Start early, pay half.50% off with EARLY-GHOSTY — until 31 August.
GhostPrep TARA
Free downloads

TARA past papers, every one worth sitting

TARA is new, so real TARA past papers don't exist yet. What does exist is the official specimen material — plus the full BMAT and TSA Section 1 archives, the two tests TARA was built from. All of it, free, below.

Get the papersSit 12 of them free online
  • Every BMAT and TSA Section 1 paper in one place, with answer keys.
  • Free to download. No account, no email, no catch.
  • 12 of them rebuilt as timed on-screen mocks you can sit free.
Start here

Official TARA specimen tests

The only genuinely-TARA materials in existence — six papers published by UAT-UK and hosted on Pearson VUE. There is nothing else. Treat them as your two dress rehearsals and don't spend them early.

Specimen tests

The first set released by UAT-UK, one per paper.

Practice tests

A second full set, same format. Save these for a timed run.

These links open on pearsonvue.com. GhostPrep doesn't host the official TARA materials.

BMAT Section 1

BMAT past papers (21 papers)

BMAT Section 1 is where TARA's Problem Solving paper comes from. Not every year is equally useful, so they're split by how closely the format still matches.

Closest to TARA

2020–2023 · 4 papers

From 2020, BMAT Section 1 was cut to 32 questions split evenly between critical thinking and problem solving — the same balance TARA uses. These four are the closest thing to a real TARA past paper that exists. Do these first.

3 of these 4 papers are rebuilt in our exam simulator — sit them section-timed and marked automatically, free.

Create a free account

2003–2019 · 17 papers

Older format — extra volume, not a format rehearsal.

Show papers

These use the older 35-question format and include a scientific knowledge element that TARA has no equivalent of — skip those questions. The critical thinking and problem solving items are still solid practice once you've used up the papers above.

None of these 17 are in the exam simulator yet — we're working through the archive and they'll be added.

TSA Section 1

TSA past papers (16 papers)

Oxford's outgoing thinking-skills test, and the direct ancestor of TARA's Critical Thinking paper. 50 questions, no science — which makes the reasoning items the most TARA-like material in the whole archive.

9 of these 16 papers are rebuilt in our exam simulator — sit them section-timed and marked automatically, free.

Create a free account

2008–2023 · 16 papers

Best for Critical Thinking

One paper has official worked solutions. Cambridge released explained answers exactly once, for TSA 2020. Every other paper in this archive ships with a bare answer key — the letter, not the reasoning. Here's what we did about that.

BMAT and TSA past papers are the copyright of Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing, and are reproduced here for candidates' personal, non-commercial revision use. GhostPrep is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Cambridge Assessment, UAT-UK, Pearson VUE, the University of Oxford or UCL. TARA specimen materials are hosted by Pearson VUE and linked, not reproduced.

The gap in every one of these files

An answer key gives you the letter

Cambridge published explained answers for exactly one paper in this entire archive: TSA 2020. Every other file above ends in a grid of letters.

Which is fine when you got the question right. It is close to useless when you didn't — because the thing you actually need to know is why the option you chose looked correct, and no answer key has ever told anyone that.

So we rebuilt the papers.

What the answer key says

17. C

That's the whole file. If you picked B, it cannot tell you why B looked right.

What a worked solution says
  • The route. The one line in the passage the question turns on, and what follows from it.
  • Why C is right. The step-by-step reasoning, not a restatement of the option.
  • Why B is tempting. The misreading that makes the popular wrong answer feel correct.
  • Why A, D and E fail. Each one named, and the specific reason it doesn't hold.

Written for all 546 questions across the 12 papers we've rebuilt so far, and for every paper we add next.

The PDF

Free, no account

What you get from the buttons above.

  • The full paper, exactly as it was sat
  • The official answer key — one letter per question
  • Yours to print, annotate and keep
  • You time yourself, and you mark yourself

Free account

Still free

The same papers, sat properly.

  • Sit them on-screen in a replica of the Pearson VUE player
  • Section timing enforced exactly like the real exam
  • Marked the moment you finish, section by section
  • 10 practice questions a day, worked solutions included
  • Your accuracy and history tracked across every sitting

Full access

The reasoning behind every question.

