International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Admissions Tests
International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Why use admission tests?

• Differentiate between well qualified

applicants who may have achieved or
can be expected to achieve the highest
possible grades in their examinations
• Reduces the need to rely solely on
predicted grades
• A common set of data with which to
compare applicants
• Can help concentrate interview
resources on those most likely to
achieve an offer
© Oxford University Images / David Fisher (left), Greg Smolonski (right)
• Assess the aptitude and potential of
applicants
 International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

University of Oxford tests

For an application to be as competitive as possible it's very
important that students register for and take any admissions tests
that are required for their course
• Our admissions tests are timed, written exams which
are designed to show us how applicants think:

 how they analyse and solve difficult questions

 how they apply their knowledge to texts or problems
they won’t have encountered before

• Most of Oxford’s tests are administered by

• They are written by academics
• Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing run final checks
and distribute the papers
• Content is revised and the tests are reviewed annually
International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Admissions test registrations

Total Registered Unregistered %

2017/18 17,567 16,893 674 3.8%

Breakdown of data for

un-registered admissions tests:

UK applicants: 187

Non-UK applicants: 504

International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Logistics and Registration

• Both UCAS and the University websites inform
students which
Logistics tests they will need to sit and the date
& Registration
of the tests
www.ox.ac.uk/tests
THE DEADLINE IS: 15 OCTOBER 2018

• If a school or college is already a registered test centre (or becomes one in

time) then they can register their students as candidates
• If a school or college is not a registered test centre, or cannot become one
in time, then applicants can register themselves through an open centre
International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

How to become a test centre

www.admissionstesting.org/administering-our-tests
• Complete and submit the Centre approval
request form

• You can apply to become a centre at any

time but...

• The final deadline to apply to become a test

Please note this is a
centre for October 2018 tests is 30
September 2018 separate process from
being a Cambridge
• There are three types of Admissions Testing
Assessment centre
centre:
Public Open Centres
Private Open Centres
Internal Centres
 International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Student registration process

You can register your candidates, following three simple steps:

1. Collect the following 2. Register the candidate for 3. Pass the relevant
information from the their admissions test information on to the
candidate candidate

• Name (exactly as it appears
on their UCAS application
and/or passport or national
ID document)
• UCAS ID (if available)
• Gender
• Date of birth
• Access arrangements
• University and course
applied to
• Log into the Entries • Let the candidate know
Extranet and enter the they have been
candidate’s information successfully registered
for the admissions test
• Make a note of the • Provide them with the
candidate number once candidate number
you have successfully generated by the Entries
registered their details. Extranet

www.admissionstesting.org/administering-our-tests/register-test-takers
 International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Preparation
Revision needed
• Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) Specimen and past papers are
• Maths Admissions Test (MAT)
Practice Required

available for all of the tests, offering

• Physics Admissions Test (PAT)
applicants the opportunity to:
Similar exercises may be helpful
• English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT)
• Modern Languages Admissions Test (MLAT)
• History Admissions Test (HAT)
• Oriental Languages Admissions Test (OLAT)
• Classics Admissions Test (CAT)
Practice required
- familiarise themselves with the test
content, level and format
- get to know the different types of
questions they may be asked
- test themselves under timed
conditions

• Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) - review answers

• Law National Aptitude Test (LNAT)
International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

If applicants don't take the

admissions test for their course,
either because they didn't register
for it or didn't attend on the test day,
then their application will be
significantly affected.
International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Examples
International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT)

Some blood is found at a crime scene. The police know that it belongs to one criminal involved.
A person's red blood cells can have type A antigens, type B antigens, both types or neither type
In a population:

45% of people have type A antigens but not type B

9% of people have type B antigens but not type A
43% of people have neither type of antigen
3% of people have both types of antigen

An antibody test shows that there are type B antigens present in the red blood cells at the crime
scene.

What is the probability that the criminal's red blood cells have both type A and type B antigens?

3 1 3 1 3
A B C D E
100 6 25 4 4
International Guidance Counsellors' Conference 2018

Thinking Skills Assessment

Ever since Uranus was discovered in 1781, astronomers have thought there might be more planets to be
discovered in the Solar System. Because of small deviations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune - deviations
which would occur if another planet existed - some astronomers think there must be an undiscovered planet -
Planet X. But the search for Planet X is futile, because these deviations would occur if the orbits had been
wrongly predicted. Since Uranus and Neptune take many decades to circle the sun, astronomers must rely on
old data in order to calculate their orbits. If this data is inaccurate, the calculated orbits are wrong. If the
calculated orbits are wrong, Uranus and Neptune will deviate from them even if there is no Planet X.

Which of the following is the best statement of the flaw in the argument above?

A. From the fact that the old data is inaccurate, it cannot be inferred that the calculated orbits are wrong.
B. From the fact that the data about the orbits is old it cannot be inferred that it is inaccurate.
C. From the fact that deviations occur which would occur if Planet X existed, it cannot be inferred that Planet
X exists.
D. From the fact that the calculated orbits are wrong, it cannot be inferred that Uranus and Neptune will
deviate from them.
E. From the fact that Planet X has not been discovered, it cannot be inferred that the search for it is futile.