Tests
For a ten step guide of how to apply to Oxford please see www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/apply.
The following table shows which subjects require students to sit a test or tests as part of their application, and where to find details about how to register. Specimen papers are also available to download below.
Archaeology and Anthropology
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this course.
Biochemistry
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this
course.
Biological Sciences
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this
course.
Biomedical Sciences
Test:
All applicants must take the Biomedical Admissions Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register and specimen papers:
www.bmat.org.uk.
Please
note that the standard deadline for registration is 1 October 2012, and
the final deadline for registration is 15 October 2012.
Chemistry
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this
course.
Classical Archaeology and Ancient History
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this
course.
Classics
Tests:
All candidates must take the Classics Admissions
Test on 7 November 2012. This test is in three parts: the Latin test,
the Greek test and the Classics Language Aptitude Test.
Candidates
who are studying Latin or Greek to A-level or equivalent (those
applying for Course I) must take the test(s) in the language(s) you are
studying.
Candidates who are studying neither Latin nor Greek to
A-level or equivalent (those applying for Course II) must take the
Classics Language Aptitude Test.
For information on how to register:
All candidates will need to register to take this test, which will be administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen paper:
Classics Admissions Test (308 kb) ![[pdf]](/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif)
Classics and English
Tests:
Candidates must take the Classics Admissions Test AND the English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT) on 7 November 2012.
For further information, please see the separate entries for Classics and for English.
Classics and Modern Languages
Tests:
Candidates must take the Classics Admissions Test AND the Modern Languages Admissions Tests on 7 November 2012.
For further information, please see the separate entries for Classics and for Modern Languages.
Classics and Oriental Studies (Classics with Oriental Studies - Q8T9)
Test:
All candidates must take the Classics Admissions
Test on 7 November 2012. For details please see the separate entry for Classics.
Classics and Oriental Studies (Oriental Studies with Classics - T9Q8)
Test:
All candidates must take the Oriental Languages Aptitude Test (OLAT) on 7 November 2012. For details please see the separate entry for Oriental Studies.
Computer Science
Test:
All candidates must take the Mathematics Aptitude Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register:
All candidates will need to register to
take this test, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen paper:
Please see the Computer Science website.
Computer Science and Philosophy
Test:
All candidates must take the Mathematics Aptitude Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register:
All candidates will need to register to
take this test, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen paper:
Please see the Computer
Science website.
Earth Sciences (Geology)
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this
course.
Economics and Management (E&M)
Test:
All candidates must take the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register and specimen papers: www.tsaoxford.org.uk.
Engineering Science
Test:
All candidates for all Engineering courses must take the Physics Aptitude Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register:
www.patoxford.org.ukSpecimen paper:
See Physics website.
Engineering, Economics and Management (EEM)
Test:
All candidates for all Engineering courses must take the Physics Aptitude Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register:
www.patoxford.org.uk
Specimen paper:
See Physics
website.
English and Modern Languages
Tests:
All candidates must take the Modern Languages Admissions Tests AND the English Literature Admissions Test
(ELAT) on 7 November 2012.
For further information, please see the separate entries for English and for Modern Languages.
English Language and Literature
Test:
All candidates must take the English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT)
on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register and specimen papers:
www.elat.org.uk.
European and Middle Eastern Languages (EMEL)
Test:
All candidates will need to take both the Modern Languages Admissions Tests and the Oriental Languages Aptitude Test (OLAT) on 7 November 2012
For information on how to register and specimen papers:
All candidates will need to register to
take these tests, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen papers:
Please see the separate entries for Modern Languages and for Oriental Studies.
Experimental Psychology
Test:
All candidates must take the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register and specimen papers: www.tsaoxford.org.uk.
Fine Art
Test:
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview,
which will include a practical test. Candidates will be asked to
complete two pieces in a variety of media from a number of possible
subjects. Candidates themselves do not need to make any special
arrangements for the test, as this will be organised for them by their
college.
Specimen paper:
Fine Art Practical Test (103 kb) ![[pdf]](/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif)
Geography
Test:
All candidates must take the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register and specimen papers: www.tsaoxford.org.uk.
History (Ancient and Modern)
Test:
All candidates must take the History Aptitude Test (HAT) on 7 November
2012. For further information, please see the separate entry for History.
History and Economics
Tests:
All candidates must take the History Aptitude Test (HAT) on 7 November 2012, as for History.
AND
Candidates shortlisted for interview will take the Economics test in December 2012. For information on how to register please see December tests.
Specimen paper for Economics: Economics Admissions Test.pdf (11 kb) ![[pdf]](/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif)
History and English
Test:
All candidates must take the History Aptitude Test (HAT) on 7 November
2012, as for History.
Please note that candidates for History and English are NOT required to take the English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT).
History and Modern Languages
Tests:
Candidates must take the History Aptitude Test AND the Modern Languages Admissions Tests on 7 November 2012.
For further information, please see the separate entries for History and for Modern Languages.
History and Politics
Test:
All candidates must take the History Aptitude Test (HAT) on 7 November
2012. For further information, please see the separate entry for
History.
History of Art
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this course.
Human Sciences
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this
course.
