Start with the official specimen papers — then the problem becomes what to do next, because the ESAT is new and the back catalogue is shallow. This guide explains what the test actually asks of you, and gives you a timed paper for every module: free, and with a report naming the specific skills to fix rather than just a mark.
UAT-UK publishes official preparation material, and it should be the first thing you use: a content specification setting out exactly what can be assessed, an ESAT guide to the underlying maths and science, specimen and practice tests through Pearson, and an archive of past papers.
What the ESAT does not have is depth. It replaced the older ENGAA and NSAA tests only recently, so there is nothing like the twenty-year back catalogue you would get with an A-level subject — and once you have sat the official papers under timed conditions, they are spent.
That scarcity changes what good preparation looks like. Rather than hoarding papers to sit near the exam, the useful move early on is to find out which skills are actually weak, fix those, and keep a paper or two in reserve for timed rehearsal later.
Every JomExam diagnostic is written to the real format — 27 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, no calculator — so the timing pressure you feel in practice is the timing pressure on the day.
The ESAT is computer-based and sat at a Pearson VUE test centre. It is built from separate 40-minute modules, each containing 27 multiple-choice questions, and you sit your modules back to back on the day.
Everyone takes Mathematics 1. Which further modules you take depends on the course you have applied to, and you will normally sit two or three modules in total — so around 80 to 120 minutes of testing.
There is no calculator and no dictionary. There is also no negative marking: you do not lose marks for a wrong answer, so leaving a question blank is never better than guessing.
Each module is scored separately and reported on a scale from 1 (low) to 9 (high), to one decimal place. There is no pass mark and no published cut-off — universities read the score alongside the rest of your application.
| Course | Modules |
|---|---|
| Cambridge — Engineering | Maths 1, Maths 2, Physics |
| Cambridge — Natural Sciences, Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Veterinary Medicine | Maths 1, plus two from Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths 2 |
| Imperial — Engineering (Aeronautics, Civil & Environmental, Electrical & Electronic, Mechanical) and Physics | Maths 1, Maths 2, Physics |
| Imperial — Engineering (Chemical, Design) | Maths 1, Maths 2 |
| Imperial — Life Sciences | Maths 1, Chemistry, Biology |
Sitting a paper and marking it out of 27 tells you almost nothing you can act on. A score of 15 does not tell you whether you are losing marks to shaky algebra, to misreading multi-step questions, or simply to running out of time.
The more useful approach is to treat the first paper as a diagnostic rather than a rehearsal. Sit it under real conditions, then look at the pattern: which skills the wrong answers cluster around, and how long you spent on the questions you got wrong.
Every JomExam diagnostic produces exactly that — a per-skill breakdown with your timing on each question, and for each wrong answer the specific misconception that answer represents. Not "you found mechanics hard", but the particular faulty step you took.
Mathematics 1 is compulsory for every candidate and is the foundation the other modules lean on, so it is the sensible place to start. Mathematics 2 goes further into calculus, logic and proof. Physics, Chemistry and Biology each test applied, multi-step reasoning rather than recall.
Set A of every module is free to sit. There is no trick to it: sit one, read the report, and you will know where you stand before you spend months revising.