How Important is the Admissions Test to my Oxbridge Application?

How Important is the Admissions Test to my Oxbridge Application?

With Admissions Tests coming up in the next few weeks, many applicants to Oxford and Cambridge are understandably becoming quite nervous about performing to the best of their abilities, and worrying about what might happen if they underperform. Here at Oxbridge Applications, it’s our job to give you all the information available on how the Admissions Test might affect your application. This includes why the test is used, what admissions tutors are looking for from your performance, and whether a certain grade will guarantee your being shortlisted for interview.

What's The Point of Admissions Tests?

Step one in contextualising your admissions test performance is to consider why Oxford, Cambridge, and other top universities use them in the first place.

Think about the list of applicants to a given course at Oxbridge. Most will have excellent GCSE grades and top predicted A-levels, proving to admissions tutors that they excel in their school exams. Furthermore, the best applicants will all have polished personal statements featuring proof of their motivation and academic prowess. This lets tutors know that they can write well (given the time to draft and redraft), and that they are highly motivated and have done lots of subject-related research and extra-curricular activities. Lastly, they will have a glowing reference from their school teachers, giving admissions tutors a more balanced view of their participation in class, and any other contextual information they may need (such as mitigating circumstances impacting their exam performance).

In short, an excellent applicant will excel in all of these areas. Every year, there are hundreds, or thousands, of excellent applicants for each course. This is where the admissions test comes into play. This standardised test allows admissions tutors to directly compare applicants against the exact same benchmark. Additionally, the exam is designed to be directly reflective of the skills applicants will need to succeed on the course; something which none of the other measurements can guarantee to do.

What are Admissions Tutors Looking For?

The specifics of what each admissions tutor is looking for naturally depends on the subject. However, they are first and foremost looking for a good grade. This is obvious.

To be more specific, however, tutors are looking for skills, more so than knowledge. This comes with some caveats. For example, subjects like biology or physics will naturally require applicants to have good knowledge of the A-level syllabus. However, in most cases it is the  application of knowledge, or the adaptation to new information, that admissions test is really asking you to demonstrate.

This is the crux of the admissions test. They are specifically designed to coax you out of the safety of your school syllabus or hiding behind the names of academics and books, and encourage you to use your knowledge and skills in new contexts or on new material. This is why practising for admissions tests directly, rather than just revising knowledge of your subject, is absolutely crucial.

Is There a 'Benchmark' Grade I Need?

The short answer to this is: no, there is not. Each course and test is different, and unofficially some tutors may have a grade or grade range they are looking for in most applicants, but there is no official 'pass' or 'fail' grade, nor grade boundaries, for the admissions tests.

Even if it were possible to determine a pass/fail mark, this could lead you down the wrong path. Given that the competition and the test itself changes every year, what served as the unofficial 'pass' grade last year, could be well below average this year, and so aiming for a particular mark might lead you into a false sense of security and risk your underperforming.

Since the admissions test is skills-based, we always recommend doing your absolute best not only because a good mark is attractive at a glance, but also because the more skills you can demonstrate, the better an impression you are giving the admissions tutors.

Can My Test Grade Make or Break My Applications?

This is the million dollar question. In short, a great test grade is unlikely to make an application, whilst a poor test grade could well break an application.

Every year there are more qualified applicants for every Oxbridge course than there are spaces. All of these applicants, as we mentioned already, will have excellent school grades, a strong personal statement, glowing references, and accomplished written work (if applicable). To be competitive, then, an applicant must excel in every element of the application. 

This means that an excellent admissions test score, although great for the overall application, does not alone constitute a reason for shortlisting to interviews. Even if you were to score 100% on the test, when paired with a poor personal statement or GCSE grades/predicted A-levels, it still may not be enough to get you through to interview.

On the other hand, an especially poor admissions test performance could feasibly drag down an otherwise excellent application and result in your de-selection from interview. Even with glowing references, a wonderful personal statement, and the top grades, failing spectacularly in the admissions test indicates to admissions tutors that, although intelligent, you simply don't have the skills it takes to succeed on this course.

For those performing in the middle range of admissions test scores, it really will come down to the strength of the rest of your application. If your admissions test score is average, but your statement is spectacular and your written work is inspiring, then you might see your way through to the interview.

In short, the admissions test is unlikely to drag up an otherwise uninspiring application, but could well ruin things for a promising candidate. This is why preparation is key, but focusing solely on the admissions test at the detriment of the rest of the application is certainly unwise.