St Catharine's ESAT Scores (Cambridge Engineering, H100)

In the 2025 admissions cycle, applicants who received an Engineering (H100) offer from St Catharine's College, Cambridge averaged 5.6 on ESAT Mathematics 1, 5.86 on Physics and 5.7 on Mathematics 2, or 5.72 across the three modules. Placed back in the pool of 25 undergraduate colleges, all three offer averages sit near the foot: Mathematics 1 and Mathematics 2 both rank 25th and Physics ranks 24th, at 0.76, 0.52 and 0.61 below the respective pool medians. Everyone who applied to the college that year averaged 4.75, 4.74 and 4.51. These are cycle averages, not entry requirements, and they cannot be turned round into a claim that the college is easier to get into; Cambridge publishes no ESAT score threshold of any kind.

St Catharine's ESAT scores at a glance (2025 cycle)

Offer-holder averages by module: Physics 5.86, Mathematics 2 5.7, Mathematics 1 5.6; 5.72 across the three modules
Applicant-field averages by module: Mathematics 1 4.75, Physics 4.74, Mathematics 2 4.51; 4.67 across the three modules
Rank within the undergraduate pool: Out of 25 colleges: 24th on Physics, 25th on both Mathematics 1 and Mathematics 2
Gap to the pool median: 0.76 below on Mathematics 1 (median 6.36), 0.61 below on Physics (median 6.47), 0.52 below on Mathematics 2 (median 6.22)
Applicant-to-offer gap: 1.19 on Mathematics 2, 1.12 on Physics, 0.85 on Mathematics 1
Spread across the three modules: 0.26, highest on Physics and lowest on Mathematics 1

These are averages and extremes for St Catharine's Engineering (H100) applicants and offer-holders in the 2025 cycle, together with ranks and gaps derived from them. They are not entry requirements: Cambridge publishes no ESAT score threshold of any kind. The FOI response gives no applicant count per college, so the sample size behind each figure is unknown, a handful of candidates can move an average, and a low rank cannot be read as an easier admission. Ranks are computed within the undergraduate college pool only and are not comparable with the mature colleges, which admit applicants aged 21 and over. ESAT results are reported on a 1.0 to 9.0 scale to one decimal place. Pool ranks, pool medians, the overall three-module averages and the various gaps are calculated by FrontierVUE from the same response; Cambridge publishes no such rankings. FrontierVUE is not affiliated with the University of Cambridge or any of its colleges.

What St Catharine's ESAT scores actually look like

Cambridge's freedom of information response FOI-2025-956 sets out ESAT scores for Engineering (H100) applicants and offer-holders, college by college, for the 2025 cycle. Two features of St Catharine's belong up front. First, the applicant ceiling on every module is 8.9, the offer ceiling is 8.9 on Mathematics 1 and Physics and only 8 on Mathematics 2, so nobody who applied to this college that year scored a 9 on any module. Second, the applicant floor on every module is 1.1, so the bottom of the field is level too. Taken together, this is a college whose upper and lower edges line up neatly.

	Applicant average	Applicant range	Offer-holder average	Offer-holder range
Mathematics 1	4.75	1.1 to 8.9	5.6	3.7 to 8.9
Physics	4.74	1.1 to 8.9	5.86	3.4 to 8.9
Mathematics 2	4.51	1.1 to 8.9	5.7	3.7 to 8

The averages and the lowest and highest scores come line by line from official response FOI-2025-956; the overall three-module averages of 4.67 for applicants and 5.72 for offer-holders are calculated by FrontierVUE from that same response. ESAT reports a scaled score from 1.0 to 9.0 to one decimal place. Each range is the lowest and highest score in that group, not a boundary.

5.72

Overall three-module average for St Catharine's offer-holders, 2025 cycle

4.67

Overall three-module average across all applicants in the same cycle

0.26

Spread across the three offer averages, Physics highest and Mathematics 1 lowest

Among offer-holders the lowest scores were 3.7 on Mathematics 1, 3.4 on Physics and 3.7 on Mathematics 2, all well beneath the same group's averages of 5.6, 5.86 and 5.7, while the highest in that group were 8.9, 8.9 and 8. One cohort of offers held both scores in the low threes and scores near the top of the scale, which is not what a cut-off would look like. Cambridge publishes no ESAT score threshold of any kind.

How to read these numbers

5.86 is an average, not a bar to clear

It is the average Physics score of St Catharine's Engineering offer-holders in the 2025 cycle, and the same goes for 5.6 on Mathematics 1 and 5.7 on Mathematics 2. Cambridge publishes no ESAT score threshold of any kind, and no college has published a minimum score of its own. Within that same group, actual Physics scores run from 3.4 to 8.9; the average marks the centre of that spread, not its entrance.

Sample size unknown: the FOI gives no applicant count per college

The response gives averages and extremes only, with no applicant or offer count for any college. For a college at the foot of the pool this is the point most easily forgotten: if St Catharine's offer group that year was small, a few lower scores would be enough to push all three averages to the bottom of the pool together. Read these figures for direction, not as a fixed trait of the college.

Rankings are pooled: mature colleges sit outside this one

St Catharine's 25th and 24th places are all calculated within the 25 undergraduate colleges. The mature colleges, which admit applicants aged 21 and over (Hughes Hall, St Edmund's, Wolfson, Lucy Cavendish), draw on a different pool, so rankings are computed separately and this page never lines their figures up against St Catharine's.

25th is our arithmetic, and it does not mean easiest to get into

The official response contains only averages and lowest and highest scores. Pool ranks, pool medians, gaps to the median, applicant-to-offer gaps and the three-module spread are arithmetic worked out by FrontierVUE on top of them; Cambridge publishes no such ranking of colleges. A low rank says only where this offer group's average sat among 25; the response gives no offer rate, so a lower average cannot be converted into a lower level of difficulty.

One line to hold on to: in this data St Catharine's sits at the back on all three modules, but the data answers what people who applied to this college scored last cycle. It is neither what you must score nor evidence that the college is easier to get into. Cambridge publishes no ESAT score threshold of any kind.

These figures answer what people at this college scored last year, not what you need to score. The first is a distribution that already happened; Cambridge has never answered the second. To place St Catharine's among all 29 colleges side by side, see the Cambridge college ESAT score comparison, which carries the cross-college comparison and interactive charts that this page does not repeat.

Three things specific to St Catharine's

25 / 25

Where the Mathematics 1 offer average ranks in the undergraduate pool, the furthest under its median (0.76 below)

24 / 25

Where Physics ranks, the only one of St Catharine's three modules not in last place

25 / 25

Where Mathematics 2 ranks, in last place alongside Mathematics 1

Mathematics 1

Offer average 5.6, ranked 25th

0.76 under the 6.36 pool median, and the foot of the pool's 5.6 to 7.08 band

Physics

Offer average 5.86, ranked 24th

0.61 under the 6.47 pool median, yet above the pool's floor of 5.63 on this module

Mathematics 2

Offer average 5.7, ranked 25th

0.52 under the 6.22 pool median, and the foot of the pool's 5.7 to 6.99 band; the offer ceiling here is only 8

On the applicant side

Module averages of 4.75, 4.74 and 4.51

Mathematics 2 was the applicant field's weakest module, and its gap of 1.19 is the largest of the three

Overall position

All three modules below the pool median

Offer-holders averaged 5.72 overall, the whole applicant field 4.67; spread 0.26

Put together, St Catharine's shape is three modules sitting at the back with little between them. First, the Mathematics 1 offer average of 5.6 and the Mathematics 2 average of 5.7 are the very bottom of the undergraduate pool's range on those two modules, while Physics at 5.86 sits above the pool's floor of 5.63, hence 24th. Second, the spread is only 0.26, Physics highest and Mathematics 1 lowest, so there is no clear pecking order between the three. Third, the applicant-to-offer gaps of 0.85, 1.12 and 1.19 show the offer group still sitting well above the applicant field. None of this converts into easier to get into: the FOI response gives no applicant counts and no offer rate, and a lower average may simply reflect who applied that year.

Preparing with St Catharine's shape in mind

01Step 1

Take your own baseline before anything else

Sit a timed paper from the past paper list at /papers/esat and record accuracy and timing for each module separately. St Catharine's 25th and 24th places describe positions between colleges, not how low you may set your own target.

