Guides · Updated 4 November 2026

ESAT Results and Scores: What Score Gets an Interview?

According to Imperial College London's official admissions test guidance, ESAT scores are reported separately for each module on a scale from 1 (low) to 9 (high) to one decimal place, with no pass mark or grade boundary. For 2027 entry, October 2026 test takers receive results on 16 November 2026 and January 2027 test takers receive results on 8 February 2027 via their UAT-UK account. Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial do not set a fixed cutoff score for interviews, though Oxford's Department of Physics uses the ESAT score alongside contextual data as its primary shortlisting criterion to select around 500 interviewees (about 2.5 per place).

How the ESAT score scale works

AdmitMock is an AI mock interview app for Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and US college alumni interviews: an AI interviewer asks the questions out loud, follows up, and shows you what to fix.

The Engineering and Science Admissions Test (ESAT) is a computer-based assessment managed by University Admissions Tests UK (UAT-UK), a collaboration between Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge. According to Imperial College London's guide to understanding ESAT scores, your results are reported on a scale that runs from 1 (low) to 9 (high), recorded to one decimal place. Unlike the TMUA, which gives a single overall score, the ESAT gives you a separate score for each individual module you sit.

Depending on the course and university you apply to, you sit either two or three 40-minute modules (27 multiple-choice questions per module, or about 89 seconds per question by our calculation from Imperial's published format). Your score in each module is based on the number of correct answers you give, with no marks lost for wrong answers.

There are no pass or fail marks and no fixed grade boundaries for the ESAT. Imperial notes that scores are statistically equated across different versions of the test so that candidates sitting different papers are reported on a common scale. Cambridge's admissions assessment guidance adds that the papers are designed to challenge you, almost no one gets full marks, and some strong applicants do not finish the paper in the time given.

ESAT results dates and sitting rules for 2027 entry

For the 2026-27 admissions cycle (for 2027 undergraduate entry), the ESAT is held in two test windows. You may only take the ESAT once per application cycle, and only your first test score is considered by the universities you apply to.

If you are applying to the University of Cambridge or the University of Oxford for a standard undergraduate degree with the 15 October 2026 UCAS deadline, you must take the ESAT in the October 2026 sitting so that your scores arrive in time for interview shortlisting. Even if you are also applying to Imperial or another university that accepts January scores, you only sit the test once in October and that result is shared across all your choices.

The January 2027 sitting is open to applicants who are not applying to Oxford or Cambridge, as well as two specific Oxbridge routes: mature applicants to Cambridge applying in the January round, and applicants to Oxford's Astrophoria Foundation Year courses (who can choose either October 2026 or January 2027).

ESAT modules by course: Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial

Each university and department specifies which ESAT modules it evaluates as part of its admissions and interview shortlisting process, so you should check the exact combination required by all of your UCAS course choices.

Mathematics 1 is compulsory across the Cambridge, Oxford Physics and Imperial courses listed below. Most courses require three modules in total (120 minutes), except Imperial's Dyson School of Design Engineering, which requires only two modules: Mathematics 1 and Mathematics 2.

At Cambridge, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Engineering, and Natural Sciences require the ESAT. While Engineering requires Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics, applicants for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology or Natural Sciences take Mathematics 1 plus two additional modules chosen from Biology, Chemistry, Physics or Mathematics 2 (120 minutes total). If you are applying to both Cambridge Engineering (or Oxford Physics) and an Imperial engineering department, selecting Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics satisfies both applications in a single sitting.

At Oxford, the central undergraduate admissions test page lists the ESAT for Biomedical Sciences, Engineering Science, Engineering Science with Foundation Year, Physics, and Physics and Philosophy for 2027 entry. Oxford's Department of Physics 'How to apply' page also states that prospective students applying to study physics, physics and philosophy, engineering and materials science are required to sit the test and select the Mathematics 1, Mathematics 2 and Physics modules. For courses where individual module choices vary, confirm the exact module combination on your specific Oxford course page.

