Course content for PAT course

Course material

Preparing for the PAT course

Preparing for the Pat - 2025

Welcome to the 'Preparing for the PAT' course run by the Department of Physics at Oxford University on behalf of all subjects which require the PAT as part of their admissions process. Over the coming months, this page will be populated with question books, solutions, videos and event recordings. 

Click here for our introduction to physics problem solving, "How to be a physicist".

About the course

The 2025 PAT course will consist of four study focus webinar sessions, four problem sets with solution webinars, three summer assignments and numerous Isaac physics boards. 

Study Focus Webinars

The Study Focus webinars are led by physics teachers or by the physics access officer. The sessions will focus on developing problem solving skills which will help with tackling some of the questions within the PAT and with the practicalities of the PAT itself. 

Solution Webinars

The Study Focus webinars are led by current undergraduates. The sessions provide an idea of how the PAT problem sets might be solved. 

Three summer assignments

These will consist of sets of questions to help develop thinking skills and problem solving techniques.

Recording and Other Materials

Recordings of the webinars, the workbooks used in them and the problem sets for home study used in 2025 course, will be added below as they become available. 

Webinar 1, 11th June 2025 - Study Focus  Session 1 (problem solving skills)

In this webinar, our colleague Rachel presented three problems which showcase a selection of problem solving skills. 

Webinar 2, 18th June 2025 - Solutions Webinar 1 (general problem solving)

In this webinar, three of our students presented solutions to the problems set after webinar 1.

Webinar 3, 25th June 2025 - Study Focus  Session 2 (waves and optics)

In this webinar, our colleague Rachel will presented problems on the topics of waves and optics.