ESAT Past Papers: Official Practice Tests and the ENGAA and NSAA Archive

ESAT past papers come in two forms, both free from UAT-UK: computer-based specimen and practice tests for the ESAT itself, run in the Pearson test player, and an archive of Section 1 papers from the ENGAA and NSAA, the Cambridge tests the ESAT replaced. UAT-UK publishes the older papers because their questions are of the type the ESAT sets, and it marks with a cross any question that falls outside the ESAT specification. Used together with the ESAT Guide for each module, they give enough material for several weeks of timed practice in every module.

Where to find official ESAT practice material

Every official resource is linked from UAT-UK's Prepare page, and UAT-UK says candidates need nothing beyond its own materials and Pearson's.

• Specimen and practice tests: on the UAT-UK page on Pearson VUE, in the same test player used at test centres. The specimen tests include explained answers; the practice tests give feedback on each answer but no score.
• ESAT Guide: a module-by-module guide to the mathematics and science the test assumes, for Mathematics 1, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics 2.
• Archive of past papers: the ESAT Preparation Materials page holds ENGAA and NSAA Section 1 question papers with answer keys.
• Specification: the ESAT Content Specification lists every topic in every module. The ESAT specification guide sets it out module by module with worked examples.

Which ESAT past papers are available?

The archive holds one Section 1 paper and one answer key for each of the ENGAA and the NSAA from every year the two former tests ran in their final form. There are no worked-answer booklets for these papers, so the ESAT Guide and the specimen tests' explained answers are where the methods are set out.

That is sixteen papers in all. The Section 2 papers from the old tests are not in the archive, since the ESAT has no equivalent of them.

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How the old papers map to ESAT modules

The ENGAA and NSAA were organised in parts, and each part lines up with one or more ESAT modules. Matching parts to modules lets you practise exactly the modules your courses require.

Two cautions apply. First, the structure of the NSAA changed over the years: some papers had five parts of 18 questions in 80 minutes, others four parts of 20 questions in 60 minutes, so read each paper's front cover before timing it. Second, the archive copies show a cross through the number of any question outside the ESAT specification, and those questions are best skipped or kept for stretch practice.

Which modules should you practise?

Practise the modules your courses require, which you choose when you book and cannot change without cancelling and rebooking. Every candidate sits Mathematics 1, and most sit two further modules.

The UAT-UK course list is the authority on modules for each course. Where one of your courses fixes the modules and another allows a free choice, UAT-UK requires you to sit the fixed ones.

How to time ESAT practice

Each ESAT module has 27 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, which is just under 90 seconds per question, and the test is sat without a calculator. The old papers ran at almost exactly the same pace, so they time well as module practice.

• Old ENGAA papers, Part A or Part B: 20 questions in 30 minutes.
• NSAA past papers, four-part years: 20 questions per part in 30 minutes.
• Five-part years of the old NSAA: 18 questions per part in about 27 minutes.

For a full mock, combine three sets of questions (Mathematics 1 plus your two modules) and sit them back to back in two hours, the length of the ESAT for most candidates. Answer every question, since there is no penalty for a wrong answer.

How to use the papers in order

The order matters because the specimen tests are the only papers written for the ESAT itself, and they are best kept for the final weeks. A sequence that uses everything once:

1. Read the specification and the ESAT Guide for each of your modules, marking topics you have not met at school yet.
2. Do the oldest two years of your matching parts untimed, checking each answer and working out why the wrong options are wrong.
3. Sit the next four years as timed module practice, one module at a time, keeping an error log of knowledge gaps, method errors, slips and timing.
4. Sit the last two years as timed three-module mocks.
5. Finish with the Pearson specimen and practice tests, under test conditions and in the test player.

How to mark ESAT practice and read the result

Mark each part with its answer key and record raw marks per module. Treat these as a guide to accuracy and speed only: UAT-UK reports each live module on a scale from 1 to 9 set by the cohort, with the median at 4.5 and the 90th percentile at 7.0, and it does not convert practice marks to that scale. The ESAT scores and results page explains the scale and how universities use module scores.

Other practice material

Mathematics 2 shares its notes with the TMUA, so the TMUA past papers give further multiple-choice practice at a similar level for students sitting that module. Oxford's former Physics Aptitude Test, which Oxford replaced with the ESAT, also left past papers that suit physics practice; the guide to the former PAT explains what changed.

Related guides

• ESAT guide: modules, scoring and which courses require it
• ESAT, TMUA and TARA dates
• University admissions tests in the UK
• Applying for physics at Cambridge
• Applying for chemistry at Cambridge
• Super-curricular activities for engineering
• Super-curricular activities for science

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