A two-phase programme running from Year 12 to the October sitting in Year 13.
What the ESAT is
The Engineering and Science Admissions Test is used by Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and UCL for engineering, physics, natural sciences and veterinary medicine courses. It is a multiple-choice, computer-based test, first offered in October 2024, sat at a Pearson test centre.
Failure to register for a required test may invalidate an application, so the first thing to check is whether your child’s chosen courses need it.
The format
There are five modules. Every candidate sits Mathematics 1. Most take two further modules from Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics 2, depending on the course. Each module is 27 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, and the test runs 120 minutes in total for most candidates.
No calculator or dictionary is permitted. There is no pass or fail. Scores are based on correct answers and nothing is deducted for a wrong one, so every question is worth attempting. Each module is scored from 1 to 9, to one decimal place.
Module choice is fixed at booking and cannot be changed without cancelling and re-booking the test.
Why able students find it hard
UAT-UK are clear that the ESAT focuses on using and applying science and mathematics that candidates are likely to have already learned at school. The difficulty is not additional content. It is applying familiar material to unfamiliar problems, without a calculator, at roughly ninety seconds a question.
UAT-UK also say their tests are designed to separate highly capable applicants, including those who achieved the highest grades at school, and that for many candidates this will be the first test they have taken designed specifically for high ability. They advise that candidates should not expect to score as highly as they do in school examinations.
That is worth reading twice. A student accustomed to full marks will find this uncomfortable, and preparing for it means preparing for that experience as much as for the mathematics.
How I prepare students
UAT-UK recommend reading the test specification and sitting the specimen test under timed conditions. That is where we start, and it is also how we establish a baseline.
Phase one, from January of Year 12. Building fluency in applying the mathematics and physics your child already knows to problems that do not announce their method. Working without a calculator. Estimation, elimination, and recognising the shape of a problem quickly.
Phase two, from September of Year 13. Full timed practice, then targeted work on whichever difficulty dominates — not knowing it, knowing it but working too slowly, or knowing it but misreading the question. Those need different remedies, and treating them as one problem is why a lot of preparation fails.
Module choice is settled early, since it cannot be changed after booking.
Why me
I hold a PhD from University College London in superconducting nanoelectronics and taught physics, mathematics and engineering at university level for over twenty years. A test that rewards applying knowledge to unfamiliar problems is testing the thing I spent that career teaching.
Being straight with you
I am building my UK track record, so I cannot yet show you a list of offers. What I can offer is a free thirty-minute consultation in which your child attempts a question and you watch how I teach it.
I take a small number of ESAT students each cycle.
Practical points
The next sitting runs from 12 to 16 October 2026, which applies to all candidates for 2027 entry. A January sitting exists but is not open to Oxford or Cambridge applicants, apart from mature college and Astrophoria Foundation Year cases.
The test costs £78 in the UK and Republic of Ireland. UAT-UK offer bursaries covering the full cost to eligible UK candidates, and access arrangements for those who need them — but both must be applied for before booking, and cannot be arranged afterwards.
Registration is through a UAT-UK account, with accounts opening from 1 June. Results arrive roughly four weeks after the sitting and are sent automatically to the universities applied to.
Fees
Priced by programme rather than by the hour. Please ask.
Every enquiry begins with a free thirty-minute consultation.