TARA preparation guide

The ten TARA question types

Q: How many question types are in the TARA?

Ten official multiple-choice types: seven in Critical Thinking and three in Problem Solving. The Writing Task is a separate module, not a question type. The official guide also notes that while most questions fall into one category, some fit into more than one, so the ten are not mutually exclusive.

Q: What are the seven Critical Thinking question types?

In official order: Identifying the Main Conclusion, Drawing a Conclusion, Identifying an Assumption, Assessing the Impact of Additional Evidence, Detecting Reasoning Errors, Matching Arguments, and Applying Principles. UAT-UK's Question Guide states: "In the TARA there are seven types of Critical Thinking question based on these skills."

Q: What are the three Problem Solving question types?

Relevant Selection (picking out which information actually bears on the question), Finding Procedures (constructing a sequence of steps from what you are given to what is asked), and Identifying Similarity (recognising the same underlying structure presented in a different form). The official guide states that a single question can belong to more than one of these.

Q: Which TARA question type is the most common?

Nobody knows. UAT-UK has never published a breakdown by type and nothing from the first sitting in October 2025 has been released, so any claim about the live paper's mix is unfounded. The Question Guide names and explains the ten types; it does not say how many of each a paper contains.

Q: Do I need maths knowledge for TARA Problem Solving?

Only basic maths: fractions, place value, percentages, the four rules of number, averages, time, money and measures, and the relationships between km, m, cm and mm and between kg and g. Complex fraction and decimal calculation is not required, and calculators and dictionaries may not be used. No part of the TARA requires subject-specific knowledge.

The TARA is a new test, and what UAT-UK has published about what it actually asks is the taxonomy in its Question Guide: seven Critical Thinking types and three Problem Solving types, ten in all. This page sets those ten out in the official order, describes in the abstract what each one asks of you, and is clear about what the taxonomy can and cannot tell you. It tells you what kinds of thinking are tested. It does not tell you how many questions of each type a live paper contains, because no official breakdown by type has ever been published and the test was first sat in October 2025 and no paper has been released.

6 sections1,792 words9 min read4 official sources

Practise 51 TARA papers (2 free)Full TARA guide

Papers: 51
Questions: 2153
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TARA Question Types at a Glance

How many types: Ten multiple-choice types: seven Critical Thinking, three Problem Solving
Test structure: 120 minutes in three separately timed 40-minute modules, all compulsory
Pace: 22 questions per module, about 109 seconds each
Mix in a live paper: Never published; the test was first sat in October 2025
Writing Task: Not scored by UAT-UK; a copy goes to the universities you applied to

The taxonomy and the quoted wording come from UAT-UK's TARA Question Guide; the line about the Writing Task not being scored comes from UAT-UK's own TARA page; our bank's figures were measured on 16 August 2026.

Where the TARA type map comes from

The TARA lasts 120 minutes and is built from three separately timed 40-minute modules: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and the Writing Task.

	Critical Thinking	Problem Solving	Writing Task
Time	40 minutes	40 minutes	40 minutes
Questions	22	22	One task
Format	Multiple choice	Multiple choice	One of three prompts, 750-word limit

All three modules are compulsory for every candidate, and time does not carry over between modules if you finish one early.

Beneath the two multiple-choice modules sits a published taxonomy. UAT-UK's Question Guide states: "In the TARA there are seven types of Critical Thinking question based on these skills." Problem Solving is divided into three kinds. That makes ten official multiple-choice types in total, and it is the map this page sets out. The guide is explicit that the categories overlap: most questions fall into one category, but some fit into more than one. Treat the type names as a vocabulary for describing questions and diagnosing your own errors, not as a set of watertight boxes.

The taxonomy tells you what kinds of thinking are tested. It does not tell you how many questions of each type a live paper contains: UAT-UK has never published a breakdown by type, and nothing from the first sitting in October 2025 has been released, so any claim about a live paper's mix is unfounded.

Subject knowledge

Not required

No part of the TARA tests it

Maths assumed

Basic maths only

Fractions, place value, percentages, the four rules of number, averages, time, money and measures, and the relationships between km, m, cm and mm and between kg and g; complex fraction and decimal calculation is not required

Format

Computer-based, with an erasable booklet

Calculators and dictionaries may not be used

Marking

One mark per question, no deduction for a wrong answer

Never leave one blank, and there is no pass mark

The seven Critical Thinking types, in official order

These are the seven Critical Thinking types in the order the Question Guide uses. Learning them in that order pays off, because it gives you a precise label for every mistake you make in practice.

1. Identifying the Main Conclusion

Given a short piece of reasoning, pick out the one claim that everything else in the passage is there to support.

2. Drawing a Conclusion

Work out what genuinely follows from the information you have been given, rather than what merely sits comfortably alongside it.

3. Identifying an Assumption

Name the unstated step the argument needs in order to work at all.

