Admissions Assessments

Many applicants will be required to take an Admissions Assessment as part of their application. Some of these assessments take place in the weeks before your interview (if you are invited), but for many subjects they take place before you received an interview invitation - at schools, colleges and other designated assessment centres. For these pre-registration assessments, you will need to be registered well in advance (please check subject pages for details). Your performance in the assessments will not be considered in isolation, but will be taken into account alongside the other elements of your application.

Important changes to pre-registration required admissions assessment dates for the 2024 application round (entry 2025 or 2026)

At Cambridge, pre-registration required tests will be used for the following courses
● ESAT (Engineering and Science Admissions Test): Engineering, Natural Sciences, Chemical
Engineering and Veterinary Medicine courses
● TMUA (the Test of Mathematics for University Admission): for Economics and Computer
Science courses
● UCAT: for undergraduate and graduate-entry Medicine 
● LNAT: Law

Applicants to Cambridge MUST take the October sitting, even if a test has a January sitting. 

Applicants to other courses may need to complete a Cambridge College registered assessment.
Details of these assessments will be confirmed in March 2024 as part of the annual update.

To find out more about admissions assessments see www.cam.ac.uk/assessment

The information below is still for the previous admissions round. This has not been updated yet for the application round opening this year for entry in 2025/26.

To find out whether or not you need to register for a written assessment, check the details for each subject below:
 

Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic

Candidates for ASNC at King's College are not required to take a written assessment. 

Archaeology

Students who are invited for interview in Archaeology at King's are asked to take a Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered. You do not need to register for this assessment as it will be organised automatically by the College if you are invited for interview and details will be provided directly to you.

Architecture

Although there are no pre-interview assessments for Architecture at King's, if you are invited for interview you will be asked to take an Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered which lasts one hour. You do not need to register for this assessment as it will be organised automatically by the College if you are invited for interview. The Assessment format is an essay/text response element and normally lasts 60 minutes.

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Candidates for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at King's are not required to take a written admissions assessment.

If you are applying for a European language alongside your Asian & Middle Eastern language, you will be asked to take the Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered for MML, which lasts one hour. It consists of a discursive response in your Foreign Language (40 minutes) and a discursive response in English (20 minutes). You do not need to register for this written assessment as it will be organised automatically by the College if you are invited for interview. Students who are not applying for a European language do not take this assessment.

Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology

All candidates for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at King's are required to take the Written Assessment: Pre-Registration Required for Natural Sciences (NSAA), which will take place in schools and other assessment centres. You need to be registered by 29th September in 2023! The assessment will take place on 18th October in 2023. 

 

Classics

All applicants for Classics are required to take an assessment if shortlisted for interview. The skills the College is looking for will vary depending on whether you have applied for the three-year course or the four-year course. Both assessments will be in the format of an interview, rather than a written assessment.

The assessment for the three-year course will explore your current language skills in Latin or Greek. Please note that if you are studying both Latin and Greek, you will be expected to take the Latin assessment. The Greek assessment will only be available for those who are studying Greek but not Latin. During this assessment, you will be asked to answer questions on a passage written in Latin (or Greek). The assessment for the four-year course will assess your general aptitude for learning a classical language.

You will not need to register in advance for these assessments and the College will provide details directly to you.

Computer Science

Applicants for Computer Science will need to take a Written Assessment: Pre-Registration Required at an authorised test centre local to them. This assessment will be the Test of Mathematics for University Admission (TMUA). You must be registered in advance to take the assessment. The TMUA consists of Mathematical thinking part (75 minute) and a Mathematical Reasoning part (75 minutes). You need to be registered by 30th September in 2023! The assessment will take place on 18th October in 2023. 

Design

Although there are no pre-interview assessments for Design at King's, if you are invited for interview you will be asked to take a Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered which lasts one hour. You do not need to register for this assessment as it will be organised automatically by the College if you are invited for interview. The Assessment format is an essay/text response element and normally lasts 60 minutes.

