BMAT Requirements & Prerequisites
Everything you need to know before registering for the BMAT, eligibility, cost, format, and what to expect on exam day.
Cost
£75-£130
Provider
Cambridge Assessment
Validity
1 year
Available
UK/International
Education
Check official exam requirements
Experience
1-3 years of hands-on experience recommended
Specific Requirements
- No qualification prerequisite existed. Cambridge Assessment set no minimum grades, age or nationality requirement to sit BMAT.
- You had to be applying to a course that required BMAT. For 2024 entry in the UK that meant Brighton and Sussex Medical School A100, Imperial College London A100, Lancaster A100 and A104, UCL A100, Cambridge A100, and Oxford A100, A101 and BC98.
- You could not register yourself directly. A school, college or authorised open centre had to register you, which is why the exams officer was the first point of contact.
- Registration for the final October 2023 session opened on 1 September 2023 and closed at 18:00 BST on 29 September 2023.
- Requests for modified question papers had to be submitted by 15 September 2023, earlier than the standard registration deadline.
- Science and mathematics knowledge to age 16, meaning GCSE in the UK or IGCSE internationally, was assumed for Section 2. Nothing beyond the published Assumed Subject Knowledge guide was examinable.
- Results were valid for one admissions cycle only, so an applicant reapplying in a later year had to sit the test again.
- None of this applies now. The test was withdrawn after October 2023 and there is no route to sit it.
Number of Questions
60 items in total: 59 multiple-choice questions (32 in Section 1, 27 in Section 2) plus 1 writing task in Section 3
Duration
120 minutes total, sat in one sitting with no scheduled break (60 minutes for Section 1, 30 for Section 2, 30 for Section 3)
Question Format
Critical thinking multiple choice: identify the main conclusion, draw a conclusion, find the underlying assumption, expose the flaw, strengthen or weaken the argument, match parallel reasoning, identify the principle, Problem solving multiple choice: multi-step arithmetic, spatial reasoning with cube nets, chart and graph transformation, timetable and scheduling puzzles, optimisation under constraints, Scientific knowledge multiple choice with five options, covering biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics to age-16 level, One extended writing task chosen from three prompts, handwritten inside a fixed answer space of one A4 side. Cambridge Assessment published no word count; the space itself was the limit, and anything written outside it was not marked.
Passing Requirement
None. Cambridge Assessment published no pass mark or minimum score, and BMAT results were never reported as pass or fail. Universities set their own use. Oxford's A100 composite, weighted 40 per cent Section 1, 40 per cent Section 2 and 20 per cent Section 3, averaged 65.8 per cent among the 430 candidates shortlisted in the 2021 round against an applicant-wide mean of 53 per cent.
How It Is Delivered
Pen and paper at authorised open centres, schools and colleges worldwide, supervised, with a soft pencil and eraser and a separate machine-read answer sheet for each section. Cambridge Assessment delivered the 2021 session on computer, and the University of Oxford's admissions report for that round records candidates who received partial scores or no score at all because of technical faults; later sessions ran on paper.
Languages Offered
British English only. Bilingual dictionaries were prohibited for all candidates, including those testing outside the UK.
Visit the official Cambridge Assessment certification page
Create an account and select your exam
Choose a test center or online proctoring option
Pay the exam fee and schedule your date
Score Scale
Sections 1 and 2: 1.0 to 9.0, reported to one decimal place. Section 3: quality of content on a 1 to 5 scale and quality of written English graded A, C or E by each of two examiners, combined into results such as 3.5A or 4C.
Score You Need
None. Cambridge Assessment published no pass mark or minimum score, and BMAT results were never reported as pass or fail. Universities set their own use. Oxford's A100 composite, weighted 40 per cent Section 1, 40 per cent Section 2 and 20 per cent Section 3, averaged 65.8 per cent among the 430 candidates shortlisted in the 2021 round against an applicant-wide mean of 53 per cent.
How It Is Calculated
Sections 1 and 2 were scored one mark per correct answer with no deduction for wrong answers, then converted from raw marks onto the 1 to 9 scale. Cambridge Assessment stated that typical candidates scored around 5.0, the best around 6.0, and a few exceptional candidates above 7.0. Section 3 was double marked independently, averaged when the two marks agreed or differed by one, and sent for a third marking when they diverged further.
When You Get Results
No unofficial score was given at the test centre and no score appeared on the day. Official results from the final October 2023 sitting were released on 24 November 2023 through the Metritests system, 37 days after the test, and were passed automatically to every BMAT institution the candidate had applied to.
In raw terms: Cambridge Assessment stated that a score of about 5.0 corresponded to approximately half marks on the section, meaning roughly 16 of 32 in Section 1 and roughly 13 or 14 of 27 in Section 2.
- Two forms of valid ID (one government-issued with photo)
- Appointment confirmation email
- For online proctoring: webcam, microphone, clean desk, stable internet
What are the prerequisites for the BMAT?
No qualification prerequisite existed. Cambridge Assessment set no minimum grades, age or nationality requirement to sit BMAT.. You had to be applying to a course that required BMAT. For 2024 entry in the UK that meant Brighton and Sussex Medical School A100, Imperial College London A100, Lancaster A100 and A104, UCL A100, Cambridge A100, and Oxford A100, A101 and BC98.. You could not register yourself directly. A school, college or authorised open centre had to register you, which is why the exams officer was the first point of contact.. Registration for the final October 2023 session opened on 1 September 2023 and closed at 18:00 BST on 29 September 2023.. Requests for modified question papers had to be submitted by 15 September 2023, earlier than the standard registration deadline.. Science and mathematics knowledge to age 16, meaning GCSE in the UK or IGCSE internationally, was assumed for Section 2. Nothing beyond the published Assumed Subject Knowledge guide was examinable.. Results were valid for one admissions cycle only, so an applicant reapplying in a later year had to sit the test again.. None of this applies now. The test was withdrawn after October 2023 and there is no route to sit it..
How much does the BMAT cost?
The BMAT exam costs £75-£130. This includes the exam fee only, study materials are additional.
How do I register for the BMAT?
Visit the official Cambridge Assessment certification page → Create an account and select your exam → Choose a test center or online proctoring option → Pay the exam fee and schedule your date
What should I bring to the BMAT?
Two forms of valid ID (one government-issued with photo). Appointment confirmation email. For online proctoring: webcam, microphone, clean desk, stable internet.
Ready to prepare for BMAT?
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