For heads of department · Prices included · October 2026 sitting
ESAT mock papers for your school
What each pack contains, what it costs, and what makes a paper unseen. The tables carry the answer; the reasoning behind each one is folded away under a plus, so you can read as much or as little of it as you want.
Calibrated against the 648 questions UAT‑UK publishes · Free worked solutions for every candidate at lucasrey.com/teaching/esat
Three things you can have, and what each costs
Sample · free
Free
50 questions: the first 10 of the 27 in each of the five modules, with the worked solutions and mark schemes in full. It is published on this site, so treat it as a sample of the writing rather than as a mock.
Download it, no sign-up.
Unseen · written for you
£600
All five modules, 135 questions, built to the scope you choose, in your school's name and dated to your sitting. Its questions are retired afterwards and reach no other school, ever. Fewer modules costs less, from £250.
An Unseen paper is the one to set as a formal mock.
Series · licensed to you
£300 one paper
£750 three papers
The same papers, licensed to your school to keep instead of written for you alone. Another school may hold a different version of the same idea, and that is what makes them cheaper.
A Series is a term of practice.
Three names, so a colleague or a finance officer can refer to them without describing them: the Sample is free and published, an Unseen paper is written for your school and reaches nobody else, and a Series paper is licensed to you rather than retired.
The whole of the pricing logic, in one sentence: exclusivity doubles the price of a paper, and three bought at once take a further sixth off. So a paper written for you alone and retired is £600, the same paper licensed rather than retired is £300, and three licensed papers are £750, which is £250 each. A state-funded school takes 15 percent off any of those, and a school that has commissioned before takes 10 percent off in a later year.
- A commissioned pack: 22 documents, 5 modules, 27 questions each, 135 questions in all, 299 pages, 204 of them worked solutions.
- Priced per pack, not per pupil. Ten candidates or a hundred and forty, the figure is the same.
- The sitting: 12 to 16 October 2026. Access arrangements close at 18:00 on 14 September 2026 and registration closes on 28 September 2026, both done by the school.
- Lead time: two weeks is comfortable, and it has been done inside a week when a sitting was close.
Compare the three options
| Sample | Unseen | Series | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Questions | 50. The first 10 of the 27 in each of the five modules | 135. All 27 in each of the five modules, or fewer modules if you prefer | One or three complete papers, five modules each |
| Has anyone else seen it | Yes. It is published here, so a diligent candidate may have worked through it | No, and never will. Recorded against your school and retired | Not exclusive. Another school may hold a different version of the same idea |
| What it is for | Judging the writing before you spend anything | A formal timed mock, where the result only means something if the paper is unseen | A term of practice, worked through week by week |
| What arrives | 22 documents, complete for the questions it carries | 22 documents, 299 pages | For each paper, the same documents in the same structure: 22 print-ready PDFs, 309 to 315 pages |
| Cost | Nothing, and no sign-up | £250 to £600, by how many modules | £300 for one, £750 for three |
Why the free pack is partial, and what it is genuinely good for
It is deliberately generous and deliberately partial. It carries the worked solutions, mark schemes, answer sheets and a syllabus reference in full for the questions it holds, so nothing is hidden behind a form, no email address is asked for and there is nothing to pay. What it cannot do is serve as your mock. It is published on this site, so a candidate who has prepared properly may already have worked through it, and if the whole of a paper were free the result of your sitting would measure who had found this website rather than who is ready for the test. Fifty complete questions are enough to judge the writing, the difficulty and whether the solutions explain anything, which is the decision the free pack exists to help you make. Download it here.
What a commissioned pack gives you that the free one cannot
One thing, and it is the only thing that matters for a formal mock: nobody has seen it. Its questions are written in your school's name, dated to your sitting and recorded against you. They are never issued to another school and never published here. That is why only one pack is ever given away, and it is why a mark from a commissioned pack tells you something about your cohort while a mark from a published paper tells you something about how much of this website a candidate had found.
Prices
One list, in front of every school, and two discounts that apply to any row of it. A state-funded school takes 15 percent off. A school that has commissioned before takes 10 percent off in any following year. The two add rather than compound, both off the list price, so a school that is both takes 25 percent.
| Pack | List | State-funded | Returning | Both |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Five modules | £600 | £510 | £540 | £450 |
| Four modules | £450 | £380 | £405 | £335 |
| Three modules | £350 | £295 | £315 | £260 |
| Two modules | £250 | £210 | £225 | £185 |
| With marking and the cohort analysis | £900 | £765 | £810 | £675 |
| One Series paper | £300 | £255 | £270 | £225 |
| Three Series papers | £750 | £635 | £675 | £560 |
Why fewer modules rather than a cheaper module
A department that cannot reach the full figure takes fewer modules, never a cheaper module, so the writing and the checking are identical whatever you spend. That keeps one price list in front of every school with no criterion to argue about, and it means no school is quoted on how well it argues. Three modules is the usual shape for a science department taking Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and it is a real option rather than a downgrade: what you get is a shorter paper of the same standard.