How Cambridge uses ESAT scores for interview shortlisting

At the University of Cambridge, undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the individual Cambridge Colleges. Because the ESAT is taken in October before interview shortlisting takes place, Colleges use your ESAT module scores alongside the rest of your application to decide whether to invite you to interview.

Cambridge's official admissions test guidance states that there is no pass or fail mark for the ESAT, but a strong performance is usually needed to get through to interview. In the 2025 cycle, Cambridge Engineering received 10 applications per place (with 335 accepted), and Natural Sciences received 5 applications per place (with 576 accepted).

If you are shortlisted, your ESAT score does not disappear after the interview round. Cambridge states that your test score is looked at together with your interview performance, academic record and UCAS application before the College decides whether to offer you a place.

Because your ESAT result arrives on 16 November 2026 and Cambridge interviews follow shortly after, you should start your interview preparation before results day. You can read how Cambridge and Oxford run technical problem-solving conversations in our Oxford and Cambridge Engineering Interview Guide, our Oxford and Cambridge Chemistry Interview Guide, and our Oxbridge Biology and Biochemistry Interview Guide.

How Oxford uses ESAT scores for shortlisting and offers

From 2026 (for 2027 entry), the University of Oxford uses the ESAT in place of its previous subject tests for Physics, Physics and Philosophy, Engineering Science (including the Astrophoria Foundation Year), and Biomedical Sciences. Across Oxford as a whole, over 23,000 applicants compete each year for around 3,200 places, and shortlisted candidates are invited to online interviews in December 2026 before receiving final decisions on 12 January 2027.

How much weight your ESAT score carries depends on which Oxford department you apply to. The Department of Physics and the Department of Engineering Science publish distinct rules on how they use the test.

• Oxford Department of Physics (Physics and Physics and Philosophy): The department typically receives 8 to 10 applicants per place and uses a centrally coordinated shortlisting process to reduce interviewed candidates to around 2.5 per place, or around 500 candidates in total. By our calculation from Oxford Physics' published figures of 8 to 10 applicants per place reduced to 2.5 per place, roughly 25% to 31% of applicants are shortlisted for an interview. The department explicitly states that the primary shortlisting criterion is the ESAT score, interpreted in the light of contextual data about candidates.
• Oxford Physics post-interview banding: Shortlisted Physics candidates normally receive two interview marks out of 10 from their first college and one interview mark out of 10 from a randomly assigned second college (all interviews are virtual). At the end of the interview process, each candidate is assigned a numerical total score calculated from their ESAT score and interview scores, moderated by contextual information. This total score ranks candidates into three bands: Band A (approximately the top 100 candidates), Band B (approximately the next 200 candidates), and Band C (candidates ranked below Band B). Slightly over 200 offers are made each year. Normally, almost all Band A candidates receive an offer and very few Band C candidates receive an offer, and any college decision not to offer to a Band A candidate or to offer to a Band C candidate must be justified at the joint meeting of physics tutors.
• Oxford Department of Engineering Science: Both shortlisting for online interviews and final offer decisions are made on the basis of all available information, without any set weighting given to particular parts of the application. Tutors evaluate your ESAT performance alongside your education and qualification history, predicted or achieved grades, personal statement, academic reference and interviews.

How Imperial uses ESAT scores and its 2025 score dashboard

Imperial College London states that it considers your ESAT module scores alongside the other parts of your UCAS application, such as your personal statement, when deciding whether to invite you to an interview or make you an offer. Imperial emphasises two rules: achieving a high ESAT score does not guarantee that you will be offered a place, and a low score does not guarantee that your application will be unsuccessful.

Note that not every science or engineering department at Imperial uses the ESAT. Bioengineering, Chemistry, Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials do not use an admissions test, while Computing, Mathematics and the Imperial Business School use the TMUA.

