BMAT Past Papers (2003–2023)

The admissions test for medicine, biomedical sciences and dentistry, used by a number of UK universities. It is not a predecessor of the TARA: the TARA did not replace it, and the two serve different subject areas.

The BMAT had three sections: Section 1 tested thinking skills (problem solving and critical thinking) in 60 minutes; Section 2 tested scientific and mathematical knowledge; Section 3 was a writing task. Only Section 1 is relevant to the TARA, and it is the only part UAT-UK provides, so it is the only part held here. The number of questions in Section 1 changed over the years, so read the exact count for each paper from the table below.

This is not our assessment, it is the official position. On its TARA preparation materials page UAT-UK states that the TARA’s Critical Thinking and Problem Solving components share a common history with BMAT Section 1 and the TSA, and that candidates wanting more preparation material may find the BMAT papers useful.

The pacing lines up too. Each TARA module is 22 questions in 40 minutes, an average of about 1 minute 49 seconds per question; BMAT Section 1 ran to 60 minutes, which across the various question counts works out at roughly 1 minute 43 to 1 minute 53 each. The per-question time pressure is almost identical, so the archive trains the right clock as well as the right question types.

Section 2 (scientific knowledge) and Section 3 (the writing task) have no bearing on the TARA, are not held here, and are not worth practising for it. The BMAT was also paper-based while the TARA is sat on screen at Pearson VUE, so the interface and feel have to come from TARA-format mocks instead. And the point that matters most: these are real BMAT papers, not TARA papers. UAT-UK has never released a TARA past paper.