Free TARA guide, no signup, sources named and linked
How to review TARA practice and improve
A raw practice mark tells you what happened on that set. A good review explains why, records what you did not reach and chooses the next small repair.
Make the result explain itself
The scored modules each have questions, one mark per correct answer and no negative marking. Record more than correct answers. Keep the module, question job, first failed move, time used and questions left unseen.
| Record | Critical Thinking | Problem Solving |
|---|---|---|
| Question job | The named official type | The named official kind |
| Route | Conclusion, bridge or evidence effect | Target, quantities, constraints or procedure |
| First break | The sentence where the inference changed | The first unit, number or operation that failed |
| Next move | The question to ask earlier | The check to perform before choosing |
Review by the job named in the stem
| Module | Review question |
|---|---|
| Critical Thinking | Did I do the named job, or answer a nearby one? |
| Problem Solving | What quantity was the target, and which constraint did my route use? |
| Writing Task | Did the response consider the proposition and communicate the chosen view clearly? |
The current Question Guide names seven Critical Thinking types and three Problem Solving kinds. Use those labels in your log. If the same label appears in more than one miss, it is a better next drill than a vague instruction to be more careful.
- Explain the question job in your own words without looking at the options.
- Name the first move that made your route fail.
- Redo the question and reject the nearest distractor for a named reason.
- Test the same move on a new question before returning to a mixed set.
Use timing evidence without practising panic
The current technical report covers candidates. Median time was just below minutes for Critical Thinking and exactly minutes for Problem Solving. Approximately of Critical Thinking candidates and of Problem Solving candidates had unreached items.
Responses left blank or answered in under five seconds affected of Critical Thinking responses and of Problem Solving responses in the report. These are administration findings, not a target for your own score.
- Solve a small set until the route is reliable.
- Add a gentle limit and log the first slow move.
- Mix question jobs while protecting the final questions.
- Compare accuracy and reach in a full -minute module.
Worked example Choose the next drill
Your illustrative log shows in Critical Thinking, three unseen questions and two misses labelled Assumption. Which next action is most useful?
- Convert into an official TARA score.
- Repeat a full paper without reviewing the two Assumption misses.
- Run a short Assumption set, then repeat a timed block while tracking reach.
- Decide that Problem Solving is your weaker module.
Why this works: The third action repairs a named job and tests whether reach improves. The numbers are a practice log, not a scale.
Why the tempting route fails: The other routes either invent a conversion, skip the diagnosis or draw a cross-module conclusion from one row.
Review the Writing Task without inventing a mark
The Writing Task is one task chosen from three prompts, limited to words and unscored by UAT-UK. A copy goes to the participating university where the course requires TARA. Review the response against the task, not against a made-up numerical result.
- Did the response consider different aspects of the proposition?
- Are the ideas selected and organised rather than repeated?
- Does the wording stay concise, accurate and effective?
- Is the response within words?
Sources
UAT-UK, current TARA Question Guide. The named question jobs and public Writing Task example. Read the Question Guidehttps://uat-wp.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/08142344/TARA_Question_Guide.pdf
UAT-UK, TARA Content Specification. Scored-module rules, Writing Task purpose and the -word boundary. Read the specificationhttps://uat-wp.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/08142350/TARA_Content_Specification.pdf
UAT-UK, TARA Technical Report 2025-26. Published timing, reach and response evidence from two administrations. Read the technical reporthttps://uat-wp.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/07161805/UAT-UK-TARA-Technical-Report-2025-26.pdf
The review codes and drills are original study tools. They do not claim to be an official marking scheme.