What happened to the MAT
Oxford retired the MAT as part of a wider overhaul of its admissions testing announced for the 2026 application cycle. The university's bespoke tests (MAT, PAT, TSA, MLAT, and several others) were withdrawn in favour of the three UAT-UK tests: TMUA for maths-track courses, ESAT for science and engineering, and TARA for courses that previously used the TSA. LNAT (Law) and UCAT (Medicine) continue unchanged. For Mathematics, Computer Science, and their joint courses, the TMUA is now the required test. Imperial and Warwick, which previously accepted MAT scores, had already moved to TMUA, so there is no university left that uses the MAT.
What the MAT was
A single 2.5-hour written paper: one broad multiple-choice question worth around 40% of the marks, then six longer multi-part problems of which students answered four or five. Content drew on the easier end of A-level Maths plus early Further Maths, with the difficulty in how topics combined into multi-step problems rather than in the syllabus itself. Partial credit rewarded clear written working, which is the biggest structural difference from the multiple-choice TMUA that replaced it.
Using MAT material for TMUA preparation
Oxford's MAT past-paper archive (2007-2025, published freely with worked solutions) remains one of the best problem-solving banks at this level. The long-form questions build exactly the sustained-reasoning skill that TMUA Paper 1 rewards, and they extend naturally toward easier STEP questions for students aiming at Cambridge as well. Treat them as supplementary depth work after the official TMUA specimens and past papers; the timing discipline TMUA demands still has to come from practising in the real two-paper multiple-choice format.
If you were preparing for the MAT
Nothing you did is wasted. The mathematical depth transfers directly to TMUA Paper 1. The new work is TMUA Paper 2 (Mathematical Reasoning): logic, proof technique, and argument analysis that the MAT never examined and A-level Maths covers only lightly. Our TMUA page covers the current format, sittings, and a preparation plan. For tutoring, look for current TMUA experience rather than MAT-era credentials alone.
Verify current details
Admissions-test requirements have changed repeatedly since 2024. Verify the current position against the Oxford Maths admissions site and the specific course pages before making timing decisions.