Economics

All candidates for Economics at King's are required to take the Written Assessment: Pre-Registration Required for Economics, the Test of Mathematics for University Admission (TMUA), which will take place in schools and other assessment centres. You must be registered in advance to take the assessment. The TMUA consists of Mathematical thinking part (75 minute) and a Mathematical Reasoning part (75 minutes). You need to be registered by 30th September in 2023! The assessment will take place on 18th October in 2023. 

Engineering

All candidates for Engineering are required to take the Written Assessment: Pre-Registration Required for Engineering (ENGAA), which will take place in schools and other assessment centres. You must be registered in advance to take the assessment.You need to be registered by 29th September in 2023! The assessment will take place on 18th October in 2023. 

 

English

If you are invited for interview, candidates for English are required to take a Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered for English. Further details will be provided to you directly by the college. 

Geography

Candidates for Geography at King's are not required to take a written admissions assessment for Geography.

History

Candidates for History at King's are not required to take a written admissions assessment.

History and Modern Languages

Candidates for History and Modern Languages are not required to take a written admissions assessment for History.

If you are invited for interview and are applying for a language that you have already studied at A-level or equivalent, you will be asked to take the Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered for MML, which lasts one hour. You do not need to register for this written assessment as it will be organised automatically by the College if you are invited for interview. 

History and Politics

Candidates for History and Politics at King's are not required to take a written admissions assessment.

History of Art

Applicants who are invited for interview for History of Art are asked to take the Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered, which lasts one hour. You do not need to register for this written assessment as it will be organised automatically by the College if you are invited for interview.

Human, Social and Political Sciences

Candidates for HSPS at King's who are invited for interview will sit be required to sit a Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered. Details will be shared with you directly.  

Law

All applicants for Law are required to take a Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered (LNAT) which will take place in schools and other assessment centres. You must be registered in advance to take the assessment.

Linguistics

All applicants for Linguistics are required to take a Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered if shortlisted for interview. You will not need to register in advance for this assessment and the college will provide details directly to you.

Mathematics

Candidates invited for interviews at King's sit a Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered set by the Director of Studies. You do not need to register for this and details will be provided to you directly.

Medicine

All candidates for Medicine are required to take the BMAT Written Assessment: Pre-Registration Required, which will take place in schools and other assessment centres. You must be registered in advance (separately to your UCAS application) to take the assessment. You need to be registered by 29th September in 2023! The assessment will take place on 18th October in 2023. 

The BMAT is not an entrance examination and we have no set requirements for the scores achieved. We look at each applicant's BMAT result in the context of their whole application including their educational record, school reference, and performance at interview.

Modern and Medieval Languages

Applicants who are invited for interview in Modern and Medieval Languages are also required to take the Written Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered for MML, which lasts one hour. You do not need to register for this written assessment as it will be organised automatically by the College if you are invited for interview.

Music

There is no written assessment for Music candidates at King's. 

Natural Sciences

All candidates for Natural Sciences are required to take the Written Assessment: Pre-Registration Required, which will take place in schools and other assessment centres. You must be registered in advance (separately to your UCAS application) to take the assessment. You need to be registered by 30th September in 2023! The assessment will take place on 18th October in 2023. 

Philosophy

Applicants who are invited for interview in Philosophy are also required to take a Written-Assessment: Cambridge-College Registered, which lasts one hour. You do not need to register for this written assessment as it will be organised automatically by the College if you are invited for interview.

Psychological and Behavioural Sciences

Candidates for Psychological and Behavioural Sciences at King's are not required to take a written admissions assessment for PBS.

Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion

There is no longer any requirement for Theology candidates to sit an assessment before interview.

Registration

Students self-register for the test – their school cannot do this for them. You will need an authorized assessment centre to register with and provide a place for you to take your pre-interview written assessment. Tests will be taken at a local test centre, rather than in schools and colleges. Please do plan for this well in advance to ensure you know where the nearest test centre is and that you are able to travel there on the day if you do not live locally. 

 

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