Oxford Engineering Science and Cambridge Engineering both require the ESAT, which is maths and physics. Oxford has replaced the PAT with it. Beyond the test, engineering is the one subject where building something is straightforwardly the best super-curricular activity available, and it costs almost nothing.
Engineering applicants have an advantage most subjects do not: the super-curricular question has an obvious answer.
You can make things. A tutor can ask you about the thing you made. What you learned when it failed is real, specific, and impossible to fabricate.
Almost everything else in this article is a footnote to that.
What is the admissions test, and what changed?
This is worth getting right, because the position changed recently and a great deal of advice online is out of date.
Oxford now requires the ESAT — the Engineering and Science Admissions Test — for Engineering Science, Physics, Physics and Philosophy, and Biomedical Sciences. Oxford's Physics department states that everyone applying "without exception, must take the Engineering and Science Admissions Test, also known as the ESAT, a two-hour test that evaluates a student's ability in both physics and maths," and refers to the PAT as its "previous admissions test."
Cambridge requires the ESAT for Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Natural Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine. It is computer-based, built from 40-minute multiple-choice modules. Engineering applicants take Mathematics 1, Physics and Mathematics 2.
Registration for the October sitting opens 20 July and closes 28 September, with tests running 12 to 16 October. Check the official site for the current cycle, since these dates move each year.
If you read guidance telling you to prepare for the PAT, it is describing a test Oxford no longer uses.
What should you build?
Something you finish, that does not work first time.
The specific project matters far less than the fact that it hit a real constraint. A tutor's follow-up question is never "what did you make?" It is "why did you choose that approach?" and "what would you do differently?" — and only a project that resisted you gives you an answer.
Ideas that are genuinely tractable in Year 12, roughly by cost:
| Project | Cost | What it demonstrates |
|---|---|---|
| A microcontroller project (Arduino, Raspberry Pi Pico) | £20–40 | Systems thinking, debugging, iteration |
| A simulation or model written from scratch | Free | Mathematics applied to a physical problem |
| Repairing something broken | Free | Diagnosis, which is most of engineering |
| A CAD design taken through to 3D printing | Low, if school has a printer | Design constraint and tolerance |
| A structural or mechanical build with measured performance | Low | Testing, and the gap between prediction and result |
| Documenting a teardown of a device | Free | Observation and reverse-engineering |
The cheapest option on that list is one of the best. Take something apart, work out why the designer made each choice, and write it up. It requires nothing but attention, and it produces exactly the kind of observation engineering interviews reward.
Document as you go. Photographs, a build log, the version that failed. Almost nobody does this and it converts a vague memory into a specific answer eighteen months later.
What should you read and use?
Cambridge and Oxford both point students at free resources, and these are the ones named by the universities themselves rather than by revision companies.
i-want-to-study-engineering.org — named by Cambridge colleges on their super-curricular lists. Problem sets built specifically for prospective engineering applicants, and closer to admissions-test thinking than anything else free.
Isaac Physics — also named by Cambridge colleges. Structured physics problem-solving, and the single most efficient way to build the stamina the ESAT physics module requires.
NRICH and Brilliant for mathematical problem-solving, both recommended across Cambridge super-curricular lists.
HE+ for Cambridge-written subject material, and Staircase12 at University College Oxford for a reading bank with student and tutor reviews across the physical sciences.
Competitions. Engineering Education Scheme, F1 in Schools, CREST Gold Awards for extended projects, and the various national olympiads in physics and maths. The value is the sustained work, not the certificate.
One general note from Staircase12 that applies especially here: "exploring your subject is not about filling your head with facts!" Engineering reading is worth much less than engineering doing.
What does a Year 12 look like?
The binding constraint is that Oxford and Cambridge Engineering offers sit at A*A*A, and the ESAT is maths and physics under time pressure.
| When | Priority | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sept–Dec (Y12) | Grades. Start Isaac Physics weekly. | Problem-solving stamina is built over months, not weeks |
| Jan–Mar | Start a build project. Keep a log from day one. | It needs time to go wrong and be fixed |
| Feb–Apr | Choose an EPQ question if your school offers one — ideally the build project itself | Externally assessed, carries UCAS points, and doubles up |
| Apr–Jun | i-want-to-study-engineering problem sets. Begin ESAT practice materials. | Long enough before the test to build habit |
| Summer | Finish and document the project. ESAT preparation in earnest. | The last clear block before Year 13 |
| Jul–Sept (Y13) | ESAT registration — opens 20 July, closes 28 September | Missing registration ends the cycle |
| Oct | ESAT sitting, 12–16 October. UCAS deadline 15 October. | These fall in the same week; prepare for both in advance |
That last row is the one to plan around. For Oxbridge engineering applicants, the admissions test and the UCAS deadline land within days of each other. A personal statement drafted in September is worth a great deal in October.
Does independent research help for engineering?
It does, though "research" and "build" overlap more here than in other subjects.
A project becomes research when you are testing something rather than demonstrating it. Measuring how a design parameter affects performance, comparing a simulation against physical results, characterising why something failed — those have a question, a method and a result, which is what an interview probes.
The strongest version, if you can manage it, is a build with measurements attached. You predicted X, you got Y, and you have a defensible account of the gap. That is engineering.
An EPQ handles this well and costs nothing. For students who want supervision from a working researcher, we run mentored research programmes, and our guide to writing about research in a personal statement covers how to present it. The general principle is in our piece on super-curricular activities: the format matters less than whether the work is yours and whether you can defend it.
What is a waste of time or money?
Preparing for the PAT. Oxford has moved to the ESAT. Check the current requirement before you buy anything.
Expensive engineering summer schools. A residential course is costly evidence of something a £30 microcontroller and four months of persistence demonstrate better. Oxford lists summer schools as valid super-curricular activity, but judge them on the work you did, not the venue.
Kits that assemble without failing. A project that works first time teaches nothing and gives you nothing to say. If it went smoothly, add a constraint and make it harder.
Test preparation courses before official materials. The ESAT publishes practice content. Start there.
Listing software you have "used". Naming CAD packages and languages is a list. What you built with one of them is an answer.
Frequently asked questions
Does Oxford still use the PAT for engineering?
No. Oxford now requires the ESAT for Engineering Science, and its Physics department describes the PAT as its previous admissions test. Cambridge also uses the ESAT for Engineering. Confirm the current requirement on each university's admissions pages, since testing arrangements in UK admissions have changed repeatedly.
Do I need Further Maths for engineering?
It is required or strongly expected at several leading engineering departments, and it helps regardless because the ESAT is mathematically demanding. Check each course's stated requirements — they differ, and some universities make allowances where a school does not offer it.
What if my school has no workshop or equipment?
Simulation and teardown both cost nothing. Writing a model of a physical system from scratch, or documenting why a device is designed the way it is, demonstrates the same reasoning as a physical build. Constraint is not disqualifying and admissions tutors know that access varies.
Do engineering competitions matter?
Only as evidence of sustained work. F1 in Schools, the Engineering Education Scheme and CREST Gold all involve months of effort, which is the point. A one-day event does considerably less.
When should I start ESAT preparation?
Light work from the spring of Year 12, in earnest over the summer. Registration for the October sitting opens 20 July and closes 28 September — verify current dates, and note that the test and the 15 October UCAS deadline fall in the same week.
Should I do an EPQ for engineering?
If your school offers it, use it on your build project. You get an externally assessed qualification, UCAS points, and a documented piece of work to discuss at interview, all from effort you were spending anyway.