4. Assessing the Impact of Additional Evidence

Judge whether a new piece of information strengthens the argument, weakens it, or leaves it where it was.

5. Detecting Reasoning Errors

Identify what has gone wrong in a piece of reasoning, in terms of the structure of the argument rather than the truth of its subject matter.

6. Matching Arguments

Find the option whose pattern of reasoning has the same shape as the one in the passage, whatever its topic.

7. Applying Principles

Take a stated general principle and work out which case it governs, or which principle a given decision rests on.

The seven Critical Thinking types

Three different moves inside the official order

Taking an argument apartTypes 1, 3 and 5

Identifying the Main Conclusion
Identifying an Assumption
Detecting Reasoning Errors

How far the evidence carriesTypes 2 and 4

Drawing a Conclusion
Assessing the Impact of Additional Evidence

Transferring a structure or a ruleTypes 6 and 7

Matching Arguments
Applying Principles

Tap a branch to unfold

That last group is unfamiliar territory for many students, because school essay work rarely asks for the move explicitly. The Question Guide remains the primary reference for all seven, and it is free to download.

The three Problem Solving types, and why they overlap

Problem Solving has a much simpler taxonomy. The Question Guide names three kinds: Relevant Selection, Finding Procedures and Identifying Similarity.

Relevant Selection

Picking out what bears on the question

You are given more information than you need, and the work lies in deciding which parts actually matter

Finding Procedures

Building a method yourself

No formula is handed to you, so you construct a sequence of steps from what you have to what is asked

Identifying Similarity

Recognising the same structure

The same set of relationships shown as a table, a description or a diagram, recognised across forms

The official guide is explicit that a question can belong to more than one of these categories: although most fall into one, some fit into more than one. A single question can require you to strip out irrelevant data and then build a procedure from what is left. So do not expect a live paper to sort itself into three tidy piles, and do not treat a disagreement over labelling as evidence that someone has got it wrong.

What makes Problem Solving hard is not the arithmetic. No calculator is allowed, which tells you the numbers are meant to stay manageable. The difficulty is reading the situation quickly, discarding what does not matter and committing to a route, all at an average of about 109 seconds per question, because 40 minutes has to cover 22 of them.

Our bank's type coverage (measured, not the exam's shape)

We cannot tell you how a live paper is distributed, because nobody outside UAT-UK can and UAT-UK has not said. What we can do is publish exactly what our own material contains, so you know what you would be drilling.

Bank size

1,160 questions

Measured on 16 August 2026

Original parallel papers

18 papers of 45 questions

22 Critical Thinking, 22 Problem Solving and one Writing Task

Topic bank

350 questions

For working on one type at a time

Largest single group

Finding Procedures, 365

Roughly a third of everything we have written

	Module	Questions
Finding Procedures	Problem Solving	365
Relevant Selection	Problem Solving	103
Identifying the Main Conclusion	Critical Thinking	96
Drawing a Conclusion	Critical Thinking	92
Identifying Similarity	Problem Solving	91
Assessing the Impact of Additional Evidence	Critical Thinking	87
Identifying an Assumption	Critical Thinking	86
Detecting Reasoning Errors	Critical Thinking	79
Matching Arguments	Critical Thinking	52
Applying Principles	Critical Thinking	47
Not yet sub-classified	Problem Solving	44
Writing Task	Writing Task	18

Measured on 16 August 2026. By module: 539 Critical Thinking, 603 Problem Solving (559 sub-classified plus 44 still to be labelled) and 18 Writing Tasks.

Finding Procedures is by far the largest single group, and it is the type we would put under the clock first: it is where the gap between "I could do this given ten minutes" and "I did this in under two" shows up.

Read this as our coverage, not as the exam's shape. Turning these figures into a claim about the live test would be dishonest. What they do tell you is where your practice time will actually go if you work through our material. These are original parallel papers we write ourselves. They are not official past papers, and no official TARA past papers exist.

The Writing Task: not an eleventh type

The Writing Task is one of the three modules, and it does not have question types in the same sense. It is one 40-minute task chosen from three prompts, with a 750-word limit, and detailed subject knowledge is not expected. Plan for five to ten minutes before writing, grouping your ideas around the three parts below and covering all of them clearly and fully; every prompt has the same three-part shape in the same fixed order.

01Part 1

Explain what you think the statement means

Engage closely with the wording of the statement and take a broad, nuanced view of its general or abstract terms, rather than drifting into unfocused discussion of the topic area.

02Part 2

Give a reasoned argument against it

Argue both sides, use targeted concrete examples, and avoid arguments that rest on an example alone or on examples with no context. Strengthen the counter-argument by covering different angles rather than repeating one point, and cut irrelevant background.

03Part 3

Say to what extent you agree with it

Express your own view in enough depth and support it by reference to the arguments you have already made, instead of summarising them again.

Its place in the process is unusual and worth stating precisely. UAT-UK states on its TARA page: "The Writing Task is not scored by UAT-UK." Instead, a copy of your response is sent to the participating universities you applied to. There is no number attached to it; what is passed on is a copy of the response itself.

Economics and Management (LN12)

Writing Task not used in selection

One of the two Oxford courses that state this

History and Economics (LV11)

Writing Task not used in selection

Also stated by Oxford

Other Oxford courses using the TARA

No such line

None besides those two carries it

Every candidate

All three modules must be sat

Whichever course you are applying for

How to use the type map when you revise

A taxonomy is only useful if it changes what you do on a Tuesday evening. Three suggestions.

01One

Label every question you get wrong

The value of the ten names is diagnostic. "I keep missing Identifying an Assumption" is an actionable finding; "I am bad at critical thinking" is not. Because the official categories overlap by design, do not agonise over borderline cases, just record the label that describes what you actually failed to do.

02Two

Practise the largest groups against the clock

Both multiple-choice modules give you 22 questions in 40 minutes, about 109 seconds each, and time does not carry over from a module you finish early. Untimed accuracy on Finding Procedures items is not the skill being tested; timed selection of a workable method is.

03Three

Use the official material first, then the legitimate archives

The official material is exactly three things. Beyond that, UAT-UK itself notes that the Critical Thinking and Problem Solving components share a common history with BMAT Section 1 and the TSA, and on that basis hosts those archives as free PDFs on its own site.

Official documents

The TARA Content Specification and Question Guide

Free from the TARA preparation materials page on esat-tmua.ac.uk

Official practice tests

Two practice tests on the Pearson VUE landing page

UAT-UK says they mirror the exact format and software used for its live tests

BMAT Section 1

Papers from 2003 to 2023

Hosted by UAT-UK as free PDFs

TSA Section 1

Papers from 2008 to 2023

Also hosted by UAT-UK as free PDFs

UAT-UK has never released a TARA past paper, and no official past paper exists. Our own 18 papers and 350-question topic bank sit after the official material as supplementary drilling: original parallel papers written to the published specification, with papers 1 and 2 free to attempt and every question carrying a worked solution and a Chinese translation.

Question-type coverage

How FrontierVUE's 1,160 TARA questions map onto the official question types

539

Critical Thinking

7 types

603

Problem Solving

3 types

Writing Task

unscored

Finding Procedures365
Relevant Selection103
Identifying the Main Conclusion96
Drawing a Conclusion92
Identifying Similarity91
Assessing the Impact of Additional Evidence87
Identifying an Assumption86
Detecting Reasoning Errors79
Matching Arguments52
Applying Principles47
Problem Solving (unclassified)44
Writing Task18

This is the distribution of FrontierVUE's own question bank, not of the live exam. The TARA has not yet been sat and no official breakdown by question type has been published. The type names are taken from the official taxonomy (7 Critical Thinking types, 3 Problem Solving types).

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How many question types are in the TARA?

Ten official multiple-choice types: seven in Critical Thinking and three in Problem Solving. The Writing Task is a separate module, not a question type. The official guide also notes that while most questions fall into one category, some fit into more than one, so the ten are not mutually exclusive.

What are the seven Critical Thinking question types?

In official order: Identifying the Main Conclusion, Drawing a Conclusion, Identifying an Assumption, Assessing the Impact of Additional Evidence, Detecting Reasoning Errors, Matching Arguments, and Applying Principles. UAT-UK's Question Guide states: "In the TARA there are seven types of Critical Thinking question based on these skills."

What are the three Problem Solving question types?

Relevant Selection (picking out which information actually bears on the question), Finding Procedures (constructing a sequence of steps from what you are given to what is asked), and Identifying Similarity (recognising the same underlying structure presented in a different form). The official guide states that a single question can belong to more than one of these.

Which TARA question type is the most common?

Nobody knows. UAT-UK has never published a breakdown by type and nothing from the first sitting in October 2025 has been released, so any claim about the live paper's mix is unfounded. The Question Guide names and explains the ten types; it does not say how many of each a paper contains.

Where can I find the official TARA Question Guide?

Free from the TARA preparation materials page on esat-tmua.ac.uk, alongside the TARA Content Specification. The official preparation material is exactly three things: those two documents plus two practice tests on the Pearson VUE landing page. No TARA past paper has ever been released.

Do I need maths knowledge for TARA Problem Solving?

Only basic maths: fractions, place value, percentages, the four rules of number, averages, time, money and measures, and the relationships between km, m, cm and mm and between kg and g. Complex fraction and decimal calculation is not required, and calculators and dictionaries may not be used. No part of the TARA requires subject-specific knowledge.

SOURCES

Official sources

MORE GUIDES

Other TARA preparation guides

Learn it as a lesson

Critical Thinking: the overview

5 min · 4-question check · progress saved

The student version of this guide: one sitting to read, checked as soon as you finish.

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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