University of Oxford · UCAS LV21
TARA for Oxford History and Politics (UCAS LV21)
History and Politics at the University of Oxford (UCAS code LV21) requires all three modules of the TARA, the Test of Academic Reasoning for Admissions, for 2027 entry. The TARA is run by UAT-UK and sat in person at a Pearson VUE test centre. It lasts 120 minutes in total, organised as three 40-minute modules: Critical Thinking (22 multiple-choice questions, scored), Problem Solving (22 multiple-choice questions, scored) and the Writing Task (one essay chosen from three prompts, up to 750 words). Scores are reported on a scale from 1.0 to 9.0 to one decimal place, there is no pass mark and no negative marking, and calculators and dictionaries are not permitted. UAT-UK does not mark the Writing Task; your response is passed on to the universities you applied to. Oxford accepts only the October sitting, and for 2027 entry that window runs from 12 to 16 October 2026, with candidates in China, Hong Kong and Macau sitting the TARA on 14 October 2026. Results are released on 16 November 2026. The entry fee is £78 in the UK and Ireland and £133 elsewhere.
- 18
- Papers
- 810
- Questions
- 2
- Free to try
01
Which courses need the TARA, and which do not
The TARA is a reasoning test built from three modules: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and a Writing Task. For 2027 entry, ten Oxford courses and six UCL courses require it. History and Politics (LV21) is one of the ten at Oxford, and Oxford accepts only the October sitting.
The ten Oxford courses are Economics and Management (LN12), Experimental Psychology (C830), History and Economics (LV11), History and Politics (LV21), Human Sciences (BCL0), Philosophy and Linguistics (VQ51), Philosophy, Politics and Economics (L0V0), Philosophy, Politics and Economics with Foundation Year (L0VF), Psychology and Linguistics (CQ81) and Psychology and Philosophy (CV85).
Three claims circulate widely and are all wrong:
- Single-honours History at Oxford requires no admissions test at all. Its course page states that no written test is needed for that course, and it does not appear on the UAT-UK course list. Only the joint courses History and Politics (LV21) and History and Economics (LV11) sit the TARA.
- Oxford's Computer Science requires the TMUA (Paper 1 and Paper 2), not the TARA, and the TARA is not mentioned anywhere on that course page. The easy confusion is with UCL's Computer Science (G400 and G402), which does require the TARA.
- UCL's social science courses no longer use the TARA for 2027 entry. European Social and Political Studies, International Social and Political Studies and the ESPS dual degree have moved to UCL's own Thinking Skills Test. UCL's six TARA courses for 2027 entry are Computer Science BSc (G400) and MEng (G402), Computer Science and Mathematics MEng (G430), Mechanical Engineering BEng (H300) and MEng (H301), and Robotics and Artificial Intelligence MEng (H700).
Neither Oxford nor UCL publishes a TARA cut-off, a weighting, or an average score for successful applicants, so any such figure you find online has no official source behind it.
02
What each module asks of an LV21 applicant
Critical Thinking gives you 22 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, roughly 109 seconds each. The questions ask you to identify conclusions, unstated assumptions and flaws in reasoning, and to judge what a new piece of evidence does to an argument. That is close to the everyday work of testing a historian's or a political scientist's claim against the evidence behind it.
Problem Solving is another 22 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes. No calculator is permitted, so arithmetic has to be done on paper and at speed, and dictionaries are barred too. Neither scored module uses negative marking, so leave nothing blank. Scores are reported from 1.0 to 9.0 to one decimal place, and there is no pass mark.
The Writing Task is 40 minutes, one prompt chosen from three, within 750 words. UAT-UK does not mark it, and your response is sent to the universities you applied to. Oxford adds a note to only two of its ten TARA course pages, Economics and Management (LN12) and History and Economics (LV11), saying the Writing Task is not used in selection for those courses. The History and Politics page carries no such note, so Oxford has published no exemption for LV21: write the essay as work a tutor may read.
