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The MAT, and What Replaced It
Oxford retired this test, and what it rewarded still matters. The MAT was built so that the right observation collapses the work and the wrong route is long but not impossible, which is why grinding through it is how candidates ran out of time. That habit is what the TMUA asks for now.
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This test has been retired
Oxford ran the Mathematics Admissions Test for the last time in 2025 and now uses the TMUA for its mathematics courses. Candidates who would once have sat the MAT now sit the TMUA or the ESAT. Which test your own course needs changes between cycles, so check your course on the university's own admissions-tests page rather than trusting any summary of it, including this one.
If you are applying now, the page you want is TMUA preparation
- What it was: the Mathematics Admissions Test, used by Oxford for Mathematics, Computer Science and their joint schools, and by Imperial for several mathematics courses, until Oxford ran it for the last time in 2025.
- Published here: no questions yet: the questions written for it are withdrawn rather than rebuilt, because the test stopped running.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, with worked solutions, which is the deeper resource on this site.
- Which test your course needs now: this changed when the MAT was retired, and it changes between cycles, so check your own course on the university's admissions-tests page rather than any tutor's summary of it, including this one.
What the MAT actually tests
Two halves that reward different things
A multiple-choice section, then longer questions where the working is marked. The first is about speed and recognition; the second is about writing an argument someone else can follow.
A-level Maths content only
No Further Maths is assumed. Everything the paper needs, you have already met. The difficulty is entirely in how the content is combined.
Insight, not syllabus
A MAT question typically has one observation that makes it short: a hidden factorisation, a symmetry, a substitution. Finding it is the skill being tested.
How to prepare for it
- Look before you calculate. Spend the first thirty seconds of every question looking for structure. Coefficients 1, 4, 6, 4, 1 are a binomial expansion. A denominator that never vanishes is a hint about range. The habit of looking is worth more than any individual technique.
- Write the long section properly. Marks in the written section are for the argument, not the answer. A correct final line with no reasoning scores badly, and a wrong final line with sound reasoning scores well. Practise writing, not just solving.
- Use the official past papers. Oxford publishes them with solutions, and they are the single best preparation resource for this test. The mock below is extra practice, not a replacement.
Practice material on this site
The MAT papers written for this site are withdrawn rather than rebuilt, because Oxford stopped running the test. What is below stays up as free mathematics practice, since the thinking the MAT asked for is what the TMUA asks for too. The ESAT papers and worked solutions are free and complete today, and the TMUA pages are where preparation for a live test now belongs.
Found an error in one of them? Tell us at hello@mintnib.com 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 | 2 |
| Polynomials and completing the square | 2 |
| Coordinate geometry | 1 |
| Exponentials and graphs | 1 |
| Inequalities | 1 |
| Number theory and divisibility | 1 |
| Sequences | 1 |
| Trigonometry | 1 |
10 questions across 8 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 MAT still used? No. Oxford ran it for the last time in 2025 and now uses the TMUA for its mathematics courses. Candidates who would once have sat the MAT now sit the TMUA or the ESAT. Which test your own course needs changes between cycles, so confirm your course against the university's own admissions-tests page rather than any summary of it, including this one.
- If you are applying for mathematics now, what do you actually sit? For Oxford mathematics courses, the TMUA. There is a TMUA section on this site with free practice and worked solutions. If you are applying for engineering or the sciences, the ESAT is the one to look at, and the ESAT library here is the deeper resource.
- Do you need Further Maths for the MAT? No. The MAT assumes A-level Maths content only. What makes it hard is that questions are built so the right observation collapses the work and the obvious route is long.
- How should you practise for a test that rewards insight? Spend the first thirty seconds of every question looking for structure before calculating anything: a hidden factorisation, a symmetry, a substitution, a denominator that never vanishes. The habit of looking is more transferable than any individual technique.
- Are marks given for working? In the longer written section, yes, and they are the majority of the marks in it. A correct final line with no reasoning scores badly. Practise writing arguments, not just reaching answers.
- What is the single best preparation resource? Oxford publishes its official past papers with solutions, and they are better preparation than anything else including the mock on this site. Use the mock as extra volume once you have worked the real ones.
- Are there practice papers on this site for the MAT? No, and they are not being written. Oxford ran the MAT for the last time in 2025, so the papers for it are withdrawn rather than rebuilt. The mock Section A already on this site stays up as free mathematics practice. If you are applying now, the TMUA pages are the ones to use.
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
- PAT: Physics Aptitude Test Retired after October 2025 and Oxford now uses the ESAT
- 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