Cambridge College Admissions Assessments

Aside from pre-registered tests such as the ESAT, TMUA, UCAT, STEP, and LNAT (about which you can find out more in our admissions test hub here), many Cambridge courses require college admissions assessments. These tests are set for candidates who have been shortlisted for interview, do not need to be registered for in advance, and are usually sat just ahead of interviews.

Each subject (and sometimes each college) has specific requirements on the assessment format, the test date, and the availability of preparation materials. These range from written essay-based tests, through language proficiency interviews, and to subject-specific aptitude tests designed to measure an applicant’s suitability for the course.

This can get quite confusing! To simplify things, below is a table summarising the college admissions assessments Cambridge courses set, as well as the colleges which require them, the assessment date, assessment format, and any additional information. Please note that this is only for college assessment, not for pre-registered tests such as the ESAT, TMUA, UCAT, STEP, or LNAT

Whilst we endeavour to keep our resources up to date, we encourage you to visit the Cambridge University College Admissions Assessment page here for additional information, including links to specimen and past papers.

This information can be found on each relevant course page on the Oxford University website. However, to make things a little easier, we have compiled them all into one handy table for you here. We have also included whether written work is necessary for a given course, since this can also take some time to prepare.