1,250 real questions analysed
What actually comes up in the ESAT and TMUA
The specification tells you what could be examined. We measured what was.
Almost every ESAT and TMUA revision guide is a paraphrase of the specification, because paraphrasing is free and measuring is not. The problem is that a specification is a list of what may be examined, and it implies every topic is equally likely. Real papers are nothing like that flat.
So we tagged 1,250 real past-paper questions - ENGAA and NSAA Section 1 for the ESAT modules, filtered against the current ESAT specification, and the 2016-2023 TMUA sittings plus the early specimen - and counted what each module actually asks. Physics was tagged a second time at the level of individual formulae by two independent taggers.
Not one question we wrote ourselves is in these counts. Our own question bank is excluded on purpose: treating questions we authored as evidence of what Cambridge asks would be circular.
ESAT
Five ESAT modules, measured.
Biggest topic: Electricity and circuits at 14.9%, plus formula-level frequency.
282 questions · 11 topics
ESATMathematics 1Biggest topic: Geometry and mensuration at 24.9%.
257 questions · 13 topics
ESATMathematics 2Biggest topic: Differentiation at 17.8%.
73 questions · 12 topics
ESATChemistryBiggest topic: Physical and quantitative chemistry at 66.7%.
150 questions · 5 topics
ESATBiologyBiggest topic: Cell biology at 40.6%.
128 questions · 6 topics
TMUA
Both TMUA papers, measured.
Before you use these numbers
TMUA 2024 onwards
TMUA figures cover the 2016-2023 sittings and the early specimen. The 2024 and later sittings are not held.
This is the one gap that touches a LIVE test. TMUA percentages describe the Cambridge-era papers, which are the closest available evidence but are not the most recent sittings a current candidate will have seen.
ESAT, all years
No live ESAT paper has ever been released. Only the 2024 specimen and sample exist, and the sample has no answer key.
This is the whole reason ENGAA and NSAA stand in as the evidence base: they are ESAT's direct predecessors, filtered to the current ESAT specification.
Free resource
The recall sheet behind the analysis.
Neither test gives you a formulae booklet or a calculator. Our recall sheet lists every formula, rule and technique across all seven modules, each tied to the specification clause that requires it, with the measured frequency beside it.
Get the free recall sheet