  • A worked solution for every past-paper question we carry
  • Why each wrong option is wrong, option by option
  • Browsable paper by paper — you don't have to sit it first
  • TARA Ghost mocks, scored on the real 1.0–9.0 scale
  • Unlimited practice questions
Create a free accountSee what full access costs

The papers above stay free either way. No account is needed to download a single one of them.

Why past papers still matter

Past papers are the only materials that were actually sat under exam conditions, by real candidates, with real timing pressure. No practice question — ours included — can fully replicate that. They're the closest thing to a dress rehearsal you can get.

The catch is scarcity. There are only six official TARA papers in existence, and once you've sat them under timed conditions, they're spent. You can't un-see a question. That makes when you use them at least as important as whether you use them at all.

This is why the BMAT and TSA archives matter so much for TARA. They give you the volume to build the skill, so you can save the genuinely-TARA material for the two or three timed run-throughs that actually tell you whether you're ready.

What changed when TARA replaced TSA and BMAT

TARA is the successor to both the TSA (Oxford's thinking-skills test) and BMAT (which Oxford and others used for medicine and biomedical sciences). Both were retired, and UAT-UK built TARA from the parts of each that assessed reasoning rather than subject knowledge.

That inheritance is very direct. TARA Critical Thinking is recognisably TSA Section 1 reasoning — argument, assumption, flaw, inference. TARA Problem Solving is recognisably BMAT Section 1 problem solving — relevant selection, procedure, spatial reasoning.

What's gone is BMAT's scientific knowledge content, which has no TARA equivalent. What's new is the standalone Writing Task, which is closer to BMAT Section 3 than to anything in the TSA. Bear that in mind and the archive below stops being a pile of old exams and starts being a targeted training set.

How to actually use these papers

The difference between a paper that teaches you something and one you simply used up:

  • Do untimed drilling first. Papers are for measuring, not for learning — burn them too early and you've spent your only real feedback signal on a session you weren't ready for.
  • Start with the 2020–2023 BMAT papers and the TSA papers. Format familiarity compounds; older BMAT papers are for volume once you've exhausted the relevant ones.
  • When you do sit one, sit it properly. Full timing, no pauses, no phone, one sitting. A paper taken in three relaxed chunks tells you almost nothing about test day.
  • Hand-write your Writing Task responses to time. The physical act of planning and writing 750 words in 40 minutes is a separate skill from knowing what a good answer looks like.
  • Mark honestly, then go further than the answer key. The key tells you which questions you got wrong; only working out why the other four options were wrong stops you repeating the error.
  • Log every mistake by type, not by question. Five careless misreadings and five genuine gaps in reasoning need completely different responses.
Keep reading

Guides to every part of the TARA

Free, in-depth guides on what the test actually assesses, how it's scored, and how each university uses your result.

TSA vs TARA

TSA vs TARA: what changed for Oxford & UCL applicants

If you prepped for, or found, the old Cambridge Thinking Skills Assessment, here's exactly what carried across into TARA, what didn't, and what that means for how you should actually spend your remaining prep time.

Read the guideComparisons

TARA vs TSA vs BMAT: comparing the UK's university admissions tests

Only one of these three is still running. This page sets out, plainly and with sources flagged where they're not fully nailed down, what each test was, how they actually differ, and what replaced the two that are gone.

Read the guidePractice

TARA practice test: free sample questions before test day

Searching for a TARA past paper turns up nothing official, because there isn't one yet. Here's the honest reason why, two real practice questions you can try right now, and what actually stands in for a mock test until a proper archive exists.

Read the guideStart here

TARA Test 2026/27: The Complete Guide for Oxford & UCL Applicants

Everything currently confirmed about TARA — the test now standing in place of the TSA at Oxford and UCL — cross-checked against the official UAT-UK Content Specification and both universities' own admissions pages: the three-module format, how it's timed and scored, which courses actually require it, the 2026/27 dates and fees, and where the honest gaps and disagreements in the public information still sit.

Read the guideCritical Thinking

TARA Critical Thinking: the complete guide

What Critical Thinking actually tests, why Oxford and UCL bother testing for it, every one of the 7 question types with real questions from our practice bank, how the module is timed and scored, and where it all comes from.

