By application · Limited places · Oxbridge and Imperial admissions

Enquire About One-to-One Preparation

Direct preparation for ESAT, TMUA, STEP and Oxbridge engineering interviews, taught by the person who wrote the solutions on this site. Places are limited and taken by application rather than by the hour.

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Oxford Thermofluids Institute · Rolls-Royce sponsored DPhil · Cambridge MRes, Whittle Laboratory · ORCID

Not sure where to start? 5 places to go

Start with your question

Why visitors arrive: You have read enough of the free material and want to know whether one-to-one preparation is available and suitable.

Your question: Can I work with Lucas Rey on admissions test preparation, and how does that start?

You may also be asking

  • How much does it cost?
  • Is there a free introductory call?
  • Which tests do you prepare candidates for?
  • How soon can we start, and are there places?
  • What happens between sessions?

Where to go next

  • Who this is for: candidates sitting a UK admissions test for engineering, physics, mathematics or natural sciences, from the first year of sixth form onwards. Starting a full cycle before the test is early enough to change what is possible, not too early to begin.
  • How it starts: the form below, then a 20-minute call, then a 75 to 90 minute academic diagnostic and a written roadmap. Nothing is committed before the call.
  • What is not on this page: an hourly rate. Fees depend on the programme, and quoting a number against a form nobody has read yet would be a worse answer than the conversation.
  • Response time: typically one working day.
  • Already a student? Use your booking portal rather than this form.

Whether this is the right fit

Being specific about this saves everyone a call. Most enquiries that do not work out are one of the two on the right below.

A good fit

  • You have a target test in mind, this cycle or the next one. A candidate starting a year out is welcome, and the roadmap is written for the time you actually have.
  • You have already worked through some of the free material here and know roughly where you are weak.
  • You can commit to weekly sessions and to the work between them, which is where most of the gain actually happens.
  • You want the method fixed, not the syllabus re-taught.

Not a good fit

  • The test is in under three weeks and no preparation has started. At that point the free plan is a better use of the time than an intake process.
  • You want the sessions but not the work between them. The programme is built around that work and does not function without it.

Send an enquiry

Five questions, and they are the five that determine whether a programme can be built and what it should look like. Parents, guardians and students are all welcome to enquire.

  • Target test: ESAT, TMUA, STEP, interview preparation, or a combination. The Oxford PAT and MAT have both been retired: Oxford physics and engineering candidates now sit the ESAT, and MAT candidates the TMUA or the ESAT. Each of those pages has free practice on it, and working some of it before the call makes the first conversation far more useful.
  • Exam date: the sitting you are working towards. This sets the whole shape of the programme.
  • Current level: curriculum and predicted or achieved grades. IB HL, A-Level, AP and IGCSE are all familiar.
  • Timeline: when you would want to start, and how many hours a week are realistically available.
  • Budget band: a range is fine. It is asked so nobody wastes a call finding out the answer, and it is not used to price you.

Two ways to send this, and both reach the same place. Whichever suits you.

Send it as an email, with the details already set out for you

The link below opens a message with the same questions the form asks, so nothing is left out. Fill in what you know and send it; anything you cannot answer yet can be left blank.

Email your enquiry

Fill in a form instead

The contact form takes the same information and reaches the same inbox. It is worth saying which test you are sitting and when, because that is what decides whether there is a place.

Go to the contact form

What a programme actually involves

[01] Weekly

Live one to one

A session a week with one named person who stays with the student throughout. There is no pool of interchangeable tutors and nothing is subcontracted.

[02] Between sessions

Problem sets and an error log

Tailored extension problems, and a personal error log that turns repeated mistakes into a list that gets shorter. This is the part that moves the score.

[03] Monthly

Written parent reports

Topics covered, pace, which errors have been eliminated, and the next milestone. Written down, so progress is checkable rather than asserted.

Full detail on programmes and curricula is on the mentoring hub. Consultants and schools have their own routes: For Consultants and For Schools.

Questions people ask before enquiring

  • Why is there no price on this page? Because a rate card would price the wrong thing. Programmes differ in length, intensity and scope, and the fee follows the programme. You get a specific number after the call, before any commitment.
  • Is the first call free? Yes. The 20-minute introductory call costs nothing and carries no obligation.
  • What if there are no places? You will be told that directly rather than put on a nurture sequence. If a place opens later and you asked to be told, you will be told.
  • Do you teach subjects outside admissions tests? Yes: mathematics, physics and engineering for students aged 13 to 18, plus undergraduate thermofluids and fluid mechanics. See the mentoring hub.
  • Can you guarantee an offer? No, and nobody honestly can. Admissions decisions weigh the test alongside grades, the personal statement and the interview, and no tutor controls that.
  • Where does my enquiry go? To Lucas directly, and to nobody else. See the privacy policy.

Part of

This page sits within the broader knowledge structure on lucasrey.com:

  • Teaching - Engineering-informed teaching, mentoring, and quantitative reasoning.

Related content from the same research and engineering work: