Hello, I'm James, and I'm the

Admissions Coordinator for Maths at Oxford.

I coordinate the Mathematics
Admissions Test,

which we sometimes call MAT.

This year, the test is
being run with Pearson,

and you'll take the test
in a Pearson test centre.

But lots of things are staying the same.

For example,
we're using the same syllabus,

the same list of mathematics
that we use to write the questions.

If you look at past paper questions,
then they’re written using

the same sorts of mathematics.

So how to prepare then

for a tricky maths test where
the questions look unfamiliar

and you're not going to know 
straight away how to do them.

Well, you could look at the past
paper questions of course.

There are quite a lot
of them on our website,

but perhaps before
that you might like to look

at the syllabus, the list of topics,
and you might like to look

at some of the resources we've made to try
to get people from the kind of questions

you do at A-level, or equivalent

to these more complicated questions.

You might also like to look at things
that are nothing to do with MAT,

other sources of questions out there,

other ways you can
find tricky mathematics.

I always say that so long as you are
stuck on the question, it's good

preparation for the MAT,
because if you're stuck,

then you're practicing the
skill of getting unstuck,

the skill of having ideas
and making progress,

even if you can't see through
all of the steps

for the rest of the question.

That's an important skill,
not just on the test,

but also in life as a mathematician

or in a Maths degree.

So here are some top tips for the MAT.

It's made up of multiple choice questions

and two longer questions.

Let's talk about multiple
choice questions first.

There are 25 of them, and for
each question you get the marks

if you select the correct answer
and there's no penalty if you

leave the question blank, and no penalty
if you select an incorrect answer.

That means that if you're not sure,

you can choose the option that you think
is most likely to be true,

and if you're right, then you'll get the
marks for that multiple choice question.

They're each worth
either 2 or 3 or 4 marks,

and that's written on the question.

For the longer questions

they've got separate parts,

and there's usually a theme
for the question

or something that
joins the question together.

You don't have to attempt
those separate parts

all at once or in
the order that they're printed.

You might like to read through them first,

and you might like to come back to a part

once you've had an idea about

what's going on with the question.

Those longer questions

will ask you to type a response to explain
why something is true.

because being a mathematician is not just
about getting the right answer,

but also about explaining
why that's the right answer.

So on these two questions at the end,

you'll be asked to explain
or justify something to

give a reason why your answer is correct,

as well as showing us the correct answer.

Those questions are
marked by humans

and there's partial credit
awarded for partial solutions.

So, if you're making progress
and explaining things,

then you're probably getting marks
along the way.

I always say that the test is hard,
but not impossible.

The questions might look impossible
when you first see them,

but they’re not impossible

when you get going with them,
because you can do all of them

just using this limited
syllabus of mathematics.

And finally, a note on access arrangements.

If you have extra time in other tests,

then you should also have
extra time in this test.

Please make sure that your test centre
is aware when you register

so they can make accommodations for you.

Overall, I wish you the best
with your mathematical studies.

Keep doing maths.