To help applicants understand how previous cohorts performed, Imperial publishes an interactive admissions test dashboard containing anonymous data from the 2025 entry cycle for each department. While Imperial notes that score distributions and outcomes vary from year to year, you can filter the 2025 dashboard by department and fee status (Home, Home Widening Participation, or Overseas) to inspect four specific metrics before your Imperial College interview:

• Number of applicants: The percentage of applicants in each domicile/fee group (Home, Home WP, Overseas) who completed the ESAT and were offered a place, invited to interview, or unsuccessful.
• Mean test scores: The mean average ESAT scores for offer holders, interviewees, and unsuccessful applicants across Home, Home WP and Overseas groups.
• Stacked bar chart across the score range: The percentage of applicants at each score point who gained an offer (blue), were interviewed but unsuccessful (dark grey, where a department interviews), or were unsuccessful without an offer (grey).
• Box and whisker plots: The five-number distribution of ESAT scores for each outcome category, showing the minimum score, first quartile (Q1), median (Q2), third quartile (Q3), and maximum score, where the box from Q1 to Q3 represents the middle 50% of applicants.

Other UK universities using the ESAT

Alongside Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, Imperial's official ESAT guide lists four other UK universities that use the ESAT as part of their selection process for certain courses in Engineering, Science and Natural Sciences:

• Durham University
• London School of Economics (LSE)
• University College London (UCL)
• Warwick University

What to do on ESAT results day: a 4-step checklist

When ESAT results are released on 16 November 2026 (for the October sitting) or 8 February 2027 (for the January sitting), use this checklist written by our team to move from your test scores to interview readiness.

• Step 1: Log in to your UAT-UK account to view your individual 1 to 9 score for each module you sat. You do not need to forward your scores to your UCAS choices, as UAT-UK transmits them to your universities.
• Step 2: Check your module scores against Imperial's 2025 entry interactive dashboard if you applied to Imperial, filtering by your specific department and Home, Home WP or Overseas category to see where your scores sit relative to the Q1 to Q3 middle 50% box for interviewees.
• Step 3: Review the topics from your lowest-scoring ESAT module before December interviews. At Oxford Physics, Cambridge Engineering, Cambridge Natural Sciences and Imperial, interviewers ask live maths and science questions drawn from your school syllabus, so any gap exposed in the ESAT is a topic to revise before your interview.
• Step 4: Practise explaining your mathematical working out loud. The ESAT only marks your final multiple-choice selection, whereas Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial interviews mark how you set up a problem, respond to hints and explain each step orally.

From ESAT multiple-choice to the live interview: practice question

In the ESAT, you have 89 seconds per question to pick a multiple-choice answer in silence. In an Oxford, Cambridge or Imperial interview, you are given a multi-step problem and asked to talk through your reasoning out loud while the tutor watches how you think.

Here is a question in this style, written by our team, showing how an ESAT-style mechanics and calculus concept turns into a live spoken interview question.

Practise your interview out loud on AdmitMock.

Practice question

Question in this style (written by our team): A ball is dropped from rest from a height h onto a horizontal floor with coefficient of restitution e. Set up an expression for the total distance the ball travels before coming to rest, and explain how you check whether your formula makes physical sense at the limits of e.

Example written by our team. The applicant is invented. "First, the ball falls a distance h before the first bounce. After impact, its rebound speed is e times the impact speed, and since maximum height is proportional to velocity squared, the first rebound reaches height e squared times h, which the ball travels both up and down. That gives an infinite geometric series for the total distance: h plus 2h times the sum of e to the power 2n, which simplifies to h times (1 + e squared) divided by (1 - e squared), and I can check the limits by seeing that e = 0 gives just h while e approaching 1 diverges to infinity."

Instead of jumping straight to a memorised formula, the speaker states the physical link between speed and height, accounts for both the upward and downward paths after the first drop, and checks the boundary cases (e = 0 and e = 1) unprompted.

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