ESAT Mock Papers for Schools
Full ESAT mock papers in the current five-module format, written for one school and issued to no other, with worked solutions, mark schemes and answer sheets. Below: what UAT-UK publishes, and our free practice papers in the meantime.
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Full timed papers: in ESAT practice → 27 questions a module against the clock, free to start.
- What it is: a full ESAT mock sitting: Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2, Physics, Chemistry, Biology.
- Format: 27 multiple-choice questions per module, 40 minutes each, no calculator, exactly as the UAT-UK content specification sets out.
- Who it is for: a school or college sitting a cohort under timed conditions.
- Calibration: built to feel like the official paper: the same length, the same pace, the same kind of traps.
ESAT past papers: what UAT-UK publishes
No ESAT sitting has been released yet: the test was first sat in 2024. What UAT-UK, which sets the ESAT, publishes instead is free and worth doing first:
- The official ESAT specimen and practice tests, on Pearson VUE, in the on-screen player the real test uses. The specimen tests explain every answer.
- The official ESAT Guide and the ENGAA and NSAA past paper archive, 2016 to 2023, with answer keys and a note wherever a question falls outside the ESAT specification.
- UAT-UK’s preparation page, with the ESAT specification.
None of those is written in the current five-module format with every question worked. Our free practice papers and our mock packs are.
A pack written for your school
A commissioned pack is 27 questions in every module, with worked solutions, mark schemes and answer sheets, written for your school, recorded against it and issued to nobody else. Its questions are never issued to anyone else or published here. That is the whole point of an unseen paper.
- Written for your school, in its name and dated to your sitting.
- Checked question by question before it is issued.
- Unseen. Your questions are published nowhere, including on this page.
- Ready to sit: printed pack, answer sheets, mark scheme, syllabus reference.
Commission a paper for your school →
Ask a question first: write to hello@mintnib.com with your school, the ESAT modules your candidates sit and roughly how many there are.
Free practice papers in the current format
We do not publish a mock pack on this page. To see how we write and work our questions before you ask about one, start with our free ESAT practice papers: four sample papers, each holding five questions from every module, and 150 practice questions filed by topic and skill, each with a worked solution that names the mistake behind every wrong option. Free, with no account.
They are published for individual candidates working on their own, so they are not licensed for class use, republication or resale. A paper for your cohort is a commissioned pack.
How these papers are made
How the questions are written and checked
Every question in a pack is written by us and checked by a researcher before it is issued.
On every question, every time a paper is built, it is re-derived independently from its own stem, its key confirmed as the only correct option, and every wrong option traced to a slip a real student makes. The pack is then checked against the specification before it goes out.
Nothing goes into a paper until it has passed all of it. That is why the worked solutions can tell a student what reasoning led them to C, rather than only that the answer was B.
One thing worth saying plainly: nobody reads a pack cover to cover in one sitting. Every question is checked on its own, which is a real method with a real limit, and the limit is better stated than implied.
Using a pack with a class. A mock pack is the one thing we make to be printed and sat with a group, which is why it carries mark schemes and answer sheets.
What a printed mock does, and what it does not
A mock paper that overstates its own fidelity is worse than one that admits its limits, so here is where a printed mock differs from the real test.
- It is on paper, which is what makes it usable in a classroom. You can print it, sit a whole cohort under timed conditions, and mark it in the room the same afternoon, with no device and no account for anyone. The ESAT itself is sat on screen at a Pearson test centre, so a printed mock trains the mathematics and the pacing but not the interface. Use the official on-screen practice at least once for that, or one of the free timed subject papers on this site, which run in the browser and mark themselves.
- The worked solutions go further than the published papers do. The historic ENGAA and NSAA papers ship an answer key and nothing else, and while the official specimen tests do explain their answers, no full-length paper in the current format shows its working. So every solution in a pack, the named error behind every wrong option included, is work the official material does not offer at this length.
Frequently asked questions
Are there any ESAT past papers?
No. The ESAT was first sat in 2024 and UAT-UK has not released a past paper for it. What the official site publishes is five subject guides and the 16 historic ENGAA and NSAA papers, 2016 to 2023, each with an answer key, with a note in the papers where a question falls outside the ESAT specification. Those predecessor papers are the closest thing to official practice that exists, and everything else you will find online is a copy of them.
What about the official ESAT specimen questions?
They exist and you should sit them, but they are short. Pearson VUE hosts a specimen test and a sample exam for each of the five subjects, both running in the official on-screen test player, and the specimen tests explain the answer to every question. What they do not give you is a full-length timed sitting: a mock pack is that, on paper, at the official 27 questions in 40 minutes.
Are ENGAA and NSAA past papers useful for the ESAT?
Yes, and worth sitting: the ESAT draws on the same material. Two limits are worth knowing. They are in the old format rather than the current five modules of 27 questions in 40 minutes, and they ship an answer key with no worked solutions, so a question you get wrong tells you only that you were wrong. Our papers are written in the current format, and every question is worked.
Where are free ESAT practice papers with worked solutions?
On our ESAT practice papers page, without an account: four sample papers of five questions from every module, and 150 practice questions filed by topic, each with a worked solution. There is no sign-up, no email address to give and nothing to pay. A commissioned paper carries 27 questions per module and is written for one school at a time.
Is this an official ESAT paper?
No, and no unofficial paper should claim to be. Our papers are independent of UAT-UK, and calibrated against the official material rather than against an opinion. The section above sets out where a printed mock differs from the real test.
Can a school set a pack as a timed mock?
Yes, and it is built for that. Each module is 40 minutes, stated on the paper itself, and the pack carries separate answer sheets so papers can be reused and a mark scheme that is keys only, so marking needs no subject knowledge. It is not for resale or republication.
Will candidates have seen these questions before?
No. A commissioned pack is written for your school, recorded against it, and issued to nobody else and published nowhere.