Read the guideProblem Solving

TARA Problem Solving: the 3 question types & maths skills you actually need

What Problem Solving actually tests, why Oxford and UCL bother testing for it, all 3 question types with worked examples, the maths skills the official appendix actually covers, how the module is timed, and what counts as a good score.

Read the guideWriting Task

TARA Writing Task: how to structure a 750-word response in 40 minutes

Most TARA prep talks about the Writing Task in a single paragraph and moves on. Here's the three-part structure every prompt follows, why it matters more than you'd think for a module that isn't even scored, the official planning guidance, and a paragraph-by-paragraph skeleton with three original prompts to practice on.

Read the guideScoring

TARA test results explained: what your score really means

The scale and the "aim for 7.0+" advice are the easy part. This is the deeper read: why your result is genuinely two separate numbers, what UAT-UK has actually published about where candidates land, and how to interpret the shape of those published charts without pretending they say more than they do.

Read the guideDates & Registration

TARA test dates & registration 2026/27

Every date that matters for the October 2026 and January 2027 sittings, in one timeline — plus where Oxford's and UCL's own published deadlines don't quite line up, and what to do about it.

Read the guideOxford

TARA test Oxford: the 7 courses that require it, and what to expect

Oxford only asks for TARA on seven courses, and it only runs the test once a year for its applicants — no January fallback, unlike UCL. Here's the full course list, the exact 2026 dates, why the October-only sitting changes how you should prepare, and what Oxford's wider overhaul of its admissions tests tells you about what these seven courses are actually testing for.

Read the guideUCL

TARA test UCL: which courses need it, and how UCL uses your score

The full, verified list of 11 UCL courses that require TARA, why that list looks so different from Oxford's, whether you sit in October or January, and what a sensible read of your score actually looks like.

Read the guide

TARA past papers: common questions

Can I sit these past papers online instead of printing them?

Yes, and it's free. A number of the papers on this page are rebuilt in our exam simulator — a replica of the Pearson VUE test player, with section timing enforced the way the real exam enforces it, marked automatically the moment you finish. A free account is all that's needed; the papers themselves aren't behind the paywall. Worked solutions for them are what full access adds.

Are there any official TARA past papers?

Not yet. TARA is too new for real past papers to exist — the first sittings haven't yet produced released papers. What UAT-UK has published is two full sets of official material: a specimen test and a practice test for each of the three papers. Those six are linked at the top of this page and are the only officially-TARA materials available anywhere.

Are BMAT and TSA past papers still useful for TARA?

Yes, and they're the best substitute available. TARA was built directly from both tests: Critical Thinking inherits TSA Section 1's reasoning questions, and Problem Solving inherits BMAT Section 1's problem-solving questions. Skip BMAT's scientific knowledge questions, which TARA doesn't test, and the rest is close to on-spec practice.

Which BMAT papers match the TARA format most closely?

2020 to 2023. From 2020 BMAT Section 1 was cut to 32 questions split evenly between critical thinking and problem solving, which is the balance TARA uses. Papers from 2003 to 2019 use the older 35-question format. Both are worth doing — start with the newer four.

Do I need an account to download these papers?

No. Every paper and answer key on this page downloads directly, with no signup and no email required, and that isn't going to change. A free account is what unlocks the things a PDF can't do — sitting the papers timed on-screen, being marked automatically, and ten practice questions a day with full worked solutions. Worked solutions for the past papers themselves come with full access.

Are there worked solutions for these papers?

Officially, for one of them. Cambridge released explained answers exactly once, for TSA 2020, and that file is linked above. Every other paper in this archive ships with a bare answer key — the letter, not the reasoning. That gap is the reason the platform exists: we write a full worked solution for every question in every paper we rebuild, including a line on why each wrong option is wrong.

How many TARA practice questions do I need?

More than the archive contains, which is the honest answer. The six official papers plus these archives will carry you a long way on format and timing, but building the underlying reasoning skill takes repeated exposure to the same question types at increasing difficulty — which is exactly what a question bank is for and what a finite pile of past papers can't do.

Free account

The papers, properly marked

Keep the PDFs. Then sit 12 of those papers on-screen, section-timed and marked the moment you finish — free, with an account. The worked solutions behind all 546 of their questions are what full access adds.

Create a free accountRead the guides