Overview
- The shift replaces many in-house papers with three UAT‑UK tests — ESAT, TARA and TMUA — used by Cambridge and Imperial and run online via Pearson.
- Sixteen Oxford courses, including maths, physics and PPE, will move to those shared exams.
- Classics, philosophy, modern languages, and archaeology and ancient history will drop admissions tests entirely, with CAT, PhilAT, MLAT and AHCAAT discontinued.
- Changes apply to applicants for 2027 entry, following earlier removals of ELAT in 2024 and HAT in 2025.
- Oxford says selection remains rigorous with interviews for all offers and more than 20,000 interviews held each year, while experts are split over the loss of subject-specific testing versus the benefits of streamlining.