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The top unis in the UK still require you to take an entrance exam if I'm not mistaken.

At least I had to for Physics and Philosophy at Oxford, but I'm just an expendable American.

That greatly depends on your grades and grade history. If an applicant has high grades, meets the entry requirements, and shows a consistently high grade history, they won't be asked.

It really depends on how much information the Uni has and how contested each seat is. Some schools just make everyone take an entry exam anyway.

> Everyone who applies to study physics or physics and philosophy at Oxford, without exception, must take the Physics Aptitude Test (PAT), a two-hour test that evaluates a student’s ability in both physics and maths. We work in partnership with Cambridge Assessment Admissions Testing to administer the PAT.

At least for Oxford, it seems universal.

Oxford and Cambridge are outliers in many, many ways. It's a bad idea to generalise based only on experiences from them.

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