Does it matter whether I sit the ESAT in October or January?

Hi,
I'm applying to Oxford and Imperial, since the PAT is in October I'd rather sit the ESAT in January.
Does it matter whether I sit it in October or not, is it looked down upon for any reason (silly question I know but like to cover all bases), etc.?
(applying for 2025 entry)
Thanks

Reply 1

AmIReallyHere

You may be expected to score highee

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

Original post

by Anonymous

Exactly the same situation i'm in. I think i'll move my ESAT to January. Imperial website strongly recommends the first sitting, but I think it's because of the first sitting having more availability with times and test centres than the second sitting.

Reply 3

clarebear7

I just spoke to Imperial because my son wants to sit his in January because he feels it's too stressful sitting it so close to the PAT. The lady I spoke to said they consider all candidates on an equal footing regardless of which sitting they choose (offers are only made from the end of January onwards); the only reason they strongly encourage October is that they realise many applicants will either be preparing for mocks over the Christmas period, or may want time off over the Christmas period. In terms of availability for the January sitting - Pearson Vue haven't even opened the booking for the January tests yet, so I guess if you are prompt entering when booking opens, you should be ok?

Reply 4

Anonymous #3

heyyy, i have my esat next week friday, and i am genuinely not ready for it. can i ask how did ur son find it? did he get a good score? did he get an offer when he did it in january? i am so lost between doing it now and getting whatever score relying on my predictions and my personal statement, or doing it in january but sacrificing from my a levels revision time.
Can you help me pls?

Reply 5

andrewjs5813

With ESAT Maths close, it’s mainly a timing exam (40 minutes for 27 MCQs), so improvement comes from pacing + picking the quickest safe method + learning from mocks.

A clear final-week structure:
Day 1: 13 Maths 1 questions + quick review
Day 2: 18 Maths 2 questions + quick review
Day 3: Maths 1 timed mock (27 Q, 40 mins) + short debrief
Day 4: remaining 13 Maths 1 questions + redo the slowest 5
Day 5: remaining 18 Maths 2 questions + redo the slowest 5
Day 6: Maths 2 timed mock (27 Q, 40 mins) + short debrief
Day 7: light consolidation (cheat-sheet review + short confidence drill) Rule: if you’re stuck after ~75–90 seconds, flag it and move on, bank easy marks first.

If you’d like, I can email a free 7-day plan + a short cheat-sheet sampler. Message me an email address and I'll send it over.

Reply 6

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Original post

by andrewjs5813

With ESAT Maths close, it’s mainly a timing exam (40 minutes for 27 MCQs), so improvement comes from pacing + picking the quickest safe method + learning from mocks.
A clear final-week structure:
Day 1: 13 Maths 1 questions + quick review
Day 2: 18 Maths 2 questions + quick review
Day 3: Maths 1 timed mock (27 Q, 40 mins) + short debrief
Day 4: remaining 13 Maths 1 questions + redo the slowest 5
Day 5: remaining 18 Maths 2 questions + redo the slowest 5
Day 6: Maths 2 timed mock (27 Q, 40 mins) + short debrief
Day 7: light consolidation (cheat-sheet review + short confidence drill) Rule: if you’re stuck after ~75–90 seconds, flag it and move on, bank easy marks first.
If you’d like, I can email a free 7-day plan + a short cheat-sheet sampler. Message me an email address and I'll send it over.

External communication such as the sharing of email addresses is currently not allowed on TSR so please do not encourage this 🙂 I wish you the best of luck with helping people with their studies!

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