Can someone please explain the TMUA process?

[Justlurkingmostly]

Hi - I know the maths admissions tests are sat in Oct (MAT & TMUA) or next summer (STEP) but I can’t seem to get a straight answer on the process for receiving your scores and then transmitting them. Am I assuming correctly for MAT or STEP that scores are sent directly to Ox or Cambs respectively?
How, then, does TMUA work? I have seen the dates for this year’s test but I’m sure I read somewhere that the scores are sent to the student and then the student can elect whether or not to use them? Is that correct? And if you do elect to use the TMUA score are they then automatically sent to all 5 of your choices or can the student pick which unis receive them?
Thanks for any information!

Good question! I'd like to know too.

I have seen a date for results somewhere (I think it was in November) so I am guessing they are sent to the student (who, after all, has paid for the exam). I also guess that Pearson send them directly to the Universities, otherwise how do you tell them if you applied early.

On the subject of TMUA, does the student sort it all out themselves or do schools have involvement (or do some?). The application process seems to start in August...

I have DC who have sat the TMUA under the 'old regime' (ie Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing'). It is now run by UAT-UK. Their website (link below) answers some of your questions. Whilst the exam format appears the same; some aspects seemed to have changed, including when and how you sit the test and the automatic sending of results to participating unis (which appears to be a small list these days).

esat-tmua.ac.uk/

Thanks very much — I think I must have been looking at the Pearson site or perhaps an outdated website. As you say,
it’s a short list of unis! We were just at the Bath open day for instance and they’re no longer using any admissions test (this was for maths).

Is there space on the UCAS form for pending qualifications where STEP/MAT/TMUA would be included?

So even if the universities aren't partners on the exams, they can give alternative offers if you get above X in whatever test you are doing? Does that happen? And then you email them your results or something.

Another thought - if you have STEP on your UCAS form other Universities are going to know you're applying for Cambridge (Maths) and if you have MAT, the Oxford. And TMUA- it'll be one of the short list of unis on the website. Is that right?

This is the first cycle for the new regime for TMUA, so no one will have previous experience to impart. Your DC is best contacting UAT-UK directly and/or those unis they are considering that are 'formal partners' of the TMUA in its current guise. This might also prompt them to flesh out the details on their website.

Under the old regime, my DC chose to wait for their results and then emailed them to the relevant department (they applied to unis where the TMUA was not mandatory but enhanced offers given if result over a certain score). They did not put TMUA under the pending qualifications section on UCAS. In most cases, they initially received the standard offer in the UCAS track and then the offer was subsequently revised down.

Very interested as my DC will take it - are you all getting tutors? Is there a particular trusted resource to identify tutors?

No tutoring here - just practice papers

As with all tutoring in an attempt to gain entry to the next level of education, there's 2 schools of thought on the matter.

a) if students need tutoring for a test, they may struggle to perform at the level required for whatever course/institution a successful test result gains them entry to and this might make for a miserable higher education experience and increased chance of wanting to drop out.

OR

b) it's just about ensuring that an applicant ends up above the cut-off point for receiving an offer from the chosen course/institution i.e. many more students would cope with the accademic rigour/intensity of the course they're trying to gain access to than there are places on the course so being tutored is just maximising the probability of being amongst those above the cut-off line.

My DC went to a comp and so were eligible for the AMSP courses which give priority to state educated students (google for more details). They were accepted onto a 7 hour online programme, comprising 1 hour weekly sessions over a continuous 7 week period. The cost was £60 though that can be covered where families struggle financially. The course helped them familiarise themselves with approaches to problem solving, which was useful generally; other than that, they looked at the past papers.

I signed on to recommend the AMSP also. If DC require vast amounts of tutoring I do think it likely they may thrive better elsewhere. However most will benefit from some formal analysis of past papers, tips on how to approach these new (to them) problems, etc . This is especially true for STEP.

And many pupils at independent schools are getting this tuition on site.

My DC qualifies for and has done a course via what sounds like the Welsh equivalent of AMSP. I’m a firm believer in option A above ^^ so no tutoring per se. Seems like there are practice papers and lots of free info available online.

Thanks for replies. DC is very able, it's more that we are abroad and doing international bac and not sure that all the topics are covered. it's one of those FOMO things where you don't want to feel as a parent you haven't done enough if everyone else is getting tutoring...

No tutoring here either - I didn't realise it was even a thing - but the 6th form are providing some support and he's doing lots of past papers (I think... he's doing something to do with it every day and I was assuming!)

The test registration is now open

Higher the MAT, the higher the chance to be interviewed. Tutoring does help to get higher scores.

If anyone's child needs to do the TMUA in October they need to register and book NOW.

Don't leave it - there are hardly any places as it turns out. Apparently they might open up more pop up centres. But you have to keep checking, they won't tell you.

The advice seems to be that the best thing to do is to find a centre - any centre- you can book at now and hope you can change the booking to somewhere closer to you later on.

Not being able to book a place to sit an exam you need to go to university is a shocking mismanagement of the admissions process in my opinion. And I can't help feeling it's another thing you need to be in the know about: The booking window is officially 1 August to 16 September. But apparently you needed to book on 1 August to be guaranteed a space.

Thanks for this, @FiveFoxes

I agree that if true it is shocing mismanagement, to the extent that the provider should be changed

DS was promoted to book after hearing about it on the grape vine.

The Pearson Vue website is very poorly set up for a start- you have to select 3 centres and check the availability at those three before choosing 3 more to check and so on. Rather than: this is my postcode, show me the nearest centre with availability. It also defaults to August, rather than automatically to October (as that is when the TMUA is, which is the exam you have already chosen earlier on the website). I believe the website will also only show you venues within 30 miles of your home address, so if they are all booked up then that's it. The centre that we did find that had availability also seemed to have slots at 2am, which is a bit weird.

DS did find a centre he can get to eventually. So he is booked, but it is a long way from home so will be a whole day off college instead of an afternoon. Plus the expense of getting there and the stress of the journey (on public transport as he doesn't drive and he'll have to change several times on the way).

However, I am just happy he has been able to book somewhere doable when I have read other people's stories...

I believe Pearson Vue are running MAT this year too. It'll be interesting to see if that runs any better...

ds had been delaying booking but prompted by this thread has now just booked. Only a couple of slots seemed to be available at our nearest test centre but at least he has one now. £75 though !

School apparently made no mention of booking/paying when they had a big UCAS session prior to breaking up for the summer hols although they did for UCAT for his best friend who is applying for medicine.

@FiveFoxes thank you so much for starting this thread - just managed to book the TMUA at a local test centre.

I can't take credit for starting the thread, but I am glad it's helping people.

I am not sure if this TMUA shortage is normal or if there is something odd going on this year. Does anyone else know?

Thanks very much for alerting us!
Just booked (in Germany). 130 Euro!!!

When we booked it was unclear if the nearest centres were fully booked or not offering the exam
The one we chose defaulted to 2am as well

If your family is in receipt of free school meals or other benefits you can get a voucher to cover the cost
Bursary Scheme – UAT UK (esat-tmua.ac.uk)

I have been Googling. I think 2024 is the first year Pearson Vue are running the TMUA and ESAT exams. Does anyone know if that's correct? I believe they are also running MAT. Not sure if any others or if any University admission tests have been run by them before?

I have also looked up their Trust Pilot reviews... 1.1 . There are apparently 500 test centres worldwide with 'over 100' in the UK.

Apparently MAT was run online by Oxford last year and did not go well
Pearson are due to run it this year