Admissions Test Preparation · Practice Set 1A
ESAT Practice Set 1A
25 questions across all five ESAT modules, five in each, every one written to the depth of a full paper and worked through step by step.
How to use this set
These are not one-step questions. Each one sets up a situation and asks you to get from it to a number, which is what the real test does and what a short drill question does not. Work each one with the solution collapsed, and give it the time you would give a question in a paper.
Read the Key Idea before the full breakdown. If the key idea alone lets you redo the question in under a minute, the method has landed. If it does not, work the step-by-step breakdown and come back to the question a day later.
No two questions here come from the same family, so five questions in a module are five different methods rather than one method five times.
Why five questions, not a full paper
A practice set is a short, focused sitting at ESAT pace: five questions in one module, each worked in full, drawn from the same question bank that writes the unseen papers schools commission from this site. Two sets put ten questions per module on the site against the 27 in a full module. Five is enough to test a method and short enough to sit between two lessons; the complete 27-question experience, to the clock, is the four full papers. Keeping the free sets short is also what keeps the commissioned papers unseen: a question published here is retired from every school pack.
Modules in this set
Select a module below to work its questions and read the solutions:
Mathematics
Compulsory for every candidate. Number, ratio, algebra, geometry, statistics and probability. 5 questions, each worked in full.
Advanced Mathematics
Algebra, sequences, trigonometry, calculus and coordinate geometry, at ESAT Mathematics 2 level. 5 questions, each worked in full.
Physics
Electricity and magnetism, forces and motion, energy, thermal physics, matter, waves and radioactivity. 5 questions, each worked in full.
Chemistry
Atomic structure, moles and equations, bonding, rates, energetics, electrolysis and organic chemistry. 5 questions, each worked in full.
Biology
Cells and transport, genetics, enzymes, respiration, homeostasis, ecology and plant biology. 5 questions, each worked in full.
What is in this set
Every question states the specification sub-topic it was written against. Use this as a revision checklist: if you can name the method before opening the question, you already have the mark.
Mathematics
| # | Topic | Target time |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Algebra | 50 s |
| Q2 | Geometry | 70 s |
| Q3 | Geometry | 70 s |
| Q4 | Ratio and proportion | 55 s |
| Q5 | Geometry | 75 s |
Advanced Mathematics
| # | Topic | Target time |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Integration | 65 s |
| Q2 | Sketching graphs of common functions | 75 s |
| Q3 | Graphs and transformations | 45 s |
| Q4 | Integration | 70 s |
| Q5 | Integration | 75 s |
Physics
| # | Topic | Target time |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Electricity | 85 s |
| Q2 | Waves | 55 s |
| Q3 | Waves | 45 s |
| Q4 | Mechanics | 70 s |
| Q5 | Mechanics | 65 s |
Chemistry
| # | Topic | Target time |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Energetics | 90 s |
| Q2 | Rates of reaction | 90 s |
| Q3 | Rates of reaction | 30 s |
| Q4 | Atomic structure | 50 s |
| Q5 | Atomic structure | 35 s |
Biology
| # | Topic | Target time |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Human physiology | 55 s |
| Q2 | Respiration | 70 s |
| Q3 | Mitosis | 90 s |
| Q4 | Human physiology | 50 s |
| Q5 | DNA and protein synthesis | 90 s |
For individual preparation. The free question sets on this site are for a candidate working on their own. They are not licensed for a school, college or tutoring provider to print and run with a class, to republish or resell, or to fold into a course sold by another provider. A school sitting a timed mock is welcome to the free sample pack, which comes with mark schemes and invigilator instructions, and a paper written for your own candidates and used nowhere else is a commissioned pack.
Where to go from here
Everything on this page is free and stays free. These are the things worth doing next.
- Take the 15-question ESAT diagnostic - Twenty minutes, scored instantly, with a worked solution for every question you miss
- Follow the dated preparation plan - Every ESAT page on this site, sequenced backwards from the October sitting
- How every question on this site is checked - What is verified by hand, what is machine-checked, and how a mistake is reported and fixed
- Sitting another admissions test as well? - TMUA, PAT, MAT and STEP each have their own preparation page and free practice
- Join the ESAT preparation list - One email a week from June to October, and nothing else
- Enquire about one-to-one preparation - For candidates who want the gap closed rather than mapped
One-to-one places are limited and taken by application, not by the hour. This site is independent of UAT-UK, which administers the ESAT, and of every university that uses it; nothing here is endorsed by them, and the official specification and past papers remain the final word.