What is the Oxford AHCAAT (Ancient History and Classical Archaeology Admissions Test)?

What is the AHCAAT?

The Ancient History and Classical Archaeology Admissions Test (AHCAAT for short) is a new test for applicants to the Classical Archaeology and Ancient History (CAAH for short) undergraduate course at Oxford University. This test will be used for the first time in October 2024 for applicants looking to begin the course in Autumn 2025.

What Skills will the AHCAAT Measure?

The AHCAAT is designed to test key skills relevant to the study of CAAH at Oxford University. According to Oxford, it will measure applicants’ ability to “describe and analyse material evidence from the real world” and their ability to “engage with and criticise academic argument”.

This test is a skills-based aptitude test, rather than a test of any particular knowledge. As such, applicants will not be expected to know about particular historical periods, historians or secondary works, or any other facts or statistics relevant to CAAH.

How Can I Practise for the AHCAAT?

As with all admissions tests, we recommend fortifying the key skills measured by the test. We recommend stepping outside of your school syllabuses for history, classical civilisations, English, or other relevant subjects and apply the skills of historical and literary analysis you have developed to unseen sources.

Since this is a new test, there are no past papers available for applicants to practise with. However, Oxford University and Pearson Vue have provided a practice test. This test is hosted on Pearson Vue’s website and is designed to mimic the online test format, so that test-takers may also familiarise themselves with the platform itself. You can find the practice test here.

Note that this test does not yet have example answers; these will be posted on the Oxford University AHCAAT page soon. Check back with us here at Oxbridge Applications for notifications of this.

How Do I Register for the AHCAAT?

Registration is open for candidates between Thursday 15^th August and Friday 4^th October 2024. Candidates may register free of charge to sit the AHCAAT at an approved Pearson VUE test centre. Often an applicant’s school will act as the test centre, but be sure to check that your school is running the test, and if not, consult the Pearson VUE website for more details on local test centres.

Applicants eligible for access arrangements for public examinations (GCSEs, A-Levels, etc.) will be eligible for the same arrangements for the AHCAAT (as with all Oxford admissions test). You may make requests for these arrangements when registering for the test; you should expect to be requested to produce evidence for this.

More details on registration will be released by Oxford university in due course.

When Do I Sit the AHCAAT?

The AHCAAT will be sat on the 22^nd October 2024.

How Will the Result from the AHCAAT Be Used?

The important factor to note here is that in the 2024 and 2025 admissions cycles, no applicant will be denied shortlisting for interview or deselected from a place at Oxford based on the results of the test. This is because it is a new test, and the 2024 and 2025 application cycles constitute the test’s pilot phase.

The results of the test will still, like all admissions test, be used to give admissions tutors additional information on a candidate’s application. In other words, the results will not constitute a pass or fail for your application, but will be used to help paint a wider picture of your personality, academic style, and ability level.