Admissions Test Preparation · Editorial Standards
How We Verify Every ESAT Solution
A wrong worked solution costs a real applicant real marks, so every solution passes the same three-part review before it is published.
How these papers are made
How the questions are written and checked
Every question is written for this site and checked by a researcher before it is published.
On every question, every time a paper is built, it is re-derived independently from its own stem, its key confirmed as the only correct option, and every wrong option traced to a slip a real student makes.
Nothing goes into a paper until it has passed all of it. That is why the worked solutions can tell a student what reasoning led them to C, rather than only that the answer was B.
Checked against the source, not from memory
Where a worked solution depends on a diagram, we go back to the figure itself rather than infer what it probably shows.
The ESAT is a recent test, and official past papers are limited. The four mock papers on this site are our own, written to the UAT-UK specification, not reproductions of official ESAT sittings.
That is what catches the errors a quick read-through misses. When a question's answer turned on what a graph's axis really plotted, we checked the figure rather than trust its label. When a mechanics question's geometry was ambiguous, we worked it through again and proved the credited answer. Both corrections are live on the papers today.
The three-part review every question passes
No question is published on the strength of one check. Each one is reviewed three separate times, for three different failure modes.
| Check | What it catches |
|---|---|
| Mathematical & Scientific Accuracy | Is the credited answer actually correct? Every distractor is recomputed independently, not pattern-matched, including a check that no two answer options are secretly the same value in different notation. That kind of duplicate is the easiest error to miss by eye and the easiest to catch by direct computation. |
| LaTeX & Formatting | Does every equation render correctly, on mobile as well as desktop, with no orphaned units, glued symbols or broken tables? Formatting bugs don't change what's correct, but they cost time under exam pressure, so they're treated as seriously as content errors. |
| Pedagogical Clarity | Does the fastest route to the answer actually appear, and does the explanation match the question that was asked? A solution that is technically correct but explains the wrong method, or answers a subtly different question than the one printed, fails this check even if the final number is right. |
When source material is incomplete, we say so
On rare occasions, our archive copy of a source paper doesn't fully reproduce one question: a scan artefact, a page break, a capture gap. In that situation the question is marked for manual review rather than filled in with a plausible-sounding guess. We would rather show you an honest gap than a confident-looking fabrication. If a clearer source copy later becomes available, the question is restored from it the same way as the rest of the paper.
Takeaway (📌): If a solution on this site ever looks off, it's worth a second look from us, not a second guess from you. Tell us which question and it gets checked against the source paper directly.
An ongoing process, not a one-time check
- Every paper is re-audited, not just proofread once. Passes are repeated over time, specifically looking for the errors an earlier pass was less likely to catch: duplicate answer options, diagram-dependent questions, and mismatches between a question and its own worked solution.
- Timing benchmarks are calibrated to the real exam, not to how long the topic takes to teach. Each question's target time is weighted against the paper's actual 40-minute, 27-question limit.
- Corrections are applied directly to the live page, not queued for a future edition. If a review changes a credited answer, the page you read reflects it immediately.
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 a syllabus reference, 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 - How every question is 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
- See what can actually be checked about this tutor - What is published, counted from the pages themselves, and the credentials behind it
- Enquire about one-to-one preparation - For candidates who want the gap closed rather than mapped
- Free sample pack for schools - Ten questions in every module with mark schemes and a syllabus reference, ready to sit as a timed mock
- A book of shortcuts for the ESAT - The ESAT Move Register: eleven moves shown on worked examples, with a preview of its pages
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.