Ask "do UK universities want the SAT or ACT" and you'll get a confident yes from most US-focused advice -- but that's not what the universities' own admissions pages actually say once you check them one at a time. Some publish a real SAT or ACT minimum. A genuinely large number don't use either test at all. A few sit in between. Which category a given school falls into changes what you should actually be doing with your test-prep time.

The schools that do publish a real SAT/ACT figure

These are real, course-stated numbers, not a general "UK universities typically want" estimate:

  • University of Edinburgh (Economics MA): SAT 650+ EBRW / 620+ Math, or ACT 27+, plus two AP scores at 4+.
  • University of St Andrews (Computer Science BSc): SAT 1320+ or ACT 28+ -- and explicitly test-optional through the September 2026 entry cycle, meaning you can apply without either score at all.
  • University College London (Economics BSc): SAT 1470+.
  • University of Southampton (Computer Science BSc): SAT 1350 / ACT 31 -- but only as one satisfying component of a three-part combination (alongside GPA and other tests), and explicitly can't cover the course's separate Mathematics subject requirement. A published number here still isn't a single standalone bar.
  • University of Aberdeen (Economics MA): SAT 1250+ or ACT 26+ -- and the university describes its general undergraduate admission as "currently test optional," with these scores as one of several accepted alternatives rather than a mandatory hurdle.

The schools that don't use the SAT or ACT at all

This is the part most advice glosses over. In our own course-by-course research, these UK universities' official US-applicant admissions pages state plainly that undergraduate entry runs on AP exam scores plus GPA (or A-level-equivalent Honours/college coursework), with no SAT or ACT figure published anywhere -- not a high bar, not a low one, genuinely absent from the pathway:

University of Manchester, Imperial College London, University of Bristol, University of Warwick, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds, University of Sheffield, University of Nottingham, Newcastle University, University of Bath, Lancaster University, Queen Mary University of London, and University of Liverpool.

That's 13 universities -- several of them highly competitive -- where the real pathway looks like "3 AP exams at 5,5,5" or "GPA 3.0+ plus 3 AP/Honours classes," full stop. Queen Mary's School of Economics and Finance is a clean example: its own dedicated USA entry-requirements page requires 3-4 AP exams at grade 5, one of which must be Calculus AB or BC -- the SAT and ACT are never mentioned. Nottingham's page states it outright: "we do not generally require any standardised tests."

If you're strong on APs but your SAT or ACT score doesn't match your GPA, this list is worth knowing -- these schools are evaluating you on exactly the record where you're already strongest.

The middle case: SAT/ACT as one option among several, not a fixed bar

A handful of schools run a genuinely flexible system where SAT/ACT is accepted, but as one interchangeable option in a menu, not a single published minimum:

  • Royal Holloway, University of London explicitly offers a no-test-score path: at least 2 AP exams at grade 3-5 alone, with SAT (1040-1200) or ACT (21-27) as alternatives, not requirements.
  • University of Essex accepts either a test score (ACT 23+, SAT 1100+) or 3 AP exams -- your choice, not a mandatory combination.
  • University of Southampton, again, is the clearest example of a banded system: which SAT/ACT figure applies to you depends on which A-level grade tier your specific course sits in, not a single university-wide number.

What this means for you

  • "UK universities want the SAT" isn't a real, university-wide fact -- check the specific school's own official page. Whether a test score matters at all varies by institution, and sometimes by course within the same institution.
  • If you're AP-heavy and test-score-light, look specifically at the no-SAT/ACT list above. Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, and the rest of that group are evaluating US applicants on exactly the record you can control best.
  • A published SAT/ACT figure isn't always the whole story even when one exists. Southampton's number only satisfies one of three required components and explicitly can't cover a subject-specific requirement -- read what the number is actually substituting for, not just the digits.
  • Don't skip taking the SAT or ACT just because your top-choice school doesn't require it. Several schools that don't publish a minimum still accept a strong score as one of several optional paths (Royal Holloway, Essex) -- it can only help, never hurt, on an application where it's optional rather than required.
  • This list reflects what's actually published now, not a permanent policy. St Andrews' test-optional window is stated as running through a specific cycle, not indefinitely -- always confirm directly on the course's current page, the same way our companion piece on SAT/ACT-to-UK-grade conversion recommends for score comparisons generally.
  • If you're AP-heavy, "no SAT/ACT" doesn't mean "no requirement" -- it usually means the requirement is stated entirely in AP terms instead. See how many AP exams UK universities actually ask for for the real, course-by-course counts.

Every figure and policy above comes from the same hand-researched, source-linked course data behind our directory and chances calculator -- open a specific course there to see its own official source page directly, rather than taking this list as the final word for your particular application.

Sources

Every school named above is sourced individually in overseas_intel_courses (this app's own dataset), each row citing the university's own official international/USA-applicant admissions page directly. See a given school's entry in the directory for its specific source link.