Does Oxford still use the PAT?

No. The last PAT was sat in October 2025, for 2026 entry, and there is no sitting left to register for. Physics, Engineering Science and Physics and Philosophy applicants sit the ESAT from 2027 entry onwards.

Does Materials Science at Oxford still need an admissions test?

No. Materials Science used the PAT and did not move across to the ESAT, so it now requires no admissions test. Requirements are set course by course, so check the course page before you plan around it.

Is the ESAT easier than the PAT?

The content sits at a similar level, so the difference is in how it is sat. The ESAT is broken into short timed modules and gives you no calculator, both of which reward arithmetic fluency and pace rather than stamina over a long paper. Candidates who found two hours the hard part tend to prefer it, and candidates who leaned on the calculator tend not to.

Can I use PAT past papers to prepare for the ESAT?

Yes. Start with the 2024 and 2025 papers, which are multiple choice like the ESAT, and sit them in forty-minute blocks without a calculator. The older written papers are worth doing as physics and as interview practice, but not as timed preparation.

Why did Oxford drop the PAT?

Oxford moved its admissions testing onto the shared UAT-UK system run with Pearson VUE, which also absorbed the Maths Admissions Test and the Thinking Skills Assessment. For candidates the practical effect is that Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial now use the same test, so one preparation covers all three.

Which Oxford courses need the ESAT?

Physics, Engineering Science, Physics and Philosophy. All of them used the PAT until 2026 entry.

When do Oxford applicants sit the ESAT?

In the October window, which for 2027 entry runs from 12 to 16 October 2026. Oxford applicants sit in October rather than January, since a January score would arrive after decisions have been made.

ESAT vs PAT: what changed at Oxford

Oxford retired the Physics Aptitude Test after the October 2025 sitting. Physics, Engineering Science and Physics and Philosophy applicants for 2027 entry sit the ESAT instead, and Materials Science no longer requires a test at all.

Who this affects

Oxford applicants to Physics, Engineering Science, Physics and Philosophy, applying from 2027 entry onwards. If you applied for 2026 entry or earlier, you sat the PAT and this page does not concern you.

What actually changed

The last PAT was sat in October 2025, by people applying for 2026 entry. Anyone applying in autumn 2026 to start in 2027 sits the ESAT, and there is no PAT sitting left to register for. Materials Science, which also used the PAT, has dropped its admissions test entirely rather than moving across.

If you had already started preparing, this is a smaller change than it sounds. The PAT had itself moved to a fully multiple-choice, computer-based paper in 2024, so the ESAT is not the first version of this test where nobody reads your working. Two things are genuinely different. The PAT was two hours of physics and maths mixed together and you decided as you went where the time went, whereas the ESAT splits the same ground into separate forty-minute modules, so time saved on maths cannot be spent on physics. And the PAT provided an on-screen calculator, while the ESAT provides none, which changes what arithmetic you need to be fluent in rather than what physics you need to know.

One consequence is worth knowing if you are applying widely. Cambridge and Imperial already used the ESAT, so preparation aimed at Oxford now counts at all three instead of only at Oxford.

The PAT and the ESAT, side by side

	PAT (until 2026 entry)	ESAT (from 2027 entry)
Papers	One paper	Two or three modules, depending on your course
Time	2 hours	40 minutes per module
Questions	40 multiple choice	27 multiple choice per module
Marks	Out of 100	Each module scored from 1.0 to 9.0
Calculator	An on-screen calculator was provided	None, on any module
Content	Physics and maths mixed together through one paper	Split into Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics, each timed separately
Wrong answers	Not penalised	Not penalised
Set by	Oxford	UAT-UK / Pearson VUE, and also used by Cambridge, Imperial and UCL

What PAT preparation is still worth doing

PAT past papers are still the closest thing to ESAT physics practice that exists, and the 2024 and 2025 papers most of all, since those are the multiple-choice ones. Two adjustments make them behave like the test you will actually sit: work them in forty-minute blocks rather than as one two-hour paper, and do them without a calculator. The second is where most people find they are slower than they thought.

The older PAT papers, the ones with long written answers, do not carry over as format practice. They are good physics and they are worth doing before an interview, where you will be asked to think out loud in exactly that way, but they train you to spend ten minutes on a problem the ESAT expects in about ninety seconds.

The balance of the test has also shifted. Oxford asks for Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics, so two of your three modules are maths, a larger share than the PAT gave it. If your preparation so far has been physics-led, that is the part of the plan to change first.

Where to start now

The two things worth settling early are what the ESAT asks of you and when you have to sit it. What the ESAT looks like covers the format question by question, and the key dates cover registration, which closes well before the test and is the deadline people actually miss. The Oxford page sets out the requirement course by course.

Past ESAT papers are on this site and can be sat to the real clock, with a worked solution for every question afterwards.

Start on the ESAT itself

Every past paper here can be sat to the real clock, with a full worked solution for each question afterwards.

ESAT past papers What is on the ESAT syllabus

ESAT and PAT: frequently asked questions

Does Oxford still use the PAT?: No. The last PAT was sat in October 2025, for 2026 entry, and there is no sitting left to register for. Physics, Engineering Science and Physics and Philosophy applicants sit the ESAT from 2027 entry onwards.
Does Materials Science at Oxford still need an admissions test?: No. Materials Science used the PAT and did not move across to the ESAT, so it now requires no admissions test. Requirements are set course by course, so check the course page before you plan around it.
Is the ESAT easier than the PAT?: The content sits at a similar level, so the difference is in how it is sat. The ESAT is broken into short timed modules and gives you no calculator, both of which reward arithmetic fluency and pace rather than stamina over a long paper. Candidates who found two hours the hard part tend to prefer it, and candidates who leaned on the calculator tend not to.
Can I use PAT past papers to prepare for the ESAT?: Yes. Start with the 2024 and 2025 papers, which are multiple choice like the ESAT, and sit them in forty-minute blocks without a calculator. The older written papers are worth doing as physics and as interview practice, but not as timed preparation.
Why did Oxford drop the PAT?: Oxford moved its admissions testing onto the shared UAT-UK system run with Pearson VUE, which also absorbed the Maths Admissions Test and the Thinking Skills Assessment. For candidates the practical effect is that Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial now use the same test, so one preparation covers all three.
Which Oxford courses need the ESAT?: Physics, Engineering Science, Physics and Philosophy. All of them used the PAT until 2026 entry.
When do Oxford applicants sit the ESAT?: In the October window, which for 2027 entry runs from 12 to 16 October 2026. Oxford applicants sit in October rather than January, since a January score would arrive after decisions have been made.

Oxford publishes the current requirement on its own admissions test page.