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Sitting the ESAT from India, Malaysia or Singapore
The ESAT is the Engineering and Science Admissions Test that Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial and UCL use for some engineering and science courses. If you are applying from India, Malaysia or Singapore, this page sets your school exams against the ESAT sittings, quotes what each university asks of your qualification, and maps your mathematics and physics syllabus onto the ESAT modules.
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The January sitting
The second ESAT sitting runs from Monday 4 to Friday 8 January 2027, and bookings open on Monday 26 October 2026 with UAT-UK, which runs the test (esat-tmua.ac.uk). UAT-UK gives the opening time in UK time on its website; the UK clocks go back on 25 October, so check the time there and convert it to your own. Your universities may set their own booking deadline, so check each one. Results come in your UAT-UK account about four weeks after the test.
Who January is for. Cambridge and Oxford applicants must sit in October; the only exceptions are Cambridge mature colleges with a January deadline and Oxford's Astrophoria Foundation Year. If you are applying only to Imperial or UCL, you can choose January, and UAT-UK says neither sitting gives an advantage. India, Malaysia and Singapore have no fixed test days, so every day of the window is available.
India: the board exams, JEE and what universities ask
- CBSE Class XII. In 2026 the papers ran from 17 February to 10 April: Physics on 20 February, Chemistry on 28 February, Mathematics on 9 March and Biology on 27 March. Both ESAT sittings for 2027 entry, October 2026 and January 2027, come before the months those papers ran in. Check the CBSE website for the 2027 date sheet.
- JEE Main. In 2026, Session 1 ran from 21 to 24 January and Session 2 in April. If you are sitting JEE as well as applying to the UK, check the 2027 dates on the NTA website against the January ESAT window.
- Imperial accepts CBSE and CISCE Class XII at "90% overall across five subjects with a score of 90% in relevant subjects".
- Cambridge accepts CBSE Class XII only for a named list of courses, and that list does not include Engineering or Natural Sciences. For those courses it asks for A levels, the IB, or "5 or more Advanced Placement (AP) Tests at Score 5, plus Grades A1 A1 A1 A1 A1 in relevant Class XII subjects".
Read each course page yourself before you plan around a qualification: the rules above are as the universities state them, and they differ by course.
India: CBSE Mathematics and Physics against the ESAT
The ESAT has five modules: Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Everyone sits Mathematics 1, most people sit two more, and your course decides which. The codes below are the ESAT specification's own, mapped against the CBSE Mathematics (041) and Physics (042) curricula for 2026 to 2027.
- Class 11 Mathematics covers radians and the trigonometric functions (MM4.2, MM4.4), the binomial theorem (MM2.4), sequences and series (MM2), and straight lines and the standard equation of a circle (MM3).
- Class XII Mathematics carries the calculus through definite integrals and differential equations (MM6, MM7).
- The gap: the trapezium rule (MM7.5) is not in the CBSE curriculum text. It is a short topic; learn it on its own.
- CBSE Physics covers everything in the ESAT's Physics module, P1 to P7, and more.
- Chemistry and Biology: go through the ESAT specification line by line against your textbooks and mark anything you have not met.
Malaysia: STPM and the ESAT
The Majlis Peperiksaan Malaysia calendar puts the STPM 2026 Semester 3 written papers on 17, 18, 19, 24, 25 and 26 November 2026: after the October ESAT and before the January one. So the ESAT does not share a week with your Semester 3 papers, whichever sitting you take.
Entry requirements, as each university states them: Cambridge says an STPM offer "would be based on grades AAA"; Imperial asks for a "minimum of AAA including required subjects". Check the course page for the subjects your course names.
Malaysia: STPM Mathematics and Physics against the ESAT
The ESAT has five modules: Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Everyone sits Mathematics 1, most people sit two more, and your course decides which. The codes below are the ESAT specification's own.
- STPM Mathematics T (954), the syllabus used from the Semester 1 2026 examination, covers logarithms, the binomial expansion, sequences and series, analytic geometry, differentiation, integration and differential equations. That is the ground of MM2, MM3, MM5, MM6 and MM7.
