE, Durham and others

    Mathematical reasoning rather than new content. Now carries Oxford's mathematics and computer science admissions as well, having replaced the MAT from 2026 entry, and is required or advantageous at a growing list of other universities — where a strong score can earn a reduced grade offer.

    On this siteQuantitative AnalystSoftware EngineerEconomistActuary

  • MAT (retired from 2026 entry)

    OpensNothing current — Oxford Mathematics and Computer Science applicants now sit the TMUA instead

    Oxford has retired the MAT: from 2026 entry, every Mathematics and Computer Science applicant, including joint courses, sits the TMUA. Two decades of MAT past papers remain published, and they are still the best preparation material in existence for this kind of mathematics — so the test is gone and the papers are not. Listed here because prep books and school advice have not caught up.

  • PAT

    OpensPhysics · Engineering · Materials science at Oxford

    Physics and maths combined, at roughly A-Level content but asked in unfamiliar ways.

    On this sitePhysicistAerospace EngineerMechanical EngineerElectrical Engineer

  • ESAT

    OpensEngineering · Natural sciences · Chemical engineering at Cambridge and Imperial

    The Engineering and Science Admissions Test, which replaced the older NSAA and ENGAA. Modular: you sit the sections your course requires.

    On this siteChemical EngineerAerospace EngineerCivil EngineerBiomedical Engineer

  • STEP

    OpensMathematics at Cambridge, Warwick and Imperial — usually as an offer condition

    Not a shortlisting test but a condition of the offer, sat in June alongside A-Levels. Genuinely difficult, and preparation for it needs to start well before the exam year.

    On this siteQuantitative AnalystPhysicistActuary

Everything else worth knowing about

  • TSA

    OpensPPE · Economics and Management · Experimental Psychology and related courses at Oxford

    Thinking Skills Assessment: problem solving, critical thinking and a short essay. Which courses use it has changed in recent years — check the current course page.

    On this siteEconomistPolicy AnalystManagement Consultant

  • Portfolio and interview (architecture, art, design)

    closes doors without it

    OpensArchitecture · Fine art · Product and graphic design · Fashion

    Not a test, and the same kind of gate. Architecture and art schools decide substantially on a portfolio, which takes a year or more to build and cannot be assembled in the month before applying.

    On this siteArchitectUX Designer

  • GRE and GMAT

    OpensPostgraduate study — master's and doctoral programmes, mostly in the US

    Years away, and included so you know the shape of the road. Nothing you do at sixteen is preparation for these.

    On this siteManagement ConsultantInvestment BankerData Scientist

Choosing well

The parts a student can act on this month.

  • Make a list of the exact courses you intend to apply to, then read each one's admissions test requirement. That list, made in the spring of Grade 11, is the whole of this section's work.
  • Put every registration deadline in a calendar with a two-week warning. Registration closes long before the test, and for UCAT and the October tests it closes around the same time as the application itself.
  • Practise under time, with the official past papers. Every one of these tests publishes real material, and it is better than anything sold alongside it.
  • For UCAT specifically, start in the spring and sit it early in the summer window. Booking a late slot means no room to reconsider your university list if the score disappoints — and the score genuinely should shape which medical schools you apply to.
  • If none of your courses require a test, do not sit one. There is no test here that improves an application that did not ask for it.

What costs people a year

  • The deadlines are the hazard, not the difficulty. A missed registration cannot be appealed and ends that application for the year.
  • Medical schools use UCAT very differently — some rank on it, some set a threshold, some weight it lightly. Applying to four medical schools that all rank heavily on UCAT with a middling score is a common and avoidable way to receive four rejections.
  • Test requirements change between admissions cycles: BMAT was withdrawn, ESAT replaced two earlier tests, and which Cambridge and Oxford courses use which assessment has moved more than once. Anything you read that is more than a year old, including this page, needs confirming against the course page.
  • Sitting a test the course does not require is wasted time, and there is no bank of credit for having taken one.

In Saudi Arabia

All of these are sat at test centres in the Kingdom or, increasingly, remotely — UCAT and LNAT both have centres in Saudi Arabia, and places do fill. They matter to Saudi students applying to UK medicine, dentistry and law, including on government scholarship programmes, and to nobody else. Note that admission to medicine at a Saudi public university works completely differently: the composite of secondary GPA, Qudurat and Tahsili decides it, with no admissions test of this kind at all. If you are applying in both directions, you are preparing for two entirely different systems in the same year, and that needs planning from Grade 11.

The parts that go out of date

Everything on this page was read from the awarding body on the date below. These are the statements most likely to have moved since.

  • Oxford retired the MAT and moved to the TMUA from 2026 entry, and the PAT moved under the ESAT arrangements. Both changes are recent enough that older prep books, school advice and even university pages still describe the previous tests.
  • Which courses require which test changes between cycles. This is the fastest-moving information on this site: always confirm against the specific course page for your application year.
  • Score distributions and how each university uses them are published annually and shift.
  • Test formats change — UCAT has been restructured more than once, and ESAT is recent.

What sits alongside it

Almost nobody sits only one of these.

What to prepare with

Official material first, and free unless marked otherwise. Every link here was fetched and confirmed to resolve on the date shown.

  • UCAT official practice testsofficial practice testfree

    Full timed practice tests in the real interface, free. The Consortium states plainly that paid preparation courses are unnecessary and unendorsed — worth reading before anyone sells you one.

    UCAT Consortium · link checked 2026-09-06

  • UCAT test dates and bookingofficial datesfree

    Booking opens in June and closes in September. Missing this ends the medicine application for the year.

    UCAT Consortium · link checked 2026-09-06

  • LNAT — how to prepareofficial practice testfree

    Free preparation guide, reading list and advice from the examiners. The Consortium explicitly does not endorse paid coaching.

    LNAT Consortium · link checked 2026-09-06

  • LNAT practice testofficial practice testfree

    A simulation of the real on-screen test, repeatable as often as you like.

    LNAT Consortium · link checked 2026-09-06

  • MAT past papers, 2007 onwardsofficial past papersfree

    Two decades of past papers with solutions and examiner feedback. Oxford has retired the MAT in favour of the TMUA, and these remain the best preparation material in existence for the kind of mathematics the TMUA asks for.

    University of Oxford, Mathematical Institute · link checked 2026-09-06

  • ESAT and TMUA — official information and practiceofficial practice testfree

    The current home of both tests: specification, practice papers and registration.

    UAT-UK · link checked 2026-09-06

  • PAT past papersofficial past papersfree

    Past papers and examiner reports for the Oxford physics and engineering test.

    University of Oxford, Department of Physics · link checked 2026-09-06

  • STEP Mathematics — past papers and specificationofficial past papersfree

    Every STEP paper with mark schemes and examiner reports. Start a year early; this is not a test you can prepare for in a month.

    OCR · link checked 2026-09-06

  • STEP — Cambridge Mathematics admissions guidanceofficial syllabusfree

    What Cambridge expects and how STEP is used in an offer.

    University of Cambridge · link checked 2026-09-06

  • Admissions tests — which courses require oneofficial datesfree

    The cross-university list. Check it against your own course list in Grade 11, not Grade 12.

    UCAS · link checked 2026-09-06

Nothing here is sold or sponsored, and there is no affiliate link on this site. Where an awarding body publishes its own past papers, those are listed instead of a revision guide — the UCAT and LNAT consortia both state outright that paid coaching is unnecessary and unendorsed, and the same is broadly true of every exam on this page.

Where this came from

Last checked 2026-09-05. Entry requirements are set by individual universities, change every year, and are the one thing on this page you should always confirm on the course page for the year you apply.