02Step 2

Split the time three ways

With a spread of only 0.26, Physics highest at 5.86 and Mathematics 1 lowest at 5.6, there is no ranking to be drawn between the three. Divide revision time evenly and give none of them less.

03Step 3

Break the weakest module down to topic level

Take the module that came out worst and break it into topics, then drill those topics in the practice centre until it stops dictating the pace of the whole paper.

04Step 4

Go back to full timed sittings

Run the modules back to back to rehearse the switches and the time budget, then work through the per-question solutions and error analysis. Because St Catharine's three modules sit close, whole-paper rhythm is worth more practice than a peak in any single subject.

Where the figures on this page come from

One response, two kinds of number, different provenance

Cambridge's official FOI-2025-956Raw figures copied line by line

Applicant averages of 4.75, 4.74 and 4.51 and offer averages of 5.6, 5.86 and 5.7
Each group's lowest and highest scores, such as the offer ranges of 3.7 to 8.9, 3.4 to 8.9 and 3.7 to 8

FrontierVUE's derived statisticsArithmetic worked out on top of the raw figures; Cambridge publishes no such ranking

Pool ranks of 25th, 24th and 25th among 25 undergraduate colleges
Gaps to the pool median of 0.76, 0.61 and 0.52 below
Applicant-to-offer gaps of 0.85, 1.12 and 1.19, a spread of 0.26, and overall averages of 5.72 and 4.67

What is in neither responseAnd not on this page either

Applicant and offer counts per college, so the sample size is unknown
Any score threshold of any kind, which Cambridge does not publish

Tap a branch to unfold

The ESAT past papers live at /papers/esat, and some papers are free to try; the free labels on the list page show which ones are currently open. The module guides under /exams/esat/guides/ cover what each module tests and how to work through it.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What ESAT score do you need for a St Catharine's offer?

There is no such score. Cambridge publishes no ESAT threshold, and St Catharine's has never stated a minimum of its own. What can be said is what happened in the 2025 cycle: applicants who received an offer at this college averaged 5.6 on Mathematics 1, 5.86 on Physics and 5.7 on Mathematics 2, while within that same group the lowest scores were 3.7, 3.4 and 3.7 and the highest 8.9, 8.9 and 8. An average describes where a group sat, not a condition of entry.

All three modules rank at or near the bottom. Is St Catharine's the easiest college for Cambridge Engineering?

This data cannot answer that. The 25th and 24th places are ranks calculated by FrontierVUE on top of the 25 undergraduate colleges' offer averages; Cambridge publishes no such ranking, and all they say is where this offer group's averages sat in the pool in the 2025 cycle. The FOI response gives no applicant count per college, so the sample size is unknown, and it gives no offer rate either; a lower average may simply reflect who applied that year. Reading a rank as a level of difficulty misuses what this data is.

My mocks are above 5.6, 5.86 and 5.7 on all three modules. Does that make a St Catharine's offer safe?

No. Those three figures are the averages of applicants who received a St Catharine's offer in the 2025 cycle, and the highest scores in that same group were 8.9, 8.9 and 8, so a whole stretch of the distribution sits above the average. An average describes a group's centre, not a condition of entry; Cambridge publishes no ESAT score threshold and no offer rate by college. Being above last year's average tells you that you would not have been near the back of last year's group, and nothing more, and with the sample size unknown the average itself carries some wobble.

How should I split time across the three modules for St Catharine's?

St Catharine's three offer averages span only 0.26, with Physics highest at 5.86, Mathematics 2 in the middle at 5.7 and Mathematics 1 lowest at 5.6, so there is no pecking order to follow. The sensible approach is to split the time evenly, take your own baseline, break your own weakest module down to topic level, and then reassemble all three under full paper timing. This is a judgement read off a distribution that already happened, not an official instruction, and the college's rank should not lower the target you set for yourself.

Sources

Official sources

FrontierVUE is an independent practice platform. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by UAT-UK, Pearson, OCR, the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, or any official admissions-test owner.

FrontierVUE 是独立的备考练习平台，与 UAT-UK、Pearson、OCR、剑桥大学、帝国理工学院或任何官方入学考试主办方均无隶属或背书关系。

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