OMPT-E, F and G: the three variants nobody writes about

Almost everything written about the OMPT covers the A through D, so students assigned an E, F or G tend to turn up to a first session slightly panicked, having found nothing that speaks to their actual test. Reddit agrees: about 460 OMPT posts mention the A, against 59 for the E, 35 for the F and 4 for the G. This post is the overview; the variant hubs for the E, F and G carry the chapter lists and a free timed mock each. Figures come from omptest.org, checked September 2026.

OMPT-E, F and G side by side

The E bolts statistics onto the A's algebra spine. The G bolts on science. The F bolts on nothing and changes the format instead: fewer questions, three hours, and your working is graded. That last point is what people miss when they read "same topics as OMPT-A" and assume the same exam.

OMPT-E: the statistics one

The E keeps the algebra-and-functions core of the family, then heads somewhere none of the others go: descriptive statistics, probability, combinatorics, random variables and the binomial and normal distributions. It drops calculus entirely. The arithmetic of the syllabus is what I show every E student first: the five statistics chapters hold 41 of the 161 topics, yet the learning-assessment page gives them 50% of the marks, so a statistics topic is worth roughly three times an algebra topic, and the algebra is the part you already half know.

One warning about the E: students underestimate it precisely because "no hard calculus" sounds gentle. But school maths tracks rarely get past basic probability, so the second half of the syllabus is new material for most candidates, and the notation alone, factorials, binomial coefficients, expected-value sums, slows people down for a week. At 40 questions in 120 minutes you get three minutes each, with no time to derive counting formulas from scratch. Drill combinatorics and probability until the notation is boring, then random variables, and treat the algebra half with equal respect: it still decides half your score. The E also has its own on-screen statistics calculator (Normal, Inverse Normal, Binomial, Cumulative Binomial, nPr, nCr); one Reddit candidate warned that generic video prep leaves you "caught off guard by the interface". Rehearse the buttons on the free E mock.

OMPT-F: business maths in long form

The F is the strangest of the three at first glance: the same territory as OMPT-A, algebra through differentiation, no trig, no integrals, 149 topics, but only 21 questions in a full 180 minutes. Same maths, opposite exam. The A tests whether you are fast; the F tests whether you are thorough. Each question is a multi-step problem where the work matters, so preparation means writing complete solutions rather than sprinting drills.

Three official facts make that concrete. On the F (as on the D) you must type the final answer and add your calculations in a note; two graders read the notes against a step rubric, so a correct method with a slipped last line still earns partial credit. The weighting is lopsided: differentiation 40%, equations and inequalities 30%, algebra 15%, functions 15%, so nearly half the test is differentiation rules and their applications. And omptest.org says openly that D and F questions run harder than the practice material, while for the other letters the test matches it. If your instinct says "easy, that is 8.5 minutes each", adjust it: the F fills those minutes, and with the basic calculator (no powers, no logs) the long arithmetic happens by hand, where a slip in step one is expensive when steps two through five inherit it. The OMPT-D worked problems show solutions written the way graders want to read them; the F note works the same way.

OMPT-G: maths plus actual science

The G is the odd one out of the entire family. Its syllabus starts as maths, linear material, quadratics, functions with limits, exponentials and logarithms, sequences and series, trigonometry, two geometry chapters, and then its final chapters cover physics mechanics and chemistry. Yes, chemistry, on a mathematics placement test. It runs 26 questions in 180 minutes over 119 topics, built for engineering at universities of applied sciences: Arcada and LUT both name it.

The weighting is worth staring at. Functions, graphs and equations carry 45% on their own, trigonometric functions 15%, sequences 10%, geometry 10%, mechanics 10%, chemistry 10%. The two science chapters are 8 of the 119 topics but 20% of the marks: motion equations, Newton's laws with a free-body diagram, work and energy; balancing molecular and ionic equations, redox by half-reactions, pH and neutralisation. Short lists are where cheap marks live. You get the scientific calculator, and the syllabus mentions a trigonometry formula list whose contents are not published, so learn the special values and radian conversions as if there were none. Notes are optional, so a wrong final answer with beautiful working scores nothing.

Who requires OMPT-E, F and G, and at what score

The official registration form for 2026/2027 lists which programme sits which letter; minimums below come from each university's admission page as recorded in July 2026, attempt caps from the omptest.org exceptions list.

Notice the right-hand column. Only Arcada gives the default three attempts, and two UvA routes give one, so the retake cushion that A students at Maastricht enjoy does not exist for you. The passing-scores post translates "60%" into questions missed for each variant.

Offered OMPT-A or OMPT-F? How to choose

VU, RSM, Radboud and UvA Actuarial Science all let you pick between the A and the F, sometimes with different bars (VU: 65% on the A, 60% on the F). Students tend to pick on price or on which letter sounds friendlier. Pick on evidence.

