Free resources
300 ESAT Biology questions, free
A PDF skill drill, ten skills, questions that get harder as you go.
- Ten skills the Biology module keeps testing, one section each
- Stepped difficulty, so you start where you are and work up
- Answers included, with the reasoning rather than just the letter
Prefer email? Message me at brightfieldadmissions@gmail.com and I'll send the PDF straight over.
Guides
What actually happens in an Oxbridge Biological Sciences interview
Seven pages, written for parents and applicants, based on the nine mock interviews published by Oxford, Cambridge and their colleges. Enter your email and I'll send you the PDF.
Biology super-curriculars: every competition, placement and programme worth knowing about
Almost everything genuinely useful for a biology applicant is free, and most of it is invisible unless someone at your school already knows about it. What is out there, when each one opens, and what you need to ask a teacher for.
Official links every biology applicant needs
The Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial course pages, ESAT registration and UCAS, all linked straight to source and checked by hand, so you're not relying on an aggregator that's a cycle out of date.
Which courses take the ESAT
Only three universities use the ESAT, and only for some of their courses. Every ESAT candidate takes Maths 1. Biology applicants take Biology and Chemistry alongside it.
| Cambridge | Natural Sciences (BCF0), Veterinary Medicine (D100), Chemical
Engineering and Biotechnology (H810) Maths 1 plus any two |
|---|---|
| Oxford | Biomedical Sciences (BC98) Maths 1 plus any two |
| Imperial | All Department of Life Sciences courses, including Biochemistry,
Biological Sciences, Biotechnology, Ecology and Environmental Biology and
Microbiology Maths 1, Biology and Chemistry, fixed |
Cambridge and Oxford let you pick your two optional modules. Imperial sets them. Course lists change between cycles, so check yours against the official UAT-UK list before you register.
Other universities do not use the ESAT for biological sciences. UCL, for one, sets no admissions test for these courses, so if UCL is your first choice the test is not something you need to plan around.
Dates for 2027 entry
October sitting
The one Oxford and Cambridge applicants must take.
January sitting
For Imperial and other universities. Oxford and Cambridge do not accept it.
Registration is done through a test centre, not through the university, and you may sit the ESAT only once per cycle. Check every date against the official UAT-UK site before you rely on it.
One more free thing
If you email me your course, your year and your predicted grades, I'll tell you what I'd do next, whether or not you end up working with me.