Which OMPT Do I Need? OMPT-A to OMPT-G Explained (2026)

Every intake, at least one student tells me they have "been studying for the OMPT" for a month, and when I ask which one, there is a pause. That pause costs weeks. The seven variants share a core of algebra, but past that core they diverge hard: the B has integrals, the E has probability distributions, and the G ends with physics and chemistry chapters. Prep for the wrong letter and much of the work simply does not transfer.

Where the letter actually hides

Look in the conditions section of your offer letter first. Universities that use the OMPT name the exact variant and usually the exact score. Maastricht's School of Business and Economics sends International Business and Economics and Business Economics applicants to OMPT-A, and Econometrics, Business Analytics and Business Engineering applicants to OMPT-B, with one rule for both: 75% is the benchmark, 70 to 74% can ask the coordinators for an exemption, three attempts, exam by 15 August. Erasmus University College and UvA's PPLE programme both name OMPT-A at 70%. KU Leuven asks its Brussels BBA applicants for OMPT-A at 75% and its Business Engineering applicants for OMPT-D at 60%, same university, two letters.

The second place the letter lives is the OMPT registration form. You pick the admission period, the institution and the programme, and the form shows which variant or variants that programme is mapped to. It lists letters only, never scores, and two arrows (Erasmus IBEB shows A and B, VU business A and F) mean either is accepted. If your programme is missing, "Other Institution (not listed)" lets you register for any of the seven, which is exactly when you need the university to name one in writing.

If the letter is vague, do not guess. Email admissions and ask two things: which variant, and what score. It is a boring email. Send it anyway. I have watched a student sit the wrong variant, pass it, and then discover the pass meant nothing to their programme. The retake cost another €240 and three weeks of nerves.

The seven OMPT variants side by side

The A is the business staple: 52 questions in 120 minutes, algebra through differentiation, no trigonometry, no integrals. It is the variant I see most, by a wide margin. The fight on the A is speed on routine algebra, since you get under two and a half minutes per question and the logarithms chapter alone carries 10% of the weight.

The B is the A plus trigonometry and integration, stretched to 64 questions in 150 minutes. Those two chapters carry 32% of the marks, differentiation another 25%, so the B is roughly half calculus by weight; I wrote up whether B is harder than A separately. The C is the short one, 30 questions on numbers, algebra, linear formulas and four geometry topics; if you were told C, do not buy A-level prep out of caution, since you would study four chapters you will never see.

Then comes the D, the STEM gate: 21 long multi-step problems drawn from the widest syllabus of any variant, with your working typed into a note for every one; the D survival guide covers the format. Nobody writes about the E, F and G, which is exactly why students get surprised by them. The E swaps calculus depth for five statistics chapters worth 50% of the test. On the F, OMPT-A territory becomes 21 extended problems over three hours with written working required. And the G adds mechanics and chemistry on top of trig, geometry and sequences. I wrote a separate post on all three: OMPT-E, F and G explained.

Which OMPT test do I need for my programme?

The table is built from the university pages I have verified and from the 2026/2027 registration form. Read the exceptions column first; that is where people go wrong. The University of Amsterdam alone uses three letters with three bars (A at 70%, F at 60%, D at 70%), so at the larger Dutch universities the faculty decides, not the university.

Same maths, different exams

The letter changes more than the topic list; it changes the kind of exam you sit. The A, B and E are pace tests: many short questions, between two and three minutes each, where fluency is the scored skill and you type a final answer only. On the C you get four minutes per question and are expected to be near-perfect on easier material instead. The D and F flip the format: 21 long problems at roughly eight and a half minutes each, where one question can hold five dependent steps, working goes into a note, and two graders award partial credit step by step. Between them sits the G, 26 questions at just under seven minutes each, final answer only.

This matters for how you practise, and it is why generic "OMPT prep" advice ages badly across variants. A B candidate should be running timed mixed sets by the second week, because their enemy is the clock. A D candidate doing the same drills is rehearsing the wrong exam; their practice should look like homework problems written out in full, since a lost thread in step two of a 21-question test is a far bigger event than a lost minute. Same syllabus chapters, opposite training plans. Even the on-screen calculator follows the letter: basic for A, B, C and F, scientific for D and G, statistics for E.

How to confirm your OMPT variant in 10 minutes

1. Search your offer letter or conditional admission email for "OMPT". Write down the letter, the minimum percentage, the attempts that count, and the certificate deadline. Note anything missing.
2. Open the admission requirements page for your specific programme (not the general international page) and find the same four items. Screenshot it with the date visible. If letter and page agree, you have your variant.
3. Open the OMPT registration form, pick the period, institution and programme, and read which variant it maps to. Do not create an account yet; OMPT bans duplicate accounts.
4. If the sources disagree or any is silent, email admissions: "I hold a conditional offer for [programme] starting September [year]. Could you confirm (1) which OMPT variant the programme accepts, (2) the minimum percentage, (3) how many attempts are counted, and (4) the date by which the certificate must reach you?"
5. Save the reply as a PDF with the sender visible. OMPT's refund policy lists "incorrect or contradictory instructions given by your admissions office" as one of two grounds for a refund; that reply is your evidence.
6. Only now buy the attempt, for the letter in writing, and take the free timed mock for that letter before you commit study hours.

