College admission assessments

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Clare

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant College.

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

All Colleges

Assessment date

Wednesday 18 November 2026

Assessment format

Graphic and spatial ability (30 minutes)

Specimen and example papers

Architecture Admissions Assessment Information

If you are combining with a European Language

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

All Colleges

Assessment format

Modern and Medieval Languages Admissions Assessment:

• Discursive response in Foreign Language (40 minutes)
• Discursive response in English (20 minutes)

Specimen and example papers

Modern and Medieval Languages Admissions Assessment Specification
Modern and Medieval Languages Admissions Assessment Past Paper

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

All Colleges

Assessment format

Latin (or Greek) skills assessment interview (20 minutes)

Specimen paper and resources

Classics Admissions Assessment Specification

The specification paper references the OCR Vocabulary lists for Classical Greek and Latin. These lists can be found below.

Classical Greek vocabulary list

Latin vocabulary list

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

All Colleges

Assessment format

Language aptitude assessment interview (20 minutes)

Specimen paper

Classics Admissions Assessment Specification

Applicants to Pembroke College will also take an additional College-specific language aptitude test.

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

All Colleges

Assessment date

Wednesday 18 November 2026

Assessment format

Architecture admissions assessment:

Graphic and spatial ability (30 minutes)

Specimen and example papers

Design Admissions Assessment Information

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Gonville & Caius

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant Colleges.

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Hughes Hall

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant College.

Colleges that ask you to take the assessment

Hughes Hall and St Edmund's

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant College.

Language Assessment

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

All Colleges

Assessment date

Thursday 19 November 2026

Assessment format

For post-A level languages:

• Discursive response in Foreign Language (40 minutes)
• Discursive response in English (20 minutes)

For languages from scratch (ab initio):

• Discursive response in English (40 minutes)
• Language Aptitude Test (20 minutes).

Specimen and example papers

For post-A level languages:

Modern and Medieval Languages Admissions Assessment Specification
Modern and Medieval Languages Admissions Assessment Past Paper

For languages from scratch:

sample paper

answer booklet

History Assessment

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Hughes Hall and St Edmund’s

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant College.

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Hughes Hall and St Edmund’s

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant College.

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Hughes Hall, King's and Newnham

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant College.

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Churchill, Clare, Downing, Emmanuel, Fitzwilliam, Girton, Homerton, Hughes Hall, Jesus, King's, Magdalene, Murray Edwards, Newnham, Pembroke, Peterhouse, Queens', Robinson, Selwyn, Sidney Sussex, St Edmund's, Trinity, Trinity Hall, Wolfson

Assessment date

Tuesday 17 November 2026

Assessment format

This assessment consists of three parts, which should each take about 20 minutes. You will have 60 minutes to complete the assessment. Each part is worth 30 marks, giving a 90-mark maximum for the overall written test.

Each part will present some data of a type used in linguistics. There will be a different type of data in each part, representing different areas of linguistics. In each part you will be given a series of short questions to answer in relation to the data provided. These will cover a range of different kinds of analysis, eg the analysis of data presented in graphs or numerical tables, or the analysis of the linguistic structure of words or sentences in a particular language.

Example papers

The following past papers from 2023 and 2024 are provided to help applicants prepare for the Linguistics Admissions Assessment.

Please note that the exact format and structure of the assessment may vary slightly from year to year. These papers are intended to illustrate the types of questions and level of challenge you might encounter, rather than to represent the precise format of the upcoming assessment.

Answer keys are not available for these papers.

Linguistics Admissions Assessment Past Paper 2023

Linguistics Admissions Assessment Past Paper 2024

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

The assessment you need to take will vary depending on which College you apply to.

You will usually take both the Linguistics assessment and the Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) assessment if you are applying with a language A level. Please check the relevant course tabs for details of those assessments.

The following Colleges will ask you to take both the Linguistics assessment and the MML assessment if you apply to study a language that you've studied at A level. If you are applying to study a language from scratch, you will only take the Linguistics assessment:

• Corpus Christi
• Downing
• Emmanuel
• Fitzwilliam
• Girton
• Gonville & Caius
• Homerton
• Jesus
• King’s
• Magdalene
• Murray Edwards
• Newnham
• Pembroke
• Queens’
• Selwyn
• Sidney Sussex  
• Trinity
• Trinity Hall

If you’re applying to the following Colleges to study a language that you've studied at A level, you will be asked to take the MML assessment only. If you’re applying to study a language from scratch, you will be asked to take the Linguistics assessment only.

• Hughes Hall
• St Edmund’s
• Wolfson

These Colleges will only ask you to take an assessment if you are applying to study a language that you've studied at A level. In these cases, you will need to take the MML assessment. If you are applying to study a language from scratch, you will not need to take an assessment.

• Lucy Cavendish
• St John’s

If you apply to Christ’s College, you will not be asked to take any admissions assessments for this course. 

If you wish to apply to Clare or Robinson please contact them directly to find out more about their assessment format.

Assessment date

Languages from scratch: Tuesday 17 November 2026

Languages post A-level: Thursday 19 November 2026

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

All Colleges

Assessment date

Thursday 19 November 2026

Assessment format

• Discursive response in Foreign Language (40 minutes)
• Discursive response in English (20 minutes)

Specimen and example papers

Modern and Medieval Languages Admissions Assessment Specification
Modern and Medieval Languages Admissions Assessment Past Paper

Applicants combining a modern language with Classical Latin or Greek

Applicants wishing to combine a modern European language with Classical Latin or Classical Greek will have their classical language assessed. Find out more about the classical language assessments under the Classics sections above.

Applicants will also need to take the MML written assessment (see MML assessment info above).

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Downing, Girton, Gonville & Caius, Jesus, Newnham, Queens’, Robinson, Selwyn, St Edmund's, St John’s, Trinity and Trinity Hall

Assessment format

Colleges will assess aptitude, knowledge base and potential through tasks at the time of interview.

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Jesus, Trinity

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant College.

Colleges that ask you to take an assessment

Selwyn, St Edmund's

Assessment format

Details will be provided by the relevant College.