Free · 6 exercise papers, 120 questions · A sequence, not a schedule

PAT: Start Here

Every other preparation plan on this site works back from a sitting. This one deliberately does not. Oxford retired the Physics Aptitude Test after the October 2025 sitting, so there is no PAT date left to work back from, and putting one here would mean inventing it. What remains is a good archive of physics and mathematics problems, and an order to work it in.

Sitting a test this cycle? Start with the ESAT plan
Full PAT hub

Why this page carries no dates

The ESAT, TMUA and STEP plans on this site are anchored to a sitting: each phase gets a calendar band and the page tells you how long is left. That shape is right when there is a paper to sit. It is wrong here. Oxford retired the PAT after the October 2025 sitting and now uses the ESAT for Physics, Physics and Philosophy and Engineering Science, so there is no PAT sitting to anchor anything to.

Putting a date here anyway would mean making one up, on a page somebody is planning their months around. So the phases below are ordered by what to do first, second and third, and each one is labelled with the effort that gets you to it rather than the week it falls in. Nothing here expires. Work at whatever pace you have.

If you do have a test to sit this cycle, you want a plan that is dated. The last phase below hands you to the ESAT preparation plan, which is anchored to a sitting that exists. You do not have to wait until the end to go there.

  • Nothing here is new material. Every link goes to a page already published on this site. This page is the sequence, not the content.
  • The check at the end of a phase is what moves you on. With no deadline, it is the only honest signal you have. Each phase names what finishing it looks like, and that is the part to take seriously.
  • Start wherever you are. If the methods are already familiar, go straight to the exercise papers. If a phase names a page that is not published yet, it does not appear at all, so what you can see below is what exists.
  • This is not preparation for the PAT. Nobody sits the PAT now. It is physics problem solving and interview practice, which is what the old papers are genuinely good for, and it is a useful run at the physics the ESAT asks for.
  • The real past papers are the better source. Oxford Physics still publishes them, they are free, and everything here is practice written around them rather than a replacement for them.

The sequence

Each phase names what you are trying to achieve, what to work through, and how to tell when you are done with it. The order is the part that matters; the pace is yours.

This sequence carries no dates and no deadline, because there is no PAT sitting left to work back from. Take the phases in order, at whatever pace you have, and use the check at the end of each one to decide when to move on.

  1. [01] · Before anything else

    Work out what you are actually working, and why

    Start with the hub. It says what the test was, why the archive is still worth the hours, and what it is not. Read the quality assurance page alongside it, because the practice material here was drafted with AI assistance and the ESAT library on this site was not.

    Done when you can say in one sentence what you are using this archive for, and you know whether you have a test to sit this cycle.

  2. [02] · A first pass, unhurried

    Read the methods before you work a single question

    Read the method library straight through once, without trying to memorise it. The point of a first pass is recognition: the next time a question has one of these shapes, you want it to look familiar rather than new.

    Done when you can name the method a question is asking for before you have worked out how to start it, more often than not.

  3. [03] · Once the methods look familiar

    Find out where you actually are

    Sit the self-assessment and write the result down, split into physics and mathematics. Candidates preparing for a physics paper tend to prepare only physics, and the mathematics half is usually the half with more room in it.

    Done when you have two scores written down, physics and mathematics, and you know which of the two is behind.

  4. [04] · A first pass through the archive

    Work your first exercise paper slowly, in symbols

    One paper, no clock. Carry the algebra to the end and put numbers in last, and ask whether every answer is the right size before you accept it. Working slowly here is what makes working quickly possible later.

    Done when you have attempted every question and read every solution, including the solutions to the ones you got right.

  5. [05] · Once a paper no longer surprises you

    Work the rest of the archive, one paper at a time

    Take them in the order below. Give yourself a fixed amount of time per question, chosen by you, and keep it the same from paper to paper so the papers stay comparable with each other.

    Done when you are consistently finishing a paper inside the time you set yourself, without leaving questions blank.

  6. [06] · When you are consistently finishing

    Go back over the methods, then measure again

    No new papers. Re-read the method library against your own list of mistakes, then sit the self-assessment a second time and compare it with the result you wrote down at the start.

    Done when the second result is clearly ahead of the first. If it is not, the gap is a method problem rather than a volume problem, and more papers will not close it.

  7. [07] · The handover

    If you have a test to sit, the sequence ends here and continues there

    Everything above is problem solving and interview preparation, because the PAT is not coming back. If you are applying to Oxford for Physics, Physics and Philosophy or Engineering Science, the test you sit is the ESAT, and the ESAT plan is anchored to a sitting that exists. Go and pick it up.

    Done when you have opened the ESAT plan and found the phase it says you are in.

Three habits worth more than the questions themselves

[01]

Work in symbols, substitute last

Carrying the algebra to the end keeps the units checkable and often shows that a quantity cancels, which is usually why you were never given it. Putting numbers in early throws that away and buys nothing.

[02]

Check the size of every answer

Before you write a number down, ask whether it is plausible. A person cannot weigh four kilograms. This catches more mistakes than any formula does, and it is the habit an interviewer notices first.

[03]

Do not skip the mathematics half

Candidates preparing for a physics paper often prepared only physics. The mathematics was roughly half of it and the easier half to improve, and that stays true of the test that replaced it.

Where this sequence ends

It ends by sending you somewhere else, and that is the honest ending. If you are applying to Oxford for Physics, Physics and Philosophy or Engineering Science, the test you sit is the ESAT, and the same test is used by Cambridge and Imperial, so one paper can cover more than one application. Confirm what your own course requires on the official admissions-tests page rather than trusting any summary of it, this one included.

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