Retired after October 2025 · Oxford now uses the ESAT
The PAT, and What Replaced It
Oxford retired this test, and what it rewarded still matters. Physics and mathematics in one paper, weighted towards whether you can model a situation rather than whether you can recall a formula. Estimation, dimensional reasoning and knowing which effect to ignore are what an Oxford physics interview asks for too, which is why this archive is still worth working.
Taught by Lucas Rey · Oxford DPhil candidate, Rolls-Royce sponsored · Cambridge MRes
Not sure where to start? 5 places to go
Start with your question
Why visitors arrive: You are looking at the PAT because an old guide, an old reading list or an older sibling mentioned it, or because you are preparing for an Oxford physics interview. The test itself was retired after October 2025.
Your question: The PAT is retired, so what do I sit instead, and is this material still worth working?
You may also be asking
- Oxford retired the PAT, so what do I sit instead?
- How much of the PAT is maths rather than physics?
- What level of physics is assumed?
- How important is estimation?
- Are there free practice questions?
- How does it compare with the ESAT?
Where to go next
- Where to start in the archive: Which paper first, and what each one is for
- PAT mock paper: Twenty questions with worked solutions
- ESAT library: Hand-checked physics and maths on overlapping content
- ESAT diagnostic: A quick read on where your physics stands
- Enquire about one-to-one: Direct PAT preparation
- What it was: the Physics Aptitude Test, used by Oxford until it was retired, for Physics, Engineering Science and their joint schools. Oxford Physics keeps the real past papers online and says they remain useful preparation for interview, which is what this material is for now.
- Published here: no questions yet: the questions written for it are withdrawn rather than rebuilt, because the test stopped running.
- Also here: the ESAT library, 150 questions written and checked by hand, which is the deeper resource on this site.
- Where the real papers are: Oxford Physics still publishes the PAT past papers up to 2023. Those are the source; everything here is practice written around them.
- One-to-one preparation: by application, limited places.
What the PAT tested
[01]
Physics and maths together
Roughly half of each. The mathematics was a tool rather than the subject: it appeared because the physics needed it. The same is true of the ESAT.
[02]
Modelling over recall
Questions tended to describe a situation and ask what happens, rather than naming the topic. Deciding which physics applied was part of the question, and that is exactly what an interview asks.
[03]
Estimation was a real skill here
Order-of-magnitude reasoning and sanity checks were rewarded. A candidate who can tell that an answer is a thousand times too large has a tool most do not, and no admissions test has made that less useful.
How to use this archive
- Check every answer against reality. Before writing a number down, ask whether it is the right size. A person cannot weigh 4 kg and a car cannot accelerate at 200 m s per second. This catches more than any formula does.
- Work in symbols, substitute last. Carrying algebra to the end keeps the units checkable and often reveals that a quantity cancels, which is why it was never given to you in the first place.
- Do not neglect the mathematics half. Candidates preparing for a physics test often prepared only physics. The mathematics was half the paper and the easier half to improve, and that carries straight over to the ESAT.
- Then go and do the ESAT material. This archive is interview practice and physics problem solving. If you have a test to sit, the ESAT library on this site is hand-checked and far deeper than anything here.
Practice material on this site
The PAT papers written for this site are withdrawn rather than rebuilt, because Oxford retired the test after the October 2025 sitting. What is below stays up as free physics and mathematics practice, and Oxford Physics keeps the real past papers online and says they remain useful for interview preparation. The ESAT papers and worked solutions are free and complete today, and are where preparation for a live test now belongs.
- Mock: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 2: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 3: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 4: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 5: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 6: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 7: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 8: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 9: Physics and Mathematics
- Exercise Paper 10: Physics and Mathematics
Found an error in one of them? Tell me and it will be fixed or withdrawn.
What the practice material covers
Counted from the questions themselves, not transcribed from a specification. For what is actually examinable in your cycle, check the official specification: it is revised between cycles and no tutor's summary of it should be trusted over the source.
