OMPT-A vs OMPT-C: which is easier and who needs which

This comparison comes up in two situations. A humanities or philology applicant has been told "OMPT-C" and wonders whether to buy A-level material out of caution. Or a Radboud psychology applicant has been offered a choice and wants the cheaper climb. Neither should reason from difficulty alone, because the two tests overlap less than their names suggest.

OMPT-A vs OMPT-C side by side

The last row matters most. The A puts more than half its marks (52%) on material the C never touches: quadratics and functions, exponentials and logarithms, differentiation. The C puts 35% of its marks on 17 topics of arithmetic. That is a different test, not a smaller one.

Who requires OMPT-C

It is a small club. Amsterdam University College asks 70% on the C for its Humanities major, with results due by 1 July for a September start and two attempts allowed. Vilnius University asks 55% on the C for Lithuanian Studies, for Spanish, Italian and English Philology, for Scandinavian Studies, and for Language and Artificial Intelligence Management at its Kaunas Faculty, with two attempts a year. Radboud accepts the C or the E at 55% for Psychology, and also takes an SAT maths score of 600 or better. That is every C requirement in my files.

If your offer says C, believe the offer. If it says nothing and you are guessing, read which OMPT test do I need before buying anything; an attempt on the wrong letter is €240 spent on a certificate nobody will verify.

Who requires OMPT-A

The pattern: business and economics degrees ask for the A, the selective ones at 75%. Humanities and philology degrees ask for the C at 55 to 70%. I have never seen a programme page that says "A or C".

Why OMPT-C is not "OMPT-A minus a bit"

Students told they need the C tend to assume it is the A with the hard chapters removed, so A material covers it with margin. Two facts break that assumption. The first is geometry. The C syllabus has a fourth chapter of four topics: some notions on lines, angles, triangles, and the Pythagorean theorem. It carries 15% of the marks, and its learning goal has the candidate computing angles, areas and lengths from the properties of polygons. The A has no geometry chapter at all.

The second fact is the weighting on numbers. On the A the numbers chapter is worth 15% and most candidates treat it as warm-up. On the C it carries 35%, on the same 17 topics: integers, negative numbers and absolute value, fractions, powers and roots. The C learning goals add a line the A lacks, that the candidate calculates and reasons with numbers in contextual situations; read that as word problems on arithmetic. And the answer rule is unforgiving: omptest.org's own example asks you to simplify -48/408, accepts -2/17, and rejects -0.12. The basic calculator gives decimals and will not turn them back into fractions.

What transfers between the two tests and what does not

• Transfers fully: the numbers chapter (17 topics on both), linear formulas and equations (17 topics on both), and the calculator and answer-entry habits, since both tests use the same basic calculator and final-answer-only format.
• Transfers almost fully: algebra. The C chapter lists 28 topics to the A's 26; expanding, factorisation, notable products and algebraic fractions are on both. Polynomials and factoring and exponents and roots drill the shared core.
• Does not transfer from A to C: nothing on the A prepares you for the C geometry chapter. Lines, angles, triangles and Pythagoras need their own two days.
• Does not transfer from C to A: systems of linear equations, quadratic equations, functions, exponentials and logarithms, differentiation. That is 116 of the A's 176 topics and more than half its marks. A C pass says nothing about them.

On trigonometry, since students ask: the C geometry chapter is angles in triangles, Pythagoras, lengths and areas. It does not ask the unit circle, and neither does the A. The trigonometry you actually need for OMPT-C sets out how little that is.

A two-week OMPT-C plan against a four-week OMPT-A plan

The official estimates are 40 hours for the C and 80 for the A. At 20 hours a week that is two weeks and four, which is how I schedule them. Both plans open with a free timed mock as diagnostic, the C mock at 120 minutes and 30 questions, and end with a slot booked at least 72 hours ahead.

How to confirm the letter and book the right test

1. Open the programme's own admission page and find the sentence with "OMPT" in it. Write down the letter, the minimum score and the attempts allowed. The OMPT-C hub lists the programmes I have verified, but the university page wins.
2. Cross-check on the OMPT registration form, which lists institution, programme and variant for the 2026/27 admission period. It shows letters only, never minimum scores.
3. Sit the free timed mock for that letter under test conditions: alone, phone behind you, basic calculator only, three sheets of scratch paper.
4. Buy one attempt for that letter (€240 for A or C), link your account to the university, and schedule through ProctorU at least 72 hours ahead. Standard grading takes up to 8 business days from the day after submission, so count back from your deadline first.
5. Book only when a full-length mock clears your bar with margin: 85% on a mock for a 75% A bar, 80% for a 70% C bar.

What to do if the choice is yours, or the letter went wrong

If a programme accepts any variant, which Turku does at 55% or better, take the C: shortest syllabus, same price, most generous pace, and no programme rewards a harder letter than it asked for. If Radboud Psychology has offered you the C or the E at 55%, take the C unless you have done statistics in the last two years, because the E carries 50% of its marks on statistics chapters most school leavers have never met.

If you were told C but studied for the A, most of your work survives: numbers, algebra and linear equations transfer as they are. Spend the final week on the geometry chapter, which you have not seen, and on exact-form arithmetic at C weighting. Do not sit the A "because it counts for more". The university verifies the letter it asked for in the OMPT admission portal, and each institution decides which tests it accepts.

If your C score came back under the bar, check attempts first: AUC allows two, Vilnius two per year, Radboud two per the official exceptions list. A retake costs the full €240, and the certificate's per-topic breakdown shows where the marks went. On the C it is nearly always numbers, and the cure is a week of arithmetic by hand with every answer written as a fraction or a root before you touch the calculator. Failed the OMPT, when can you retake has the calendar.

Two students, two letters

Student one holds an AUC Humanities offer and needs 70% on the C with results in by 1 July. Her free C mock scores 63%: algebra 85%, linear equations 75%, numbers 55%, geometry 40%. The gap is 7 points, and two chapters worth 50% of the marks explain it. She takes the two-week plan, gives geometry three days instead of two, and does every numbers set by hand. Her second mock lands at 81% and she books with the 8 business days of grading in hand before 1 July.

Student two has a Radboud Psychology offer that accepts C or E at 55%. He sits both free mocks in the same week: 72% on the C and 45% on the E, with the E's probability and combinatorics chapters near zero. The C already clears his bar by 17 points. He takes it, spends one week on exact-form arithmetic and geometry, and books. The E would have meant 120 recommended hours against 40 to reach a bar he had already passed.