What it works out at per candidate, and why that is not the argument
Nothing varies with cohort size. At a hundred candidates the five-module pack is about six pounds a head, and at twenty it is thirty. Both are true and neither is a reason to buy: it is arithmetic, not an argument, and a large cohort simply means more printing at your end. The figure is per pack because the work is writing the paper, and that work is the same whether one class or a year group sits it.
Marking, the cohort analysis, and invoicing
With marking, the scripts come back marked, with a breakdown by topic across the cohort showing where the group as a whole is losing marks rather than where individuals did. That is the version worth having if you intend to change what you teach next term. Without it, the mark scheme is keys only, so marking needs no subject knowledge and can be done by whoever is free. An invoice is raised to the school and paid on your finance team's normal terms; the figure is confirmed in writing before any work starts, so there is something concrete to approve.
How the two discounts work together
Both come off the list price and are then added, rather than one being applied to the result of the other. A returning state school is 15 plus 10, so 25 percent off £600, which is £450. Compounding would give £459. The difference is nine pounds and is not the point: a published rule is only worth having if you can check it in a meeting without a calculator, and "fifteen and ten" is a rule a person can hold. Figures are rounded down to the nearest five pounds, which can only ever be in your favour.
What arrives
Measured from the last pack delivered to a school, not estimated.
| Document | How many | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Question paper | One per module | Laid out as the real test is: 27 questions and 40 minutes for each module, exactly as the ESAT Content Specification sets out. |
| Worked solutions | One per module | Three quarters of the pack. Every question worked in full, and every wrong option named along with the mistake that leads to it |
| Mark scheme | One per module | Keys only, so marking needs no subject knowledge and can be done by whoever is free |
| Answer sheet | One per module | Separate, so the question papers survive and can be sat again |
| Syllabus reference | One | What the ESAT assesses, module by module, written so a student can revise from it |
| Cover letter | One | What the pack is, in your school's name, dated to your sitting |
22 print-ready PDFs, 299 pages, and it is yours to print. There is no portal to log into and no per-pupil licence to count.
Why the worked solutions are three quarters of it
Because a candidate who chose C learns nothing from being told the answer was B. Every wrong option in every question corresponds to a specific mistake, and the solution names that mistake as well as working the question in full: 204 of the 299 pages are solutions rather than questions. That is what makes the paper diagnostic rather than merely a score, and it is the part a department cannot easily produce for itself. It is also the part your students will actually use, in the fortnight after the mock when they go back over what they got wrong.
Running the session, and reusing the papers
The answer sheets are separate from the question papers so the question papers survive the session and can be sat again by the next group, and the syllabus reference sets out what the test assesses module by module, so a student can revise from it before the mock and go back to the right topic afterwards. No calculator and no formula sheet in any module, which is worth knowing before you set the room. Everything arrives as print-ready PDFs, so it is yours to print in whatever quantity you need.
What "unseen" means here, precisely
This matters more than anything else on the page, so it is worth being exact rather than reassuring. Three claims, and only the first is absolute.
| The claim | How far it holds |
|---|---|
| Your questions go to no other school | Absolutely, and permanently. Each question that reaches you is recorded against your school and retired: not issued elsewhere, not published on this site, not reused next year |
| No two questions test the same thing twice | A paper is assembled to spread across the syllabus rather than to fill a quota |
| Another school may hold a different paper on the same topics | True, and worth saying plainly. The questions differ, so neither school gains anything from the other's paper |
Why the third claim is written down rather than left out
Because a promise is only worth making if it can be kept. A student who had somehow seen another school's paper would gain nothing from it. What would not be true is a claim that every school receives a wholly separate syllabus. Your questions are yours; a topic on your paper may also appear, in a different question, somewhere else.
What happens to your questions afterwards
They are recorded against your school and never issued again, to anyone, including to you next year. That is what makes the first claim absolute rather than a matter of trust. It is also why the free pack is the only one ever published, and why a pack circulating unrecorded is the one thing that would break the promise for everybody else.
The Series, and why it costs half
A commissioned paper answers one question: how would this cohort do under exam conditions today. Answering it properly means the paper must exist for you alone, which is most of what you are paying for. A department that wants material to work through across a term does not need that, and should not pay for it three times over.
So a Series paper is half the price of the same paper written for you alone. £300 rather than £600 for a five-module paper, and the same halving applies to a narrower scope. Three bought together take a further sixth off, which is £750, or £250 a paper.
- One paper or three, scope agreed before anything is invoiced. Which modules, and how they are spread across the year, is settled with you first. Three is a term of practice; more than that is more than most departments work through.
- Licensed to your school to keep, for use with your own students, in class or as prep. There is no expiry and nothing to renew. Every page carries your school's name and the year it was issued.
- Not exclusive, and priced accordingly. What it is not licensed for is republication, resale, or folding into a course another provider sells.
- The same documents as a commissioned pack, for every paper: question papers, full worked solutions, mark schemes, answer sheets and a syllabus reference.
Which of the two you actually want
If a formal mock matters more to you than volume, the commissioned pack is the better buy and I would say so rather than sell you the larger thing. The two are not competing for the same job: one is a measurement and has to be unseen on the day, the other is a term of practice and has to be plentiful. A department that wants both usually takes a commissioned pack for the mock and licensed papers for the term's work, and the returning discount applies to whichever comes second.