Law (Jurisprudence) and Law with Law Studies in Europe
Test:
All candidates must take the Law National Admissions Test (LNAT) between 1 September and 20 October 2012.
Candidates
for Law with Law Studies in Europe who are applying for the French,
German, Italian or Spanish Law options may be given an oral test in the
relevant European language in December 2012 if they are shortlisted for
interview.
For information on how to register and specimen papers: www.lnat.ac.uk.
Materials Science
Arrangements for a test for Materials Science are currently under review. Details will be published here as soon as they become available.
Materials, Economics and Management (MEM)
Arrangements for a test for Materials Science are currently under
review. Details will be published here as soon as they become available.
Mathematics
Test:
All candidates must take the Mathematics Aptitude Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register:
All candidates will need to register to
take this test, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen paper:
See Maths Department website.
Mathematics and Computer Science
Test:
All candidates must take the Mathematics Aptitude Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register:
All candidates will need to register to
take this test, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen paper:
See
Maths Department website.
Mathematics and Philosophy
Test:
All candidates must take the Mathematics Aptitude Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register:
All candidates will need to register to
take this test, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen paper:
See
Maths Department website.
Mathematics and Statistics
Test:
All candidates must take the Mathematics Aptitude Test on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register:
All candidates will need to register to
take this test, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen paper:
See
Maths Department website.
Medicine (A100 and A101)
Test:
All applicants must take the Biomedical Admissions Test on 7 November 2012.This includes applicants for the six year course (A100), and also for the four year accelerated programme (A101).
For information on how to register and specimen papers:
www.bmat.org.uk.
Please note that the standard deadline for registration is 1 October
2012, and the final deadline for registration is 15 October 2012.
Modern Languages
Tests:
All candidates must take the Modern Languages Admissions Tests on 7 November 2012. This test is in several
parts: please check to see which parts are required for your course.
For information on how to register:
All candidates will need to register to
take this test, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Specimen paper:
Modern Languages Admissions Tests.pdf (256 kb) ![[pdf]](/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif)
Looking for further specimen papers for Modern Languages?
Our
practice is to make just one paper available for each part of the
Modern Languages and Linguistics Admissions Tests. Each paper is
intended to be a specimen only, to give an example of the format of the
test, and the sort of questions you might expect. There may be
variations in the language tests from year to year, but their objectives
remain the same:
- The Modern Languages Admissions Tests
(when applying for a language already experienced to A2 level or
equivalent) are always designed to test knowledge of basic structures of
the foreign language; they are not primarily a test of vocabulary.
- The
Language Aptitude Test (when applying for certain languages from
scratch) is designed to assess your ability to analyse how languages
work, in a way which doesn't depend on your knowledge of any particular
language, in order to gauge your aptitude for learning a new language
rapidly.
- The Linguistics Test (when applying for a joint course
with Linguistics or a single language where the first-year course
includes the compulsory study of Linguistics) is designed to assess how
you approach various kinds of unfamiliar linguistic data and set about
analysing them. While there are "right" and "wrong" answers, how you go
about finding the solution is as important to us as producing one which
is completely correct.
Having sampled the relevant test or
tests for your language(s), the best preparation would be for you to
revisit the grammatical points you have covered thus far – e.g. by
working through a grammar book – to revise all the basic structures.
Modern Languages and Linguistics
Music
Test:
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to take a practical test in December 2012.
For further details:
Music test.
Oriental Studies
Test:
Candidates for course combinations which include Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew and Persian will need to take the Oriental Languages Aptitude Test (OLAT) on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register and specimen papers:
All candidates will need to register to
take this test, which will be
administered by Cambridge Assessment. The deadline for registration will
be 15 October 2012. Further details will be published
here as soon as they become available.
Philosophy and Modern Languages
Test:
Candidates must take the Modern Languages Admissions Tests on 7 November 2012. Please see the separate
entry for Modern Language for further details.
Candidates must also take a test for Philosophy during the Oxford interview period in December.
For information on how to register:
December tests.
Specimens of written tests:
Philosophy test (13 kb) ![[pdf]](/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif)
Philosophy and Theology
Test:
Shortlisted candidates will be required to take a Philosophy test during the Oxford interview period in December.
For information on how to register:
December tests.
Specimen of written test:
Philosophy and Theology (12 kb) ![[pdf]](/display_images/document_icons/pdf.gif)
Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)
Test:
All candidates must take the Thinking Skills Assessment
(TSA) on 7 November 2012.
For information on how to register and specimen papers: www.tsaoxford.org.uk.
Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics
Test:
All candidates must take the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) on 7 November 2012. See www.tsaoxford.org.uk for further details.
Candidates
for the Psychology and Linguistics, and Philosophy and Linguistics
courses must also take the Linguistics Test. Arrangements for this test
are currently under review. Details will be published here as soon as
possible. Please note that separate registration will be required.
Theology
You do not need to take a written test when you apply for this
course.
Theology and Oriental Studies
Test:
Arrangements for a language aptitude tets for
candidates intending to study Islam or Judaism are currently under
review. Details will be published here as soon as possible. Please note
that separate registration will be required.