What to do if the letter names two variants, none, or the wrong one is behind you

The letter names two variants

Two universities do this routinely. VU Amsterdam accepts OMPT-A at 65% or OMPT-F at 60% for Economics and Business Economics and for International Business Administration. Erasmus IBEB accepts A at 70% or B at 60%, and only your first attempt counts, so the choice is a one-shot decision. Pick by format first and by score second.

For the VU choice: if your routine algebra is fast and accurate, you finish the free A mock inside 120 minutes with time to check, and you dislike writing out steps, take the A; five extra percentage points are cheaper than a format you hate. If your algebra is careful but slow, your curriculum trained written solutions (IB, A-level, most national systems), and you finish the free F mock with minutes to spare, take the F: 21 problems in 180 minutes, partial credit, a 60% bar. The F costs €270 against €240 and weights differentiation at 40%, so you trade €30 and heavier calculus for time and partial credit.

For the Erasmus choice: sit both free mocks in the same week. If your A mock is at 80% or above, take the A; a ten-point cushion over 70% is enough. When the A mock hovers around 70 to 74 and the B mock sits comfortably above 70 because you did calculus recently, the B's 60% bar is the safer bet even with 12 more questions and two extra chapters. Should both mocks come in under 65, the letter is not your problem yet; six weeks of differentiation and algebra drills are, and you decide afterwards.

The letter names no variant at all

Turku UAS is the clean case: its pages never single out a letter, the registration form maps its bachelor programmes to all seven variants, and the bar is 55% on whichever you sit. Take the shortest syllabus you can pass, usually the C (66 topics, about 40 study hours), or the A if other universities on your list want it. VILNIUS TECH publishes a score without a letter, but the form maps its engineering programmes to B and its business programmes to A; Católica Lisbon names 70% and no letter, and the form says A. If neither settles it, send the email in step four and buy nothing until it comes back.

You already sat the wrong one

A certificate does not convert between letters. A 78% on the B is worth nothing to a programme that asked for the A, and the university verifies the variant in the OMPT admission portal, so there is no quiet way round it. The repair is mechanical: buy an attempt for the correct letter at the full fee (€240 or €270), schedule it at least 72 hours ahead through ProctorU, and count eight business days for grading, or four with the €120 fast-grading add-on. Check that the new sitting still lands before your deadline; the deadlines post has the backwards calendar.

Two checks before you pay again. If admissions told you the wrong letter in writing, file OMPT's refund form with that email attached; wrong instructions from the admissions office are one of the two exceptional cases the policy accepts. And ask whether the wrong-letter sitting counts against your attempt cap; no official page answers that, and at a first-attempt-only programme such as Erasmus IBEB the answer decides everything.

Two students, two letters

Student one holds a VU International Business Administration offer that says "OMPT-A (65%) or OMPT-F (60%)". She did IB Maths Applications SL two years ago, her algebra is sound, and she has never written a solution out in full. Her free A mock came back at 58% with the last eight questions blank; she ran out of time. Her free F mock came back at 64% with twenty minutes to spare, the lost marks all for skipped steps. Time is what the F sells. She took it, spent six weeks on applications of derivatives and equation solving (together 70% of the F weighting), and learned to write every step because the graders pay for them.

Student two applied to Econometrics and Operations Research at Tilburg and assumed B, because econometrics is B at Maastricht and Groningen and every forum thread said so. He had already bought the B practice material when he read Tilburg's own page: OMPT-D at 70%, two attempts. The D adds limits, geometry with parametric curves and vectors (20% of the weight), and written working for all 21 questions. OMPT exchanged the unused product for a €50 admin fee, so the mistake cost €50 rather than €95. He restarted ten weeks out on the D's 120-hour estimate, front-loaded geometry because it was new to him, and sat the D five days before the deadline.

Two mistakes I keep seeing

First: preparing "up", on the theory that harder prep covers you for an easier test. It half works and fully wastes time. A student prepping B-level integration for an A-variant sitting spent evenings on a chapter that could not earn them a single point, while their logarithm speed, which could, stayed slow.

Second: assuming the variant from the subject. Business does not always mean A. NHH in Norway sends economics applicants to the F, and so does UvA for its own business school. Letters also change between intake years: AUC's Social Sciences major accepted OMPT-A until September 2025 and now asks for the E, and KU Leuven's Engineering Technology bachelor takes OMPT-D for 2026-27 but only OMPT-G for 2027-28, so last year's forum post can send you to the wrong test. The letter in your offer beats any pattern I can give you, including mine.

How much work each letter is

Once you know your letter, the next question is usually how much work is ahead. omptest.org's own study estimates run from about 40 hours for the C to 120 for the D, E and G, with the A and F around 80 and the B around 100. Treat those as ceilings for a rusty start. A student straight out of a maths-heavy final year usually needs half that; a student three years out of school should believe the numbers. Put your letter, deadline and weekly hours into the study planner and it spreads that variant's chapters across the weeks you have; the topic drills are where the hours go.