- It includes the trapezium rule (12.2, Numerical integration), MM7.5, which several other school curricula leave out. If you took Mathematics T, you have met it.
- STPM Physics (960) covers everything in the ESAT's Physics module, P1 to P7, and more.
- Chemistry and Biology: go through the ESAT specification line by line against your notes and mark anything you have not met.
Singapore: the A level timetable and the ESAT
From the SEAB calendar for the 2026 A level examinations:
| Subject | 2026 papers |
|---|---|
| H2 Mathematics (9758) | 3 and 6 November |
| H2 Further Mathematics (9649) | 16 and 18 November |
| H2 Physics (9478) | practical 19 October; written papers 13, 17 and 27 November |
| H2 Chemistry (9476) | practical 14 October; written papers 10, 12 and 23 November |
| H2 Biology (9477) | practical 22 October; written papers 18, 20 and 26 November |
| Results | 19 to 23 February 2027 (tentative) |
Every written paper falls in November, after the October ESAT and before the January one. If a school exam clashes with your ESAT, UAT-UK's advice is: if you are not applying to Cambridge or Oxford, sit in January instead, and it will not count against you; Cambridge and Oxford applicants should message UAT-UK through their account.
, as each university states them: Cambridge asks for "typically AAAA at H2 Level, or AAA at H2 plus at least a Merit at H3"; Imperial asks for "a minimum of three subjects at H2 level with grade A". Check the course page for the subjects your course names.
Singapore: H2 Mathematics against the ESAT
The ESAT has five modules: Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Everyone sits Mathematics 1, most people sit two more, and your course decides which. The codes below are the ESAT specification's own.
- H2 Mathematics (9758) examines functions and graphs, sequences and series, and calculus, and its topic 5.2 includes the expansion of (1 + x) for any rational , which covers the binomial expansion in MM2.4.
- What H2 assumes rather than teaches. The syllabus lists the laws of logarithms, the equation of a circle, trigonometric identities and basic calculus as assumed knowledge from O Level Additional Mathematics. If you did not take Additional Mathematics, fill those in yourself, in particular the circle equation (MM3.2) and exponentials and logarithms (MM5).
- The gap for every H2 student: the trapezium rule (MM7.5). It is in neither 9758 nor its Additional Mathematics appendix. It is a short topic; learn it on its own.
- H2 goes well beyond the ESAT in places: vectors in three dimensions, complex numbers, Maclaurin series and a full statistics course are not examined in Mathematics 2.
- H2 Physics, Chemistry and Biology assume O Level knowledge, and their topic lists are supersets of the ESAT's Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
Booking and sitting it outside the UK
- Create a UAT-UK account first, with your name exactly as it appears on your ID, then choose the ESAT and your modules and book a centre and time through Pearson VUE.
- You sit it on a computer at a Pearson VUE test centre, not at your school.
- ID: an original, valid document with a photo, in the name you booked with. A passport is accepted at any centre; a government identity card or photocard driving licence only in the country that issued it. ID without a visible signature normally needs a signed bank card as well, but a Malaysian passport is accepted without a signature at a centre in Malaysia.
- The fee depends on where the test centre is, not on your nationality or home; see UAT-UK's website for the amount.
- Extra time is not given because English is not your first language. It is for candidates with a disability, learning difference or medical condition, with evidence.
- Modules cannot be changed, added or removed after booking. You would have to cancel and book again, and your slot may be gone.
Calculators and dictionaries are not allowed in the ESAT, so practise mental arithmetic and estimation early, especially if you rely on a graphing calculator. The quickest way to find your own gaps in Chemistry and Biology is to go through the ESAT specification line by line against your notes and mark anything you have not met.
Where to start
- The ESAT page: what the test is and how to prepare.
- Practice by topic: every question filed under the specification topic and skill it tests.
- Sample Paper 1: five questions from every module, worked in full, as a baseline.
- ESAT Essentials: the formulas and facts to know cold.