03
How to practise when there are no past papers
Official TARA material is thin. It amounts to three things: the TARA Specification, the TARA Question Guide, and two practice papers hosted on Pearson VUE, a specimen with explanations and a sample with an answer review, both covering all three modules. No TARA past paper has ever been released, so anything sold to you as a TARA past paper is not one.
UAT-UK itself points candidates to BMAT Section 1 (2003 to 2023) and TSA Section 1 (2008 to 2023) for additional practice, and hosts those archives on its own site. They are legitimate, free, and the sensible place to start.
FrontierVUE adds 18 Frontier Original parallel papers on top of that, written by us rather than reproduced from anywhere. Each follows the live structure: 45 items in 120 minutes, made up of 22 Critical Thinking questions, 22 Problem Solving questions and one Writing Task, which comes to 810 questions across the 18 papers. A separate bank of 350 questions is organised as topic drills for the reasoning patterns that recur. Every question carries a worked explanation and a Chinese translation. Papers 1 and 2 are free, which is enough to practise one full timed paper before deciding anything else.
04
Key dates and fees for 2027 entry
For the 2027 cycle, registration on the UAT-UK site opens on 1 June 2026 at 3pm BST. Booking a test seat is a separate step: booking opens on 20 July 2026 at 3pm BST and closes on 28 September 2026 at 6pm BST, and it cannot be reopened once that deadline passes.
Two earlier deadlines matter if they apply to you: applications for access arrangements close on 14 September 2026 at 6pm BST, and bursary applications close on 21 September 2026 at 6pm BST.
The October testing window runs from 12 to 16 October 2026. There are fixed regional days for China, Hong Kong and Macau, where the TARA is sat on 14 October 2026. Results are released on 16 November 2026.
A January sitting also exists: booking opens on 26 October 2026 at 3pm GMT and closes on 21 December 2026 at 6pm GMT, the testing window runs from 4 to 8 January 2027 (7 January 2027 in China, Hong Kong and Macau), and results follow on 8 February 2027. Oxford accepts only the October sitting, so for an LV21 applicant January is not a fallback and there is no second attempt within the cycle.
The entry fee is £78 for candidates in the UK and Ireland and £133 elsewhere. The test is sat in person at a Pearson VUE test centre.
SAME UNIVERSITY
Other University of Oxford courses that require the TARA
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does Oxford History and Politics require the TARA?
Yes. For 2027 entry, every applicant to History and Politics (UCAS LV21) at the University of Oxford must sit the TARA, and Oxford requires all three modules: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and the Writing Task. Oxford accepts only the October sitting, whose window runs from 12 to 16 October 2026, with candidates in China, Hong Kong and Macau sitting the TARA on 14 October 2026. Results are released on 16 November 2026.
Do I need the TARA for single-honours History at Oxford?
No. Oxford's History course page states that no written test is required for that course, and single-honours History does not appear on the UAT-UK course list. The TARA applies to the joint courses History and Politics (LV21) and History and Economics (LV11). So the claim that reading History at Oxford means sitting the TARA is true only of the joint courses, not of single-honours History.
Does the Writing Task count for History and Politics?
UAT-UK does not score the Writing Task for any course; a copy of your response is sent to the universities you applied to. Oxford adds a note on only two course pages, Economics and Management (LN12) and History and Economics (LV11), saying the Writing Task is not used in selection for those courses. The History and Politics page carries no such note and Oxford has published no exemption for LV21, so write it as work a tutor may read. Oxford does not publish how much weight the essay carries.
Are there past TARA papers to practise with?
No. No TARA past paper has ever been released. The only official material is the TARA Specification, the TARA Question Guide and two practice papers on Pearson VUE (a specimen with explanations and a sample with an answer review), and UAT-UK recommends BMAT Section 1 (2003 to 2023) and TSA Section 1 (2008 to 2023) as supplementary practice. FrontierVUE separately provides 18 Frontier Original parallel papers (45 items in 120 minutes each, 810 questions across the 18) plus a 350-question topic-drill bank, all with worked explanations and Chinese translations. Papers 1 and 2 are free.
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。
Start preparing for the TARA for History and Politics
18 Frontier Original TARA papers and 810 questions, every one with a worked solution. The first 2 papers are free to try.