Oxford drops bespoke entrance exams in admissions shake-up

The University of Oxford is set to scrap its own bespoke entrance exams and move its admissions process more in line with other leading institutions.

Applicants for various subjects for 2027 entry will take computer-based exams run by University Admissions Tests UK (UAT UK), a partnership between Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge.

Oxford has until now used specific tests for certain subjects such as its ancient history and classical archaeology admissions test (AHCAAT) or the modern languages admissions test (MLAT), along with several others.

The change will mean applicants for courses requiring a test will take one of the three offered by UAT UK instead. For example, psychology, philosophy and linguistics students will take the test of academic reasoning for admissions (TARA) while many science courses will require applicants to take the engineering and science admissions test (ESAT). Some courses that previously required tests will drop them altogether. 

These tests are also accepted by other institutions such as Imperial and Durham University, meaning a student applying to more than one leading university will only have to take the one exam.

Oxford said the move will “streamline” the process for its schools and applicants.

“Oxford’s undergraduate admissions process is rigorous and designed to identify academic potential,” said a spokesperson.

“The university is continually reviewing its admissions processes and practices to ensure they best meet the needs of the university, schools, and applicants.

“Our approach varies according to subject and considers a range of information as evidence of a candidate’s ability to thrive here.”

They added that all those offered a place to study will also have been interviewed, with more than 20,000 interviews taking place every year, “allowing tutors to assess directly a candidate’s ability to think independently and engage with new ideas – qualities that underpin learning at Oxford”.

Gareth Davies, an adviser to potential Oxbridge applicants at the firm William Clarence Education, said administering various tests, with the required quality checks, invigilation and marking, had become an “expensive business” for Oxford.

He said the move to the more familiar UAT UK may make navigating the process slightly easier for students, especially international applicants, but it also comes with the “small sacrifice” of Oxford being able to tweak the tests to suit its own admissions needs.

Davies said the change came as part of a wider shake-up of university admissions that has also seen changes to the Ucas personal statement and the scrapping of the biomedical admissions test (BMAT), which had previously been widely used by medical schools.

David Gibbon, director of Oxford and Cambridge Tutors, said considerable resource had been poured into developing the new tests and the switch will bring reduced risk for the institution, while alleviating some of the burden on applicants.

But he said it came with trade-offs, particularly the “loss of some highly regarded, subject-specific assessments across both the sciences and humanities” which have “historically provided a level of challenge above and beyond what we have seen in some of the newer tests”.

New tests will take time to build the depth of data that admissions tutors have relied upon, he added, while there have also been some practical questions around access and test-centre capacity for both UK and international applicants.

For candidates, Gibbon said “removing some of the perceived mystique and individuality away from an application will benefit candidates who might be less familiar with the Oxford admissions process” but it may also become more difficult for them to differentiate themselves in certain subjects. 

“The challenge will be ensuring that, in gaining efficiency at scale, the university does not lose the subject-specific discrimination that made its traditional admissions structure so effective,” Gibbon said. 

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com