Work · Oxbridge STEM · MAT
Oxford MAT preparation
The Mathematics Admissions Test decides more of the Oxford outcome than anything else in the application. I prepare a small number of candidates for it each year, personally.
Free practice: 40 MAT questions with worked solutions, or a timed paper.
What the MAT is
A two and a half hour paper sat in late October by applicants to Oxford mathematics, computer science, and their joint courses. It is also used by Imperial for some programmes.
The syllabus stops at the first year of A-level. That is deliberate and it is the source of most misunderstanding about the paper. It is not a test of how much mathematics you know. It is a test of what you can do with very little.
- Question 1, ten multiple-choice parts, four marks each. Forty marks, and where most candidates lose the paper.
- Questions 2 to 5, long-form, fifteen marks each. You answer a subset depending on your course.
- No calculator. Arithmetic is part of the assessment.
Why strong students score badly
A student who has been getting full marks in school mathematics for four years often comes out of a first MAT mock somewhere in the forties, and cannot understand why.
School mathematics rewards recognition followed by execution. You identify which method a question belongs to and you carry it out carefully. The MAT is constructed specifically to defeat that, because if recognition were enough the paper would tell Oxford nothing they did not already have from predicted grades.
So the multiple-choice questions look like they want a value and actually want an observation. The cubic is odd. The answer is forced by a symmetry. Three of the five options die if you check a single boundary case. The full computation is always available and will get you there, and the time limit is set so that computation alone will not finish the paper.
The single most useful thing I tell candidates: if the algebra is getting ugly, you have missed the observation. Ugly is a signal to stop and look again, not a challenge to push through.
How I teach it
Not by working through past papers in order, which is what most preparation amounts to and which produces slow improvement at best.
- Diagnostic first. A full paper under timed conditions before any teaching, so we know whether the problem is speed, technique, or the thirty seconds before you pick up the pen.
- The first thirty seconds. Read the whole question, ask what would make this easy, look for the symmetry or substitution, and only then start. This sounds trivial and takes months to become automatic, because it works against years of successful training.
- Question 1 as its own discipline. Forty marks decided by elimination and estimation rather than solution.
- Long questions as a single idea. Part (i) looks trivial and is not there for the mark. It is there because what you notice while doing it is what part (iv) needs.
- Mental arithmetic. Twenty minutes a day. Resented for a month, decisive in October.
Timing
The paper sits in late October, with the UCAS deadline on 15 October. Serious candidates begin in the spring before. By summer the strong ones have been working for months.
Enquiries from September can still be helped, but with materially less room, and the work shifts toward the interview where returns come faster.
Common questions
How many MAT marks do I need for an Oxford interview?
Thresholds move each year and by course, but historically mathematics candidates have needed the high 50s to low 70s to be shortlisted, and computer science somewhat lower. Treat any specific number you read online with suspicion; the honest answer is that it varies and the college also sees your whole application.
Can I prepare for the MAT in six weeks?
You can improve in six weeks, mostly on technique and time management. You cannot rebuild a computational reflex in six weeks, and that reflex is what the paper is built to test. Candidates who start in spring do considerably better than candidates who start in September, and the gap is not about effort.
Is the MAT harder than STEP?
No. STEP is a harder paper mathematically and sits later, after an offer. The MAT is shorter, uses less syllabus, and is testing something different: whether you can find the efficient route rather than whether you can sustain a long technical argument.
Do you teach the MAT yourself?
Yes, every session. Most consultancies subcontract admissions test preparation to a tutor you never meet at the point of sale. My background: a master's in computer science from Oxford, a master's in financial engineering, an LBS MBA specialising in quantitative finance, and a career in high-frequency trading.
What does MAT preparation cost?
It sits inside the Oxbridge STEM admissions programme, which runs the full cycle from spring through to December interviews. I do not sell MAT preparation by the hour to new clients.
Related
Oxbridge & US STEM admissions
The full programme: admissions tests, personal statement, college selection and interview training.
By programme Oxbridge STEM admissions → ·STEP preparation
Cambridge mathematics papers 2 and 3, and the offer condition that catches people out.
STEP preparation → ·Reading a MAT question the way an examiner does
A longer piece on what the questions are built to detect, and how the December interview differs again.
Read the article →An hour on where you stand · £250
The assessment
Send your CV, transcript and targets, and I will have read them before we speak. In the hour you get an honest read of where you actually stand, your realistic chances at each target, and the deadlines that apply to you. Credited in full against any programme booked within a month.
Start the assessment — £250 Free 20 minutes first What the hour covers →