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 (by the deadline for submitting your UCAS application, 30th September in 2023 or earlier for some subjects - 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 2023
All applicants for courses with a CAAT administered assessment must be registered by no later than 30 September 2023. Late registration will not be possible and may result in the application being invalid. Applicants should speak to their school or college to ask if they can administer the assessment. If this is not possible, there are a number of open centres around the world. Please make contact as soon as possible in case the preferred centre is full.
The CAAT administered admissions assessments (NSAA, ENGAA, BMAT, TMUA) will take place 18 October 2023.
The deadline for taking the LNAT is 16th September 2023.
To find out more about admissions assessments see www.cam.ac.uk/assessment
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.
You will need an authorized assessment centre to register you and provide a place for you to take your pre-interview written assessment. This will normally be your school or sixth form college. Please speak to your teacher or exams officer to find out if you'll be able to take your pre-interview assessment at your school or sixth form college.
If you are not able to take your pre-interview assessment at your school or sixth form college, or if you are not currently attending a school or college, you will need to find an open authorised centre to register you and provide a place to take the written assessment. Mature students or students who already have a degree are not exempt from taking the admissions assessment, but may wish to consider applying to a Cambridge College for mature students, where arrangements are different.
In order to register you should provide your assessment centre with the following information in good time before the registration deadline:
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UCAS Personal ID
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Full name (exactly as it will appear on your UCAS form)
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Gender
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Date of birth
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Details of any access requirements / arrangements
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The university (and Cambridge College) that you are applying to
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The course (including the UCAS course code) that you are applying for
When you have been registered, you will be given a candidate number which your assessment centre should forward to you as confirmation. Please ensure that you have received your candidate number before the deadline passes. You may be required to provide your candidate number as part of your application, and you will need it on the day of your written assessment.
The date of your pre-interview assessment can be found on the University of Cambridge website below:
