Does anyone know much about the MAT entrance exam for Maths at Imperial & Oxford?

[FancyDan]

We went to the open day at Imperial today as my son wants to study maths there.
He also wants to apply to Cambridge so has to apply by the 15th October.
If applying by this date the MAT exam is compulsory at Imperial (if you're applying later the STEP exam can be used).
My son wasn't aware of this and is now worried that he'll have to study for the MAT & STEP exams as well as his A level subjects.

The person we spoke to at Imperial said that the exam was a combination of the Maths and Further Maths that students would have studied in year 12 but my son doesn't start further maths until September!
Will he be disadvantaged by this or will everyone be in the same boat?

If you have the predicted A level grades, do they use the result of this to decide who to invite to interview or do you just need to meet a particular percentage to pass?

Why is it so complicated!

I can't answer your further maths question I'm afraid, but his best tactic at the moment would be to look at the past papers (there are loads online for free on the Oxford website) and just get stuck in. Doing loads of past papers is the best way to prepare. If he's good at maths he should be able to work out any content he hasn't yet covered by looking on YouTube/MAT websites. His maths teacher at school might be able to help too (although appreciate summer holidays isn't a good time to suggest that!) Does he know any Y13s or undergrads who might be able to talk him through anything he hasn't covered yet? I think lots of schools do maths content in Y12 and FM in Y13 so he won't be alone. (To be honest, the more I write the more I think it's unlikely FM content is specifically covered in the MAT, because not all schools offer it and Oxford wouldn't want those people to be at such a big disadvantage. Is the teacher who said this sure of their facts?)

The MAT is a very big factor in who Oxford interview. For Oxford, you'd be want to get 65%-ish to have a good strong chance of an interview and 70%+ to be almost guaranteed an interview.

I'm not sure how big a factor it is for imperial, but if they ask for it they obviously do care about the results. I'm sure someone with Imperial knowledge will be along soon!

Your DS does not need Further Maths for MAT.

MAT tests depth of understanding and is concentrated mainly on the topics covered in AS-level Maths with maybe a few topics from A-level Maths thrown in.

You don't need further maths for MAT, and everyone is the same boat. There is a syllabus for MAT published by Oxford. it consists of P1 and P2 and some of P3 and P4. So only the pure content of single maths is required - no further maths or mechanics or statistics. There are at least 17 years of past papers with solutions available online. He needs to do all of them. TMUA is a different exam around the same standard with a different style and is also worth doing the past papers for (it's marginally easier and used by Durham/Warwick (?) ). The AMSP runs preparation courses for MAT, TMUA and STEP. They are reasonably priced. Look on their website. There is also a weekly online session run by oxford (google "MAT livestream"). Both Oxford and Imperial take MAT very seriously and use it as one of the main criteria for interview shortlisting (because most of their candidates have straight A-star predicted grades so look similar on paper. There is very little difference in the scores needed for Oxford and Imperial suggesting the cohorts are very similar ability.
One thing they don't advertise is that the published average scores are boosted hugely by the international (particularly Chinese) applicants. The domestic students do very badly in comparison and need to clear a lower bar. So an international student is likely to need 75-ish for an interview whereas domestic needs about 55-60. Precise scores vary from year to year and there is not a sharp cutoff because GCSE scores and contextual factors feed in.
Regarding exam technique for MAT, the most useful tip is: spend at least an hour on the multiple choice in Q1. 40% of the marks are available for this, so a good score here can get you most of the way to the interview and needing only half marks in the rest of the paper.
MAT and TMUA are a good warm-up exercise for STEP so worth doing anyway. Advanced Extension Award (AEA) papers are also worth a look. The MAT and AEA questions are generally doable with a bit of thought. The STEP questions are a whole different ballgame.
Maths at the top unis is more competitive than medicine - you need higher grades and the top unis are oversubscribed 10 to 1. Don't assume that straight A* predicted grades or GCSEs are enough to get an offer. Think carefully about all 5 ucas choices as 2 or 3 rejections are likely and not always in the order you'd expect. e.g. DS was rejected without interview by UCL despite offers from higher-ranking depts. Make sure the PS has plenty of evidence of super-curricular activities in, and passion for, maths. They are maniacally subject-focused and don't want to hear about DofE or playing 3 instruments.
Also be aware that Cambridge are falsely "generous" with their conditional offers - they give most plausible candidates an offer because they control the STEP grade boundaries (and can therefore raise the bar to control the class size if they find they have "over-offered"). Most Cambridge maths candidates easily get their A-star grades but over half fail to get their STEP grades and end up at their insurance uni choice. i.e. it is much harder to get into Cambridge than Oxford for maths. If your son has neither done any prep for MAT/STEP nor started further maths then he frankly he faces an uphill task getting into Cambridge. There is a STEP preparation programme published online by Cambridge which he will really need to work on all through the summer. I would suggest looking at STEP papers between now and October (also the book by Stephen Siklos), and considering both Cambridge and Oxford i.e. consider applying to Oxford rather than Cambridge in October if getting 1's in STEP looks out of reach. The big difference is that MAT is a pre-offer exam whereas STEP is a post-offer exam. So if you get an offer from Oxford you're almost certainly in (as you'll very likely get the A-stars) whereas if you get an offer from Cambridge you're still probably not in (as you're likely to fail to get the required grades in STEP) so any celebration over a conditional offer from Cambridge is more often than not premature.

Ah tha

Stupid phone. That's interesting @EctopicSpleen - I'd always been a bit mystified by the people who score 50% and get an interview versus the people who score 70% and don't, but I guess if they have different unofficial benchmarks for international students, that might explain it.

Great info, @EctopicSpleen

I write as a former RG STEM admission tutor, OP. DH is an RG maths professor and Cambridge alumnus.

In particular @EctopicSpleen is correct that there is a lot of premature celebration around Cambridge maths offers because around 50% of them will fail their STEP offer.

Roughly, MAT is a test of cleverness and STEP tests both cleverness and mastery. It is sat around the same time as A Levels so yes everyone is in the same boat. It is brutal, but excellent preparation for maths at the top universities

PS Practising for the MAT over the summer should suffice. As you can probably tell, preparing for STEP is something else entirely

@PacificState you can dig the info up in FOI requests. it's not (willingly) published by the unis. But in short, there has been a huge increase in international applications, particularly from china, in the last 10 years. Oxford take 30% from China. Imperial take 60%. They could both fill their classes entirely with Chinese students who have outscored the domestic applicants. As an example, DS was easily scoring above the published average of "candidates with offers" on the papers from 10+ years ago but his scores fell to below average of "candidates with offers" on the papers from the last 5 years. This puzzled us, and only made sense when we took into account the growth of international applicants and their higher average scores.

This is really interesting, especially about 50% of those with offers from Cambridge actually getting a place in the end. It ties in with what my son was told on the Oxford open day this week, which is that they only make 1.1 offers per place.

I know it is MAT you are seeking advice on but If he wants to apply to Cambridge he needs to treat STEP as an extra A Level.
This is very useful.
https://maths.org/step/welcome

@pallando is the person to advise on STEP if she is still around.

If he is already working on STEP problems, then MAT should feel quite comfortable with some practice to get a feel for the style of the questions.

For domestic applicants, oxford can assume that nobody has applied to Cambridge (except perhaps the very occasional organ scholar) so 95% of those who are offered will accept, and 95% of those who accept will get their grades.
For international applicants, they'd have to make different assumptions because anyone applying to Oxford from outside the UK could well have applied to Harvard, MIT etc.

From the Cambridge 2022 maths admissions stats
applications 1515
offers 537
acceptances 252
The drop from 537 to 252 is because half failed to get their STEP grades. i.e. Cambridge knowingly makes more than 2 offers per place because they know they can use STEP to whittle down the numbers to keep the class size around 250. There is no equivalent to this in the Oxford admission process.
One of the private schools local to me steers students towards Oxford rather than Cambridge unless they have done very well in BMO1 in Y12. i.e. Oxford seen as a safer bet unless student is an extreme outlier.

Note it is recommended to start the Cambridge STEP Support Programme, in the link from @OhYouBadBadKitten , in Y12. I think a pupil willing to study during the summer can catch up.

My impression is that while not everyone who gets a Cambridge offer has the ability to make their STEP requirement, a lot more than 50% do. I think many are caught out by lack of preparation. These are the best mathematicians in their schools, they are acing FM, and they may have limited imaginations about the true nature of the subject.

The other big issue is unequal facilitation. A student in a private/grammar school who finished the FM math course by Feb of Y13 and has a teacher with some experience of preparation for STEP is in a far better place than one in a comprehensive whose class is pacing to finish in May of Y13 and whose teacher has never prepared anyone for STEP and may not be able to do the STEP questions themselves (this is apparently rather common).

Thank you all for your replies. My son has spoken to his maths teacher who believes he is capable of doing the MAT exam but will have to work on past papers etc over the summer as well as studying for STEP.

I agree completely about the issues with unequal facilitation, @EctopicSpleen I know a couple of brilliant maths professors from working class backgrounds who failed the STEP hurdle. They were possibly arrogant but they also attended comprehensives where no one knew anything about STEP.

Hi @FancyDan (and thanks @OhYouBadBadKitten - I am still around!)

As has previously been said, MAT needs AS maths with a couple of extras (mainly sequences I think - but best to check with the spec). The MAT livestream is brilliant, it started beginning of June but it's easy to catch up). Everything about MAT here: About MAT

TMUA is fun - usually we don't advise doing both TMUA and MAT as they used to be on the same day, and everywhere that accepts TMUA also accepts MAT, but they seem to have become disjointed last couple of years: About TMUA

As has already been linked, the STEP Support Programme foundation modules https://maths.org/step/assignments are ideal for working through in year 12 (or in the summer of Year 12). The first few don't need any A-level maths, and later on the maths is introduced before you need it. Looking after the SSP is my job, as well as assisting with Cambridge Open days etc.

Any questions about STEP/MAT/TMUA please send my way as I should be able to answer them!

Good to see you Pallando!

Thanks @Pallando
Those links look really useful

The important points have been covered already, so I thought I'd give my personal perspective, as someone who sat both MAT and STEP relatively recently, and did BA+MMath at Cambridge,

The fact that most people make their Oxford maths offers compared to less than half of people making their Cambridge offers does not mean Oxford is easier to get in to. Cambridge invite basically all applicants to interview, whereas Oxford cuts about half of applicants before even reaching that stage (mostly using MAT scores). As a result, the two application systems have different focuses, but are of roughly equal difficulty.

The Oxford admissions process is relatively frontloaded. Getting the offer is very hard, but once you have it you're pretty much done. Most realistic applicants will have no difficulty making the A Level grades. Cambridge's process on the other hand is more spread out. It is comparatively easier to get an offer, but then you have to pass STEP, not an easy task. I guess that those more confident in their interview skills compared to exam skills might prefer Oxford's system (and vice versa), but I would personally suggest that this should not be a major factor in your decision. The two cities are quite different, and the courses have non-negligible differences too. These factors are far more important.

As for preparation, I would not say that MAT and STEP preparation are totally different. While the exams have different formats and emphasise slightly different skills, at the end of the day, practicing one will make you better at maths, which will make you better at both exams.

MAT is significantly easier than STEP, so I would practise that first. Do a practice paper at some point in the summer holidays to get an idea of how much work needs to be done. If you score highly (>80), probably just do the occasional paper, if you score lowly, do more. Up until sitting MAT at the end of October, it should be your main focus.

After sitting MAT, it's time to prepare for interviews. I personally did this by solving STEP problems, but just doing hard maths of any kind will help. Having a practice interview is very helpful if your school's maths department offers one. There are lots of myths about Oxbridge interviews, but maths ones at least are very straightforward. You sit down with some interviewers and solve problems (with their guidance). You won't get any stupid questions about your favourite fruit or anything, just maths.

The majority of candidates start seriously working on STEP in January, after offers have been sent out. Start with STEP 1, and move on to STEP 2 once you're ready. If your school doesn't offer help, there are tonnes of resources on the internet. TheStudentRoom has an annual thread that collates most of them.

If you want more specific advice/resources for MAT/STEP/interviews, I'd be happy to provide more.

The MAT does not require STEP, but not having FM will definitely disadvantage any student going into first year of uni at those unis as FM knowledge will either have been assumed or very quickly skimmed over., as was the case at my time at Imperial doing Maths, and I graduated 6 years ago.

Re: "not not having FM will definitely disadvantage any student going into first year of uni at those unis"
As an A level candidate you have no realistic chance of getting in to the top half-dozen maths depts without further maths. This has become an increasingly firm requirement in recent years. Oxford say it's "not required", but don't actually accept anyone who doesn't have it, so the "not required" bit is purely theoretical, not how it works in practice, and the issue of being disadvantaged by not having further maths might once have been true but is now a moot point.

Re: "Cambridge invite basically all applicants to interview, whereas Oxford cuts about half of applicants before even reaching that stage (mostly using MAT scores). As a result, the two application systems have different focuses, but are of roughly equal difficulty."
I think this is a bit misleading. Oxford actually cut about two thirds after MAT but before interview. But the two application systems are not of equal difficulty. Entry to both is competitive with a cap of about 250 on the class size. The reality is that Cambridge is the premier maths department in Europe. Many schools advise their very best applicants to apply to Cambridge, and their not-quite-as-good applicants to apply to Oxford. As a result it is harder (i.e. more competitive) to get into Cambridge (referring to maths only).

Does anyone know how many UK students are admitted each year to Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial?
I went to UCL yesterday and they have a maths intake of 250 but 150 of those are from outside the UK!

Back in the day I did Maths and FM in parallel in sixth form - they covered different ground - is this not the case these days?

FWIW my niece was undecided as to uni subject quite late, so when she plumped on Maths she was already doing A Levels and wasn't signed up for FM. She tried for Oxford but didn't get in - did get a First somewhere else though. So that does suggest FM (even if it's just down to spending twice as much time doing maths every week) is going to be very useful.

@Paperbagsaremine for my sons' school they cover all of A level maths content in year 12 then move onto further maths in year 13, they sit both exams at the end of year 13. As there is also another maths class who cover the content over 2 years theirs is known as further maths/maths. They have double the amount of timetabled maths than the normal maths class. Contact hours are 4 1/2 hours so they get 9 hours of maths a week.

Depending on their grade on entry (7 as minimum for further maths) and their general attitude to learning some of them start to struggle with the further maths/maths and so at the end of year 12 can drop the further maths to concentrate on their maths grade.

Not all sixth forms offer further maths so universities cannot require it but for oversubscribed university courses, basically all the top ones will be able to choose who they offer to and someone without further maths is at a disadvantage from this point of view. Freedom of Information requests are sent out to universities every year for information on these sorts of things, from grade profiles to whether they have further maths etc dependent on the course. Scottish Highers don't have a further maths equivalent, I am unsure what they cover in their maths course but I thought it was worth a mention.