| Topic | Questions |
|---|---|
| Integration | 10 |
| Differentiation | 9 |
| Probability | 9 |
| Problem solving and estimation | 8 |
| Series | 8 |
| Electric circuits | 7 |
| Energy and power | 7 |
| Estimation | 7 |
| Geometry | 7 |
| Graphs | 7 |
| Kinematics | 7 |
| Trigonometry | 7 |
| Waves | 7 |
| Optics | 6 |
| Quadratics | 6 |
| Binomial expansion | 5 |
| Circular motion | 5 |
| Numerical reasoning | 5 |
| Dimensional analysis | 4 |
| Coordinate geometry | 3 |
| Electric fields and charge | 3 |
| Exponentials and logarithms | 3 |
| Forces and Newton's laws | 3 |
| Forces and equilibrium | 3 |
| Indices | 3 |
| Radioactivity | 3 |
| Atomic structure | 2 |
| Circle geometry | 2 |
| Energy, work and power | 2 |
| Matter and pressure | 2 |
| Momentum and collisions | 2 |
| Momentum and energy | 2 |
| Simple machines | 2 |
| Algebraic manipulation | 1 |
| Charge and electron flow | 1 |
| Completing the square | 1 |
| Density and buoyancy | 1 |
| Dimensional reasoning | 1 |
| Discriminants and tangency | 1 |
| Estimation and dimensional reasoning | 1 |
| Exponential equations | 1 |
| Exponential growth and decay | 1 |
| Friction and terminal velocity | 1 |
| Friction, springs and machines | 1 |
| Gravitation and orbits | 1 |
| Gravity and orbits | 1 |
| Inequalities | 1 |
| Logarithms | 1 |
| Matter and density | 1 |
| Matter and thermal energy | 1 |
| Modulus inequalities | 1 |
| Motion graphs | 1 |
| Orbits and satellites | 1 |
| Percentages | 1 |
| Polynomials and factorisation | 1 |
| Polynomials and the remainder theorem | 1 |
| Problem solving from supplied information | 1 |
| Pulleys and connected bodies | 1 |
| Quadratic inequalities | 1 |
| Ratio and proportion | 1 |
| Resistive forces | 1 |
| Scaling and estimation | 1 |
| Scaling arguments | 1 |
| Simultaneous equations | 1 |
| Surds | 1 |
| The Solar System and orbits | 1 |
| Units and numerical reasoning | 1 |
200 questions across 67 topics. Thin coverage of a topic here does not mean it is unimportant in the real test; it means this practice set is small.
Common questions
- Is the PAT still used? No. Oxford retired it after the October 2025 sitting. For 2027 entry Oxford uses the ESAT for Physics, Physics and Philosophy and Engineering Science, the TMUA for its mathematics courses, and other tests for other subjects, so confirm your own course against Oxford's admissions-tests page. Oxford Physics still keeps the PAT past papers online and says they remain useful for interview preparation, which is what this page is for now.
- If I am applying to Oxford for physics or engineering, what do I actually sit? The ESAT. It is the same test Cambridge and Imperial use, so a candidate applying to more than one of them prepares one paper rather than two. There is a full ESAT library on this site, written and checked by hand, which is a far deeper resource than this archive.
- Are the PAT past papers still worth working through? Yes, for two reasons. Oxford Physics says so itself for interview preparation, and the physics overlaps enough with the ESAT that the practice transfers. What does not transfer is the format and the timing, so treat them as problems rather than as a mock.
- How much of the PAT was mathematics rather than physics? Roughly half. Candidates preparing for a physics test often prepared only physics, and the mathematics was both half the paper and the easier half to improve. That is still true of the ESAT, so the habit is worth keeping.
- What did the PAT reward that an exam syllabus does not? Modelling and estimation. Questions tended to describe a situation and ask what happens rather than naming a topic, so deciding which physics applied was part of the question. Order-of-magnitude reasoning, dimensional checks and knowing which effect to ignore mattered more than recall, and all of that is what an interview asks for.
- Are there practice papers on this site for the PAT? No, and they are not being written. Oxford retired the PAT after the October 2025 sitting, so the papers for it are withdrawn rather than rebuilt. Oxford Physics keeps the real past papers online and says they remain useful for interview preparation, which is what this archive is for now.
Sitting more than one of these?
Candidates often sit two admissions tests in the same cycle, and the overlap is larger than it looks: the pure mathematics is shared, and the habits that earn marks in one paper usually earn them in another. Each page below covers what its test rewards and what free practice exists for it.
- TMUA: Test of Mathematics for University Admission Two papers and Multiple choice and Pure mathematics
- MAT: Mathematics Admissions Test Retired after 2025 and Oxford now uses the TMUA
- STEP: Sixth Term Examination Paper Cambridge and Warwick and STEP 2 and STEP 3 and Long-form proof
- ESAT: Engineering and Science Admissions Test The deepest library on this site, written and checked by hand
Part of
This page sits within the broader knowledge structure on lucasrey.com:
- Teaching - Engineering-informed teaching, mentoring, and quantitative reasoning.
Connected work
Related content from the same research and engineering work:
Where to go from here
Every paper, practice set 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
- Work a practice set at full paper depth - Ten sets of five questions, two in every module, each one 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 sets linked above are free and stay free. One-to-one places are limited and taken by application, not by the hour.