On the test day

Cambridge pre-registration assessments
- On the test day

Are you a school/college/test centre?

If you're planning to administer our October admissions tests, we provide detailed guidance and information on how to run our tests at your venue.

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Help and support

If you need more help or have any further questions, please visit our Customer Support Site. You can search our support articles or contact our Customer Support team by submitting a request.

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Once you’ve registered for your admissions test, your test centre will be able to advise on specific details about the test day. For general tips and advice, see below:

Getting to the test centre

Before the day of your test, check the start time of your test and the specific location.

Find out how long it takes to travel to your test centre and make sure you arrive before the scheduled start time (your test centre can advise).

What to bring to the test

You must bring valid photographic identification to the test (passport, driving licence or provisional driving licence, or student ID).

Make sure you bring the equipment you need (pen/pencil/eraser etc). Check if there is anything specific to your test (e.g. calculators) that you will need by visiting the test pages either on our website or the University of Cambridge's website.

Do not bring food or drink into the test room (apart from a clear bottle of water with any labels removed).

Your test centre may give further instructions about what to bring or do on the test day.

During the test

Turn off your mobile phone and any other electronic devices, and remove your watch. You will not be able to bring these to your desk.

Your test centre will advise where to put your personal belongings.

You will receive your Statement of Entry, which includes your candidate entry number. You will need to write this on your test answer sheet.

If your test has more than one section, each section is completed one after the other. You will be told when you can start each section, based on the time given. You cannot use the time from one section for another.

Listen to the invigilator at the test centre and follow their instructions. If you have any questions, need help or want to leave the room, raise your hand and an invigilator will come to your assistance.

Do not talk to other test-takers.

Access Arrangements including modified papers

If you applied for Access Arrangements, including modified papers, due to a disability or special requirement, these arrangements will be available to you on the day.

Please ensure your Access Arrangements application has been confirmed by your test centre in advance of the test day.

Please note: the deadline to apply for modified papers is 15 September 2023. The deadline to apply for all other Access Arrangements is 29 September 2023.

At the end of the test

Stay in your seat until you are told that you may leave the room.

Do not take any question papers or answer sheets out of the room.

If you have any questions or problems, tell the invigilator immediately.

After the test

You can request Special Consideration if you experienced issues on the test day such as:

you suffered temporary illness, injury or indisposition at the time of the test
there were problems with the administration of the test, such as a fire alarm during the test or Access Arrangements that you requested upon registration not being made available.

You will need to complete an online form within five working days of the test day for us to inform your universities of any special consideration.

For more information about our policies and processes and to access the form, please visit our Customer Support Site.

Have you got more questions? See below

What are the guidelines for laptop use (Access Arrangement)?

This information applies for tests with an extended writing component.

A candidate who requires a laptop must be accommodated in a way that does not disturb other candidates, and the laptop screen must not be visible to them.

If this is done by separating the candidate using the laptop, they must have an additional separate invigilator.

Candidates using a laptop should format their work in Arial font, size 11, single-spaced. Automatic spell checkers and grammar checkers must be disabled. There is no word limit (except for the BMAT Writing Task, where the word limit is 550 words).

At the end of the test, the candidate using the laptop must be present when their script is printed off, to confirm that the work is theirs. The candidate’s name, candidate number, candidate initials and centre number should be clearly written on the printout.