Important notice for all current applicants for Computer Science, Computer Science and Philosophy, Mathematics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Mathematics and Philosophy, Mathematics and Statistics: disruptions experienced taking the Mathematics Admissions Test (MAT) Watch the Mathematics department's MAT livestream. This year's livestream runs from early August until November, but you can also access recordings of previous events. These reports provide summaries of theadmissions process for the subjects of Mathematics, Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematicsand Philosophy and Mathematics and Computer Science:

The 2023 test will still take the same question format as the past papers from 2018, 2019 and 2020: these and the older papers will still be of use when preparingKnowledge of the properties of polynomials, including the solution of quadratics either using a formula or by factorising. ThechallengeofthePATmainlyliesinapplyingyourknowledgetounfamiliarsituations.Thebestwaytoimproveatthisistodolotsofpractice!Iwouldsuggestcompletingalltheavailablepastpapers,ideallyundertimedconditions.YoucansupplementpractisingonthesewithsomeoftheotherresourcesI'velisted. Knowledge of circular orbits under gravity including orbital speed, radius, period, centripetal acceleration, and gravitational centripetal force. This may include equating the force between two masses due to gravity (F=GM 1M 2/r 2) to centripetal force of a smaller body orbiting a larger body (F=mω 2r or F=mv 2/r) and use of centripetal acceleration (a=v 2/r or a=ω 2r).

Kinetic energy (= 1/2 mv 2) and gravitational potential energy (= mgh in a constant gravitational field) and their inter-conversion; what other forms of energy exist (eg thermal, sound). Response of a system to multiple forces; Newton's laws of motion; know the difference between weight (= mg) and mass; vector addition of forces. As you may notice when going through past papers, the PAT has undergone various changes in the past few years. You must understand the difference between scalars and vectors, and be able to use that when dealing with the relationship between speed and velocity, or when considering velocity as the rate of change of displacement, etc…Circular motion including equations for centripetal force (F=mω 2r or F=mv 2/r) and acceleration (a=v 2/r or a=ω 2r). The PAT workbooks contain many questions of varying difficulty and subjectmatter, and the accompanying solutions manuals outline possible approaches toeach question in detail. Candidates are not required to take the additional test if they are happy with how the MAT went for them on 19 October. For candidates who suffered disruption and wish to take the additional test, that test will supplement the information we already have. Elementary trigonometry including relationships between sine, cosine and tangent (sum and difference formulae will be stated if required). I got the right exact answer for it, in terms of lns, but then my last line of working I forgot to times by the factor of 20…. and so my exact answer is right, but my approximate answer with decimals is wrong… sigh

Use of the binomial expansion for expressions such as (a+bx) n, using only positive integer values of n. I think ‘yes’ to both. (Covered by “Understanding circuit diagrams including batteries, wires, resistors, filament lamps, diodes, capacitors, light dependent resistors and thermistors.”). Knowledge of the force between two point charges (Force= kQ 1Q 2/r 2(where k is a constant)) and on a point charge in a constant electric field (Force = charge x electric field).

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It’s therefore a good idea to find a way of ‘ actively reading’ the question, and making notes so that you don’t have to keep reading such large amounts of information over and over again. The key is to just take it a line, or even a word at a time, and don’t worry about figuring out ‘why’ something is if you don’t need to. On the 3 November, we will send out invitations for the additional test to all candidates who submitted a special consideration form, or who are identified as having experienced disruption, as well as to test centres where that disruption took place. We recognise that some candidates may not have access to information via schools or centres - we are doing all we can to identify them. Here are some categories of question in case you want to revise something specific; these are not exhaustive, I haven’t got round to getting these updated yet:

If I want to find the probability of one event AND another event happening, how does that differ from the probability of one event OR the other? What happens if the events aren’t mutually exclusive?We upload past test papers and reports on test outcomes as they become available to help prospective students prepare for the PAT. Note that the PAT has evolved over time and that past papers dated before May 2006 are based on an earlier syllabus and are not relevant to the current test. While the more recent papers will more closely resemble what you are likely to see in terms of format, looking at all past papers will still provide a good steer as to the likely content of future papers. Changes to the PAT Be able to define the amplitude, frequency, period, wavelength and speed of a wave. Knowledge and use of formulae for the wave speed = wavelength x frequency and frequency = 1 / period (with units of hertz, Hz). Atomic structure; that atoms consist of protons, neutrons and electrons, definition of the atomic number, Bohr model of the atom.