What is a Good Admissions Test Score? Oxford Edition

If the course you’re applying for at Oxford requires an admissions test, you will want to prepare to make sure you get the best possible score. But what kind of score should you be aiming for? Without official grade boundaries as in the GCSE or A-level system it can be hard to know what mark will impress admissions tutors. In this blog post, we’ll take you through what constitutes a good score for a few admissions tests using data from the most recent admissions cycle (2023/24 cycle). We have this data for every test taken for Oxford and Cambridge entry for the past several years, so get in contact with us if you would like to discuss your specific situation.

It is important to bear in mind that no score will guarantee you an interview or an offer. Academic grades are also essential in determining whether you will be selected for interview (with Oxford placing a lot of emphasis on GCSE results), and ultimately admissions tutors will consider your application as a whole. Moreover, what constitutes a “good score” will vary year on year depending on the scores of that year’s cohort, so it is difficult to know in advance if your score is among the best for that year. It’s also the case that certain courses put more weight on the admissions test score in the admissions process. For example, the TSA, PAT, and MAT tests at Oxford all have a long history, and tend to be very good predictors of whether applicants reach interview and eventually get a place. Nevertheless, it is useful to consider the scores of shortlisted and successful applicants from recent years so you know roughly what to aim for.

Law

Law applicants for Oxford and Cambridge have both been required sit the LNAT from 2022. Applicants for Law at Oxford sit the Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT). For the 2023 (2024 entry) UCAS cycle, the average results for each section of the LNAT are as follows:

Medicine 

At Oxford, applicants for Medicine have been required to sit the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) since 2022. Oxford University has released complete statistics for the 2023/24 application cohort, detailing the number of applicants either not interviewed, interviewed but not offered a place, and offered a place per overall score band. The table below details these results:

As we see from the spread of results, Oxford Medicine applicants need to be reaching roughly 3000 points overall before they stand a higher chance of being invited for interview than not.

Mathematics and Computer Science

The Mathematics Admission Test (MAT) exam, marked out of 100, is used for several courses at Oxford as an important factor in selecting applicants to interview. Below are the average test scores for all applicants, shortlisted applicants, and successful applicants across Mathematics and joint honours Mathematics & Statistics and Mathematics & Philosophy

For Computer Science, the MAT is also used heavily in the admissions process. The below table shows the 2023/24 MAT results for applicants to Computer Science and joint-courses:

PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and Economics and Management

PPE applicants for Oxford sit the TSA, the Thinking Skills Assessment (we wrote the original guide to this). This is also sat by applicants for Economics and Management, Human Sciences, PPL (Philosophy, Psychology, and Linguistics), History and Economics, and Experimental Psychology, as well as a couple courses at other universities (including ISPS at UCL). Given the difference in competition for these courses, the TSA is weighted differently between them in order to inform which applicants to interview. That's why we provide below the graphs published by Oxford University for two of its most popular TSA-using subjects.

PPE

Below are graphs published by Oxford University showing the number of applicants not interviewed, interviewed (no place), offered a place, and who withdrew their application according to their score on the TSA. The graphs are split into the Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, and Essay sections of the paper.

Problem Solving:

Critical Thinking:

Essay:

Economics and Management:

Below is the data on the Problem Solving and Critical Thinking section of the TSA, as well as overall score, for the 2023/24 Economics and Management application cycle.

Problem Solving:

Critical Thinking:

Overall Score:

Physics and Engineering Science

Applicants for Physics, Engineering Science, Physics with Philosophy, and Materials Sciences sit the 2-hour Physics Aptitude Test (PAT) pre-interview, marked out of 100 and including 24 questions. Like the TSA and the MAT, the PAT has an especially strong correlation with likelihood of being offered a place. 

See below the graph published by Oxford University showing all applicants, shortlisted applicants, and those offered a place according to their PAT scores:

For Engineering Science applicants, the average scores were as follows: