Which ESAT modules do I need for 2027 entry?

ESAT module requirements by course

Choose modules from the official requirement for every course on your UCAS shortlist. Read the UAT-UK April 2026 course list (PDF) →

Last verified 4 August 2026.

Key dates, deadlines and cost

These are the October 2026 sitting dates for 2027 entry. Access arrangements and bursaries must be requested before you book — they cannot be added to a booking you have already paid for.

Cost: £78 for candidates in the UK and Republic of Ireland, £133 elsewhere. UK candidates in financial need can apply for a UAT-UK bursary voucher and sit free of charge.

Sitting in China, Hong Kong or Macau? Your ESAT window is narrower than everyone else’s: 12–13 October only.

The January 2027 sitting (4–8 January) is not available to Oxford or Cambridge applicants, other than Cambridge mature applicants at a college with a January deadline and Oxford Astrophoria Foundation Year applicants. Imperial and UCL applicants may use either sitting; there is no advantage to either, and you may only sit once per admissions cycle.

The five modules, and what each one covers

Every module is 27 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, sat back-to-back at a Pearson test centre. Most candidates sit three modules, so the test runs 120 minutes in total. You cannot use a calculator or a dictionary. There is no negative marking, so answer every question.

The topic lists below are the section headings of UAT-UK’s own free ESAT Guides. Those guides are the definitive statement of what is examinable, they are free, and they are the only preparation material the exam board itself publishes.

How ESAT scoring works

You receive a separate score for every module you sit, reported on a scale from 1.0 (low) to 9.0 (high) to one decimal place. If you sit Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics, you get three scores, and universities can look at each one on its own.

• 4.5 is the typical score. UAT-UK designs the scale so that a typical candidate scores around 4.5, with the median fixed at that point each year.
• Roughly 10% of candidates score above 7.0. The 90th percentile is fixed at 7.0, so a 7.0 means about the same thing every year regardless of how hard that year’s paper was.
• The scale is capped at both ends. Low scores are capped at 1.0 and high scores at 9.0, which is why a noticeable cluster of candidates sits exactly on 9.0.
• There is no pass mark and no grade boundary. Scores are statistically equated across test versions and sittings so that candidates who sat different papers can be compared fairly.
• Scores cannot be appealed. UAT-UK does not accept appeals against a test score.

Because the median is pinned to 4.5 every year, your score is a statement about where you sit relative to the other people who took the ESAT — not a percentage of questions you answered correctly.

What the score distributions actually look like

UAT-UK publishes the real distribution of scores for every module. The charts below are those distributions for the most recent completed cycle — the October 2025 and January 2026 sittings. The dashed line marks 4.5, the typical score.

Figures read from UAT-UK’s published charts; bands are approximate to within about half a percentage point.

Two things worth noticing

Mathematics 1 is far more tightly packed than the science modules. Only about 6.5% of candidates score below 3.0 in Mathematics 1, against roughly 19.5% in Physics and 21% in Biology. Everyone sits Mathematics 1, and the pack is dense around the middle, so a handful of extra marks there moves you further up the order than the same marks would in a science module.

The gap just below 9.0 is an artefact of the cap, not a wall. In Chemistry and Biology no candidate landed in the 8.5 band at all, which can read as though the top of the scale is unreachable. It is not: about 3.2% of Chemistry candidates and 2.7% of Biology candidates scored 9.0, because scores above the ceiling are capped there.

What each university does with your score

None of the four universities publishes a cut-off score, a shortlisting threshold, or a target to aim for. Any site quoting you a specific number to hit is guessing. Imperial, which publishes more data than the others, explicitly warns that its historic figures “should not be taken as indicative of requirements or outcomes for the current or future admissions cycles”.

What you can take from the distributions above is where a score places you among the people who sat the same module — which is a genuinely useful thing to know, and is different from a threshold you must clear.

Choosing modules when your courses disagree

Most candidates apply to more than one ESAT course, and the courses do not always ask for the same modules. UAT-UK’s rule is specific, and it catches people out:

• If one course has a free choice of modules and another has compulsory ones, the compulsory ones win. Your selection must be dictated by the course with the fixed requirement. Register for the wrong combination and your application to that course may be invalid.
• If two courses have compulsory requirements that genuinely conflict, do not guess. Contact UAT-UK through your online account before booking and ask.
• Modules cannot be changed or added after booking. Changing them means cancelling and re-booking, which is subject to test centre availability — your preferred time and location may be gone.

Worked example: you apply to Cambridge Natural Sciences (Mathematics 1 plus any two) and Oxford Engineering Science (Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics). Oxford’s requirement is fixed, so you sit Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics — that combination satisfies Cambridge too.

What to do now

1. Check every ESAT course on your UCAS shortlist in the table above, and settle your module combination using the rules in choosing modules when your courses disagree.
2. If you need access arrangements (deadline 14 September) or a bursary (deadline 21 September), apply now — neither can be added to a booking you have already made.
3. Book the correct modules and a Pearson test centre before 28 September 2026, 18:00 UK time. Test centres fill up, so booking early gets you a closer centre and a better time.
4. Work through the free official UAT-UK guides for the modules you are sitting — they are the exam board’s own statement of what is examinable.
5. Diagnose your timing and start timed practice. 27 questions in 40 minutes is roughly 89 seconds per question, with no calculator.

Related reading

• What does your ESAT score actually mean? — how Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial and UCL use the number.
• Oxford is replacing the PAT with the ESAT for 2027 entry — what changes for engineering and physics applicants.
• ESAT vs PAT: what actually changed — format, content and preparation differences.
• ESAT vs ENGAA and NSAA — which old past papers are still worth doing.
• When should preparation start? — a realistic timeline.