The halving is not a discount and it is not negotiable in either direction. It is what the difference between the two products is worth: a commissioned paper's questions are yours alone and never reach anybody else, while a licensed paper's questions stay in circulation. That is also why three licensed papers cost less than two commissioned ones, and why nobody is quoted a figure that depends on how the conversation went.
How these papers are checked
Every question is written for your school and checked by a researcher before it is issued. One person is accountable for what reaches your school, and reads it before it does.
Checked before it goes out
Checked, then read
Every pack is checked against the real ESAT for length, pace and balance, no question in it has gone to another school, and every solution is read before it reaches you.
Judge it yourself
The free pack is the same writing
You do not have to take any of this on trust. The free sample pack and the worked solutions published on this site come out of the same process as a commissioned pack, in full, with nothing behind a sign-up.
How a question earns its place in a paper
Measured against the official papers, not against an opinion. A paper here reads and paces like the real one. It is easy to write an admissions question that is merely hard; the difficulty is writing one that is the right shape.
Every wrong option is deliberate. Each wrong option corresponds to a specific mistake a candidate actually makes, and the solution names it. Options that nobody would pick teach nothing and waste a question.
Every option is worked out, not eyeballed. That is what catches two options that are secretly the same value written differently.
Then every solution is read. A paper can pass every check and still explain nothing, which is why each solution is read as well.
Is this endorsed by UAT‑UK or by a university?
No, and no unofficial paper should claim to be. It is written independently and calibrated against the material UAT‑UK publishes, which is a claim you can check rather than one you have to believe. Nothing on this site is affiliated with any university or with UAT‑UK.
How it works
- 1. Tell me the scope. Which modules, roughly how many candidates, and the date you want to sit it. The cohort number is for the covering letter and the analysis, not for the price.
- 2. I confirm the figure and the date in writing before any work starts, so there is something your finance team can approve.
- 3. The pack is built and checked. Two weeks is comfortable. It has been done inside a week when a sitting was close.
- 4. Delivery is to a private directory on this site, password protected, so nothing large lands in your inbox and nothing sits in a shared drive by accident.
- 5. Afterwards. If you took marking, the scripts come back marked with the cohort breakdown. If not, the mark scheme is keys only and takes minutes.
How delivery works, and why it is not an email attachment
The pack goes to a private directory on this site behind a password, and the link and the password are yours. That keeps 299 pages out of your inbox, keeps the papers out of a shared drive where a sixth former might find them, and means a colleague can be given access without the files being forwarded around. If your school would rather have the files directly, that is fine too, and worth saying before delivery rather than after.
Questions I am asked
Can we take only the sciences?
Yes, and it is the most common shape. Biology, Chemistry and Physics is three modules, £350. Candidates sit Mathematics 1 plus one other module at most universities, so a science department often wants the science modules alone and leaves the mathematics to the maths department, or to a second pack.
Can we keep using it in later years?
The pack stays yours and there is no licence to renew, so nothing stops you. What changes is what it can tell you: a paper is unseen once. The year group that sat it will have discussed it afterwards, and its questions are never issued again, so as a measurement it works for one cohort and as practice material it works indefinitely. Departments that mock annually commission a fresh one each year, which is what the returning discount is for.
Why is the free pack only part of a paper?
Because a published paper cannot be a mock. If the whole of it were free it would be worked through by prepared candidates before your sitting, and the result would measure who had found this website. The 50 questions in it are complete, with their worked solutions and mark schemes, and they are there so you can judge the writing rather than take my word for it.
Does the price change with the number of candidates?
No. It is a figure per pack. A larger cohort means more printing at your end and nothing else.
Can we share it with another school in our trust?
Ask me first and it is usually a yes, with the second school recorded alongside you so the questions are retired for both. What breaks the promise to everyone else is a pack circulating unrecorded, because then nobody can truthfully be told their paper is unseen.
What if it is not what we expected?
You will have seen the free pack before spending anything, which is the same writing. If a delivered pack has something wrong with it, tell me and I will fix it and reissue, as I would for any error of mine.
How late can we leave it?
Two weeks from agreeing the scope is comfortable and it has been done inside a week when a sitting was close. The dates that are not movable are the school's own: access arrangements close at 18:00 on 14 September 2026 and registration closes on 28 September 2026, both done by the school rather than the candidate, and the test runs from 12 to 16 October 2026.
What happens next
Reply to the email that brought you here with the modules you want and roughly when you would like to sit it, and I will confirm the figure and a date. If you would rather look first, everything free is linked below and nothing on this site asks for a sign-up.
This page is unlisted. It carries prices, so it is linked from nowhere on the site and is kept out of search engines. You are welcome to forward it to a colleague or to your finance team. Figures hold for the 2026 to 2027 academic year. A pack commissioned for your school is licensed to your school: it is not for republication, resale, or inclusion in a course sold by another provider.
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, dated backwards from your 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 through the preparation season, 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.