MAT: Mathematics Admissions Test

If you have been preparing for the MAT, you have not wasted your time and you do not need to start again. Oxford's own Mathematical Institute puts it plainly: the mathematical topics covered on the TMUA are very similar to those covered on the MAT, and the spirit of problem-solving is common to both tests. What changes is the shape of the paper, not the mathematics in it.

The MAT ran from 2007 to 2025 and its final form was two and a half hours on screen: 25 multiple-choice questions worth 2, 3 or 4 marks each, plus two longer typed questions worth 15 marks each. Oxford still publishes the full archive of past papers with solutions, free, and has no reason to take it down.

So the useful way to read this page is as a conversion table. Below is what carries across to the TMUA, what does not, and how to use MAT papers without training yourself for a paper that no longer exists.

Format

Who needs the MAT

How the MAT is scored

• Each multiple-choice question carried 2, 3 or 4 marks, with the value stated on the question. Each of the two long questions carried 15 marks.
• Oxford published an annual MAT score distribution, so historical papers can be read against how candidates actually did.
• None of this applies to the TMUA, which reports a single score from 1.0 to 9.0 across both papers. Do not carry a MAT percentage across as a target.

Key dates

• Final sitting: 2025. The last MAT was sat in the 2025 admissions round, for 2026 entry. There is no 2026 sitting. Check the official site for your cycle.
• What to sit instead: October 2026. Oxford mathematics and computer science applicants for 2027 entry sit the TMUA, registered through Pearson VUE. Check the official site for your cycle.

What official practice actually exists

• The MAT past-paper archive is still online and still free, hosted by the Oxford Mathematical Institute, with year-stamped question booklets going back to 2007 and a Notes for Past MAT Papers page alongside them.
• Oxford also publishes a MAT syllabus page and syllabus-organised practice, which remains a good checklist even though the test is gone.
• This is the single largest free archive of admissions-test mathematics with worked solutions anywhere, and it is worth using deliberately rather than ignoring because the test was retired.
• Nothing new will be added to it.

Moving from the MAT to the TMUA

What carries over

• The mathematics itself. Oxford's Mathematical Institute states that the topics covered on the TMUA are very similar to those covered on the MAT.
• The problem-solving habit. Both tests are built so that an elegant short route exists and the grinding one does not fit in the time.
• Graph sketching, transformations and reading a solution count off a sketch, which both tests lean on heavily.
• The MAT multiple-choice section as a practice source for TMUA Paper 1, provided you re-time it.

What does not

• The two long typed questions. The TMUA is multiple choice throughout, so writing out a sustained argument earns nothing.
• The pacing. MAT long questions ran to twenty minutes or more; TMUA questions average under four.
• The mark scheme in your head. A MAT question told you whether it was worth 2, 3 or 4 marks, which was a hint about its depth. Every TMUA question is worth the same.
• The whole of TMUA Section 2: the logic of arguments, mathematical proof and identifying errors in proofs. This is the largest single gap a former MAT candidate has, and it is Paper 2 only.

Keep using MAT papers, but split them. Multiple-choice section at TMUA pace for timed practice; long questions untimed for the mathematics. Then spend the time you free up on Section 2, which no MAT paper touches at all.

MAT questions students ask

Is the MAT still used by any university?

Not for 2027 entry. Oxford, the only university that used it, retired it and moved mathematics and computer science applicants to the TMUA.

Are MAT past papers still worth doing?

Yes, and they are still free on Oxford's own site with solutions. Use the multiple-choice section at TMUA pace, and the long questions untimed for the mathematics.

Is the TMUA easier than the MAT?

It is a different shape rather than an easier one. The content is, on Oxford's own account, very similar; the format is multiple choice throughout and the pacing is faster.

I have been preparing for the MAT all summer. Is that wasted?

No. Most of it transfers directly. What you have not covered is TMUA Section 2, the logic and proof content on Paper 2, which has no MAT equivalent.

Where do I register for the TMUA?

Through Pearson VUE, not through Oxford. Registration closes well before the October sitting and there is generally no late entry.

Sources

Every fact on this page is checked against the official specification and the administering body. Status: Replaced. Last verified 2026-09-05.

• Mathematics Admissions Test (University of Oxford, Mathematical Institute, read 2026-09-05). The MAT's own page, including the past-paper archive.
• MAT syllabus (University of Oxford, Mathematical Institute, read 2026-09-05). The published syllabus quoted in the strand below.
• TMUA (University of Oxford, Mathematical Institute, read 2026-09-05). Oxford's own page on the replacement, and the source of the statement that the TMUA topics are very similar to the MAT's.
• Notes for Past MAT Papers (University of Oxford, Mathematical Institute, read 2026-09-05). Companion notes to the past-paper archive.