The night before the ESAT

Tonight's 45-minute landing sequence

1. Ten minutes: identity and booking. Your booking name must match your original, unexpired, government-issued photo ID. Re-open the current policy if any detail is uncertain. Save the Pearson confirmation offline or print it.
2. Ten minutes: route and timing. Confirm the test centre, travel time and an arrival target 30 minutes before the appointment. Add a delay buffer you will not resent.
3. Fifteen minutes: recall, closed book. Use the next section. Say the meaning and units before uncovering each relation. Star at most three fragile items.
4. Ten minutes: shut down. Set alarms, lay out clothes, charge the phone that stays in the locker, and stop studying.

Your own calculator, paper, pen, watch, notes, food and drink normally stay outside the testing room. The centre provides an erasable notebook and pen. Approved access arrangements and comfort aids must already be on the booking; tonight is too late to improvise them.

One-page formula recall

Use Mathematics 1 plus only your required modules. This is a recall trigger, not a replacement for the official specification.

Mathematics 1

• $x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}$; the discriminant $b^2-4ac$ controls roots.
• $m=\Delta y/\Delta x$; area under a rate-time graph gives accumulated quantity.
• Scale factor $k$: length $k$, area $k^2$, volume $k^3$. Percentage change uses multiplier $1\pm r/100$.
• $\sin\theta=\mathrm{opp}/\mathrm{hyp}$, $\cos\theta=\mathrm{adj}/\mathrm{hyp}$, $\tan\theta=\mathrm{opp}/\mathrm{adj}$; exact values at $0^\circ,30^\circ,45^\circ,60^\circ,90^\circ$.
• Probability: multiply along a branch, add disjoint branches; without replacement changes the next denominator. Build a bounds interval before choosing upper or lower endpoints.

Mathematics 2

• $S_n=\frac n2[2a+(n-1)d]$; $a+ar+\cdots+ar^{n-1}=\frac{a(1-r^n)}{1-r}$; $S_\infty=\frac a{1-r}$ only when $|r|<1$.
• Circle $(x-a)^2+(y-b)^2=R^2$; $s=R\theta$ and sector area $\frac12R^2\theta$ in radians.
• $\frac a{\sin A}=\frac b{\sin B}$; $c^2=a^2+b^2-2ab\cos C$; triangle area $=\frac12ab\sin C$.
• $\log(xy)=\log x+\log y$, $\log(x/y)=\log x-\log y$, $\log(x^k)=k\log x$.
• $\frac d{dx}x^n=nx^{n-1}$; $\int x^n\,dx=\frac{x^{n+1}}{n+1}+C$ for $n\ne-1$; definite integral $=F(b)-F(a)$.

Physics

• $I=Q/t,\ R=V/I,\ P=IV=I^2R,\ E=VIt$; $V_s/V_p=n_s/n_p$ and ideal $V_pI_p=V_sI_s$.
• $v^2-u^2=2as,\ F=ma,\ p=mv,\ F=\Delta p/\Delta t,\ E_k=\frac12mv^2,\ E_p=mgh$.
• $W=Fd,\ P=E/t,\ F=kx$ and spring energy $=\frac12kx^2$; efficiency $=100\times\mathrm{useful}/\mathrm{input}$.
• $E=mc\Delta T,\ E=mL,\ \rho=m/V,\ p=F/A,\ p=h\rho g$, and at fixed temperature $PV=\text{constant}$.
• $v=f\lambda,\ f=1/T,\ F=BIL$ at right angles; half-life means repeated halving, not subtracting a fixed amount.

Chemistry and Biology

• Chemistry: $n=m/M_r$; at rtp $V=24n\,\mathrm{dm^3}$; $c=n/V$ with $V$ in $\mathrm{dm^3}$.
• Yield $=100\times\mathrm{actual}/\mathrm{predicted}$; $q=mc\Delta T$; $\Delta H\approx\sum E_{\mathrm{broken}}-\sum E_{\mathrm{formed}}$.
• $R_f$ is distance moved by substance divided by distance moved by solvent front; one pH unit means a factor of 10 in $[\mathrm H^+]$.
• Biology: rate is change divided by time; surface-area:volume uses matching powers and units; transpiration rate is water volume divided by time.
• Genetics: state alleles, gametes and offspring probabilities; independent events multiply, alternative outcomes add.

Worked example: choose the chain, not one formula

Do not spend tonight memorising a worked solution. Memorise the three-question check: what stays equal, which side should be larger, and do the units close?

What not to cram

• A full new topic. Recognition without retrieval practice is a confidence costume.
• A fresh mock. It can only create marking work and emotional noise after the useful repair window has closed.
• Predicted score conversions. UAT-UK does not publish a fixed raw-mark table, and each module is scaled separately.
• Every formula in every module. You only sit the modules your course requires. Biology needs relationships and processes more than a wall of equations.
• Forum memories of live questions. They may be incomplete, off-spec or prohibited to share. Use the official specification.

Tomorrow morning and in the room

Eat and drink normally before check-in. Arrive 30 minutes early. If you are more than 15 minutes late, UAT-UK says you may be refused entry. Test the erasable pen before the timer starts and ask for a replacement immediately if it is poor.

Each module is separately timed for 40 minutes, usually with no break. Use checkpoints at 13, 26 and 38 minutes. Before a module ends, answer every blank because wrong answers carry no penalty. If a technical or procedural problem occurs, raise your hand during the test so the centre can record it; report serious incidents through the official route after leaving.

The final useful sentence tonight is not motivational theatre: tomorrow's job is to make the next good decision, 27 times per module.

Sources

Check the live UAT-UK and Pearson rules: they override this August 2026 checklist.