This page is only relevant to students who have submitted an application for undergraduate study in October 2025. If this does not apply to you, please return to our home page.
Written work
All applicants for History are asked to send in a single piece of written work in History by 10 November 2025. The work should be sent electronically to undergraduate@balliol.ox.ac.uk. This will be assessed by the History tutors and may form part of the basis of a subsequent History interview. This written work should ideally be an essay rather than a piece of source analysis, and we expect that it will normally have been written in connection with your school studies. It does not need to be a timed essay, but we would normally expect it to have been marked by your teacher. It also makes sense for it to be a piece of relatively recent work, though we appreciate that this may not be the case for those applicants who have already left school or college. We make every endeavour to take into account the fact that applicants follow a wide variety of syllabuses and that those who, for example, are following the International Baccalaureate spend less time studying History in their school work than candidates following the A Level route. They will not be disadvantaged. In the case of candidates for whom English is not their first language, we hope that the piece of written work would nevertheless be written in English.
Pre-entry test
All applicants for History and Economics must take the Thinking Skills Assessment (TSA) Section 1 as part of their application.
Most applicants for History and Modern Languages must take the Modern Languages Admissions Test (MLAT) as part of their application. Candidates for History and Modern Languages with a Beginners’ Language do not need to sit the MLAT.
All the information you need to arrange to take your test as well as how best to prepare can be found on your test page.
There is no admissions test for History, History (Ancient and Modern), History and English, or History and Politics in 2025.
Interviews
The History tutors (and where appropriate those in the joint schools) will assess applications in the light of all of the available material: notably the UCAS form, written work submitted, and, where relevant, any admissions test score. Candidates who we believe have a realistic chance of obtaining a place at Oxford will be invited to interview. All interviews in this admissions cycle will be conducted remotely.
The History interview for joint-school candidates will last 20 minutes and will involve questions about the candidate’s submitted written work, personal statement and History schoolwork more generally. You may also be asked to comment on a previously unseen source.
Joint School applications
The arrangements for joint school application differ in the ways outlined below:
- Ancient and Modern History
- History and Economics
- History and English
- History and Modern Languages
- History and Politics
Ancient and Modern History
All candidates are required to send in a marked essay of A Level standard, or equivalent, written in their own time as part of their normal school or college work by 10 November 2025. The essay may deal with a topic from ancient or modern history. While it is recognised that most schools do not offer A‑Level Ancient History, candidates will be expected to be able to demonstrate a genuine interest in the ancient world.
History and Economics
Applicants for History and Economics should have taken the Thinking Skills Assessment: Section 1 (TSA: S1).
Candidates are required to submit one recent marked coursework essay on a historical topic, or equivalent, by 10 November 2025. This should have been written in the candidates’ own time as part of their normal school or college work. See further guidance on the submission of written work. Please note that a submitted essay in Economics is not required.
History and English
Candidates are asked to submit two pieces of work by 10 November 2025. One should be a History essay following the guidelines given above for all History candidates. The other should be for English; this should be a marked essay produced in the normal course of your school or college work; it should not have been rewritten after marking. Preferably, the submitted work should be a discussion of some topic or topics within the field of English Literature — for example, an essay about one or more literary works (novels, poems, plays) — though an essay on some aspect of English Language is also permissible. It should not be a short timed exercise, a critical commentary on a particular passage of text (such as a practical criticism exercise), or a piece of creative writing.
History and Modern Languages
Most applicants for History and Modern Languages must take the Modern Languages Admissions Test (MLAT) as part of their application. Candidates for History and Modern Languages with a Beginners’ Language do not need to sit the MLAT.
Candidates are asked to submit one piece of written work in History by 10 November, following the guidelines given above for all History candidates. There is no requirement to submit written work for Modern Languages.
History and Politics
Candidates are asked to submit one piece of written work in History by 10 November, following the guidelines given above for all History candidates.