MAT · Retired exam
The MAT was discontinued, and these papers are withdrawn
Oxford ran the MAT for the last time in 2025. The papers written for it are withdrawn rather than rebuilt, and candidates who would once have sat it now sit the TMUA or the ESAT.
Why these are withdrawn rather than kept
There were ten questions here, and they were sound: every answer key had been proved by computer algebra and every wording read and confirmed. They were made before the ESAT standard existed, though, and the page had to explain a way of working that has since been replaced. Two accounts of how a paper is made, on one site, is one too many.
They are kept rather than deleted, but there is no reason to publish practice for an exam nobody will sit. Anyone sent here by an old link wants the TMUA or the ESAT instead.
What the papers you can use give you
The ESAT papers are published in full and free to use today:
- Built to feel like the real paper. The same length, the same pace, the same kind of traps.
- Every option worked out. Each wrong answer is one a real student reaches, and the solution names the slip.
- Mapped to the specification, question by question. Every question is written against a named sub-topic, so coverage is a fact that can be counted rather than a claim.
- Read by a person. None of the above tells you whether a solution explains anything, which is why every one of them is read as well.
You can see exactly what that produces: the ESAT worked solutions are free, complete, and the same writing these will be.
Useful in the meantime
The MAT overlaps the ESAT more than its name suggests: both reward speed on the same core mathematics, and the method matters more than the topic list on either.
Where to go from here
Every paper, practice question and guide on this site is free to read. These are the things worth doing next.
- Find out where you actually stand - Fifteen questions, twenty minutes, scored instantly, with a worked solution for every one you miss
- Practise by topic at full paper depth - Practice questions in every module, filed by topic and skill, each worked in full
- 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. Places are limited and taken by application
- Books for admissions test preparation - The ESAT Move Register, a book of shortcuts for the ESAT, with a preview of its pages
The diagnostic and the practice questions linked above are free and stay free. One-to-one places are limited and taken by application, not by the hour.