ESAT Format and Scoring: 27 Questions, 40 Minutes, the 1–9 Scale

The ESAT is a computer-based test in modules. Everyone takes Mathematics 1; most courses add two more from Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics 2. Each module is 27 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, with no calculator and no negative marking, and each gets its own score on a 1.0–9.0 scale — there is no total and no pass mark. This guide explains the format, how the scale is built and what last cycle's scores looked like.

UAT-UK ESAT Content Specification; Candidate Handbook §8.1; Technical Report 2025-26.

The specification sets out what each module may test and what it assumes. Questions "draw upon a candidate's ability to use and apply their scientific and mathematical knowledge" — mainly application, though you still need the facts to apply. Every module assumes the Maths 1 content, so a Physics or Chemistry question can need algebra, ratio or graph-reading. Units matter: SI prefixes from nano- to giga- are expected, and units with negative indices (m s⁻¹) are used throughout. Maths 2 adds the "MM" topics — functions, sequences, coordinate geometry, trigonometry, exponentials and logarithms, differentiation and integration.

Forty minutes for 27 questions is about 89 seconds each, but questions are not equal. A sensible rhythm — our suggestion — is a first pass taking every question you can do quickly, flagging the rest; a second pass on the flagged ones using the review screen; and a final minute making sure nothing is blank, because a blank can only score zero. Do this inside each module: once you end a module you cannot go back to it, and time you save does not carry into the next.

Each module's raw mark is converted to a score from 1.0 to 9.0, to one decimal place, using a Rasch model that equates the different versions of the test. The scale is anchored to the October cohort: the median October candidate scores 4.5 and the 90th percentile 7.0; January candidates are placed on the same scale. So a 7.0 is not a pass mark or a target — it simply means you did better than about nine in ten October candidates in that module. Because the anchoring is redone each cycle, UAT-UK warns that scores "cannot be directly compared" with earlier cycles, and "the scaled scores are not comparable across modules and there is no aggregate or total score". Practice tests give no scaled score by design.

Two patterns matter for candidates from India. Candidates living outside the UK and EU — the group India falls in — had the highest means: Maths 1 5.21 against 4.07 for UK candidates, Chemistry 5.08 against 4.28. And January candidates scored markedly lower on the shared scale. UAT-UK's report notes that Cambridge's October-only rule drives the October volume, and it says "there is no advantage to sitting in either session" — so our reading is that the gap reflects who sits, not difficulty.

In 2025-26, UAT-UK's technical report says, questions were new and not pre-tested, and several versions ("forms") of each module run across the window. UAT-UK therefore marks and equates all forms together at the end of each window before converting raw marks to the 1–9 scale — which is why results take about four weeks and why a practice test cannot tell you your "score". It also means you cannot appeal a score: "we do not accept appeals of test scores".

UAT-UK's technical report says "most candidates used the full time available", with Biology the least time-pressured module and Mathematics 2 the most. After the first cycle, when Maths 2 "was overall too difficult for many candidates", the difficulty of Maths 2 and Physics was reduced for 2025/26. Questions are new each cycle and not pre-tested, which is why scores are only released after the whole window has been marked and equated — about four weeks after the test.