1. Write down both bars and both attempt caps from the programme page. At UvA the F route is one attempt while the D route is three.
2. Sit the free A mock and the free F mock on different days, each under its real clock, with full working on the F.
3. Put both scores into the score estimator and read the gap to the bar. A 62% on the A against 65% is a bigger problem than 58% on the F against 60%.
4. Look at where the A points went. Slips under time pressure point to the F, where method earns partial credit; blank differentiation questions point away from it.
5. Buy one attempt on the chosen letter. Buying both "to be safe" is €510 on two exams you have not scheduled.

The branches, in prose. When the A mock clears its bar and the F does not, take the A and stop deliberating. When both clear, take the A if you finished with ten minutes to spare, and the F if your A misses were slips rather than gaps. When neither clears, the F suits a student who did calculus recently and can write a derivation; the A suits one whose calculus is thin but whose algebra is quick, since differentiation is only 20% of the A. With a deadline inside three weeks, lean A: the estimate is 80 hours for both, but the F's notes format takes longer to rehearse. OMPT support confirms you can sit both letters, scheduled separately with an hour between, but ask admissions in writing whether the other sitting counts against your cap first.

What to do if your situation is messier than that

If you spent a month on OMPT-A material and then learned your letter is E, the month is not lost: the algebra half of the E is the A's first seven chapters, minus inequalities and polynomials, and it is 50% of your marks. The other 50% is new, and the gap between 120 estimated hours for the E and 80 for the A is a fair guide to what remains. Move to the statistics chapters today.

If your programme is not in the table and the letter names no variant, be careful: the registration form has an "Other Institution (not listed)" option that will sell you any of the seven, including the wrong one. Email admissions for the variant and the minimum in one sentence and screenshot the reply; the which-test post has template wording. If the answer is "any variant", as at Turku, sit the C.

If the deadline is within three weeks, triage by weight. On the E, the statistics chapters are 41 topics for 50% of the marks; do those first. On the G, the eight science topics are 20% of the marks and the shortest chapters; do them in the first week, not the last. On the F, one full three-hour mock with written notes is worth more than any chapter. Then book: the slot must be at least 72 hours out and standard grading takes 8 business days, so three weeks leaves one sitting and no retake unless you pay €120 for fast grading (4 business days). The 72-hour rule post has the backwards calendar.

If your first attempt came back under the bar and your cap is two, read the per-topic breakdown on the certificate before anything else. A lopsided report (algebra 80%, probability 20%) is repairable in two weeks; a flat report ten points under everywhere needs the full syllabus again. With the single UvA attempt on the F gone, there is no retake this class year, and the D route or another maths certificate is the conversation to have with admissions. The retake post covers the timeline; the study planner fits a repair plan to the days you have.

Two students, two calendars

Student one has an offer for Psychology at VU: the E at 60%, two attempts. She did IB Maths Applications, so her algebra is decent and she has met the normal distribution once. Her diagnostic on the free E mock comes out at 48%: 70% on the algebra questions, 25% on the statistics ones. Four weeks at 25 hours a week: two weeks of combinatorics, probability and random variables daily with a timed algebra set every other day, a week on the two distributions and the statistics calculator until the Cumulative Binomial button is muscle memory, then three full mocks at 40 questions in 120 minutes. She books for the end of week four, leaving 8 business days for grading and room for a second attempt before term.

Student two is applying to NHH: the F at 60%, two attempts, certificate due 15 February. Working backwards, results take up to 8 business days, so a second attempt must be sat by the end of January, the first by about 10 January, and the booking goes in before Christmas. He has A-level maths and quick algebra but has never written a solution for a grader; his first F mock scores 55% on content and would lose more on presentation, with a tangent-line question solved in his head. So his six weeks are 60% differentiation and its applications and 40% writing every solution out in full against a model answer, with two three-hour mocks in the last fortnight. The pace is 8.6 minutes a question; he practises spending them.

Practical notes across all three

The mechanics of sitting an E, F or G are the same as the rest of the family: online, proctored through ProctorU with a webcam and a room scan, booked at least 72 hours ahead, graded within 8 business days on the standard track. Pricing at omptest.org: €240 per attempt for the E and G, €270 for the F, which shares the higher tier with the D, and every retake is a new full-price purchase. Cutoffs are the murkiest part; published minimums for these variants are rarer than for the A, and several programmes confirm the bar only by email. Ask admissions for the number in writing before you plan anything around a guess.

One more pattern worth naming: E, F and G candidates start later. Not because they are less diligent, but because they spend the first weeks of summer just working out what their test even is, while A and B candidates found a hundred resources on day one. If that was you, the time was not wasted, it was the research tax on an under-documented exam. Pay it once and move: the study-hour estimates do not shrink because the internet was unhelpful. And be suspicious of generic "OMPT prep" that never names a variant; it was almost certainly written with the A in mind and will happily let an E student ignore probability for a month or a G student skip chemistry. Know your letter, prep your letter.