TARA Practice Questions and Past Papers, with Worked Examples

TARA practice material comes from three places: UAT-UK's own specimen and practice tests, its TARA question guide, and the past papers of two former tests whose thinking-skills sections share a history with the TARA. The Test of Academic Reasoning for Admissions has no archive of its own yet, so knowing which older papers match each module, and which parts of them to skip, makes the difference between useful practice and wasted hours. Below are the official resources, original example questions for each module and a plan for using them.

The TARA in brief

The TARA has three compulsory modules of 40 minutes each, taken on computer at a Pearson VUE test centre. Oxford uses it for courses including PPE, Economics and Management, History and Economics, Experimental Psychology and Human Sciences, and UCL uses it for some computer science and engineering courses. The TARA guide lists every course and explains how universities read the results.

Scores for the two multiple-choice modules are based on the number of correct answers, with no marks lost for wrong answers, so every question is worth attempting. Calculators and dictionaries are not allowed.

Official TARA practice tests and past papers

UAT-UK publishes everything below free on its TARA preparation materials page and the Pearson VUE landing page linked from it.

UAT-UK says the Critical Thinking and Problem Solving modules share a common history with the former BMAT Section 1 and the former TSA Section 1, which is why it hosts those archives. The old TSA papers are the better match overall, since the former TSA Section 1 mixed critical thinking and problem solving questions in a similar style. Once the TSA papers are used up, old BMAT Section 1 papers give a further supply of questions of the same kinds.

On Pearson VUE, the practice tests give feedback on each answer without a score. UAT-UK explains that TARA scores depend on how the whole cohort performs, so a raw mark on a practice test cannot be converted into a predicted score.

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Original Critical Thinking questions

The Critical Thinking module tests whether a student can analyse a short argument: find its conclusion, spot what it assumes, judge what would strengthen or weaken it and name its flaws. The three questions below were written for this guide in that style.

Question 1: identifying an assumption

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Towns that introduced free bus travel for under-18s have seen a fall in the number of teenagers learning to drive. Our council should therefore introduce free bus travel, since this will reduce road accidents involving young drivers.
Which of the following is an assumption of the argument?
A. Free bus travel costs less than a road safety campaign.
B. A fall in the number of teenagers learning to drive would lead to fewer accidents involving young drivers.
C. Teenagers prefer travelling by bus to driving.
D. Road accidents have fallen in the towns that introduced free bus travel.
E. Older drivers have fewer accidents than young drivers.

The answer is B. The argument moves from fewer teenagers learning to drive to fewer accidents involving young drivers, and it only works if the first leads to the second. Option D would support the argument if true, and the argument does not depend on it. Options A, C and E are never relied on.

Question 2: identifying a flaw

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Every student who won the school science prize this year had attended the after-school coding club. So the coding club must improve students' performance in science.
Which of the following best describes the flaw in the argument?
A. It assumes that every prize winner studies science.
B. It overlooks the possibility that students who were already strong at science were more likely to join the club.
C. It relies on the judgement of the prize judges.
D. It assumes that the coding club teaches science.
E. It treats the science prize as more important than other prizes.

The answer is B. The argument treats a link between attending the club and winning the prize as proof that the club caused the success, while the link could run the other way, with able science students choosing the club. Option D describes something the argument does not need, since the club could in principle improve science results without teaching science directly.

Question 3: identifying the main conclusion

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Libraries are often called old-fashioned now that so much information is online. Yet many people lack reliable internet access at home, and libraries provide it free. They also offer quiet study space that crowded homes cannot. Cutting library funding would therefore hurt the people with the fewest alternatives. Councils should protect library budgets even when other services are reduced.
Which of the following best expresses the main conclusion?
A. Libraries are not old-fashioned.
B. Many people lack reliable internet access at home.
C. Cutting library funding would hurt the people with the fewest alternatives.
D. Councils should protect library budgets even when other services are reduced.
E. Libraries offer quiet study space.

The answer is D. Option C is an intermediate conclusion: it is drawn from the reasons about internet access and study space, and it then supports the final recommendation in D. A useful check is to ask which statement the others are there to support.

Original Problem Solving questions

The Problem Solving module tests numerical and spatial reasoning with no more than everyday mathematics. Its questions fall into three broad types: selecting the relevant information, finding a method for a new problem, and spotting how two pieces of information relate.

Question 4: selecting the relevant information

"

A cinema charges £9 for an adult ticket and £6 for a child ticket. On Saturdays it also sells a family ticket for £26, which admits two adults and two children. A group of three adults and four children visits on a Saturday. What is the least the group can pay?
A. £45 B. £47 C. £50 D. £51 E. £52

The answer is B. Buying every ticket separately costs 3 × £9 + 4 × £6 = £51. One family ticket covers two adults and two children for £26, leaving one adult and two children at £9 + £12 = £21, so £47 in total. Two family tickets would cost £52 and include a fourth adult place the group does not need, so £47 is the least.

Question 5: finding a method

"

A train leaves at 08:40 and arrives at 11:05. A later train on the same route leaves 25 minutes after the first and takes 20% less time. When does the later train arrive?
A. 10:41 B. 10:56 C. 11:01 D. 11:05 E. 11:21

The answer is C. The first train takes 2 hours 25 minutes, which is 145 minutes, and 20% less is 116 minutes. The later train leaves at 09:05, and 116 minutes after that is 11:01. Option D is the result of assuming the later train is as fast as the first, and option A comes from a time saving taken off the arrival time of the first train.

Question 6: logical deduction

"

Four runners, P, Q, R and S, finished a race with no two finishing together. Q finished ahead of R. S finished immediately behind P. P did not win, and R did not finish last. Who won the race?
A. P B. Q C. R D. S E. It cannot be determined

The answer is B. Since P did not win and S is directly behind P, P and S are either second and third or third and fourth. If they are second and third, Q and R take first and fourth, and because R was not last, R would win, which contradicts Q finishing ahead of R. So P and S are third and fourth, Q and R take first and second, and Q wins.

An original Writing Task prompt and plan

The Writing Task asks for one essay from a choice of three, in 40 minutes and up to 750 words. UAT-UK does not score it, and universities that require the TARA receive the response and decide how to use it, so a clear, well-organised argument matters more than length.

"

Should universities that have more qualified applicants than places choose among them by lottery?

A plan for this question might take five minutes and look like this:

1. Define the terms. A lottery here means a random draw among applicants who all meet a set standard, so the question is about choosing between people already judged able to succeed.
2. The case for. Selection among similar applicants may rest on small differences that reflect schooling and support more than ability, and a lottery would remove the advantage that comes with coaching.
3. The case against. A lottery ignores real differences in motivation and fit for a course, and applicants may feel that years of work count for nothing.
4. The judgement. Take a clear position, for example a lottery for the final share of places after the strongest candidates are offered places, and defend it against the strongest objection.
5. Conclusion. Restate the position in one or two sentences, without new arguments.

Practising with timed prompts, and asking a teacher or tutor to comment on structure and clarity, builds the habit of planning before writing. More TARA-style prompts can be found by adapting the essay questions of other tests to the TARA's 40-minute format, such as the LNAT essay questions.

A TARA practice plan

The plan below assumes about eight weeks before an October sitting and four to six hours a week.

Keeping an error log helps, with each wrong answer noted under its question type, since most students find that their mistakes cluster in two or three types. The TARA dates page covers booking and deadlines.

Related guides

• TARA guide: the Test of Academic Reasoning for Admissions
• University admissions tests in the UK: which test for which course
• ESAT, TMUA and TARA dates
• TSA guide: current position and what replaced it
• LNAT practice tests

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