UCAT Testing starts in July for those applying in 2022, and for a lot of aspiring medical students this can be a big hurdle in their application. Our Admissions and Outreach Team has put together a quick guide to each section of the UCAT, as well as some excellent recommendations from our current BSMS medical students.
For more information about the UCAT, as well as how to book, please check out the UCAT website here.
The UCAT is typically a two hour, computer based, multiple choice test split into five sections: verbal reasoning, decision making, quantitative reasoning, abstract reasoning, and situational judgement.
Verbal Reasoning
This section looks at your ability to make sense of, and draw conclusions from, passages of text that contain a lot of information. This tends to be the section people find quite difficult, so don’t worry if you’re finding it tough to begin with.
Top tips for Verbal Reasoning:
- Look out for key words and figures but also make sure to read around them to gain context
- Read the question before the text
- Practice by speed reading articles and summarising the key points
- Only use the information you have been given. It’s not a knowledge test
Decision Making
This section looks at your ability to apply logic and reasoning. This could involve recognising assumptions, drawing conclusions, and analysing information presented as text, graphs, tables, or diagrams.
Top tips for Decision Making:
- Eliminate wrong answers
- Don’t make assumptions
- The strength of an argument is not dictated by how reasonable it might sound. Strong arguments are based on facts, not assumptions or opinions.
- Put aside your own beliefs and knowledge, use only the information you are given
Quantitative Reasoning
This section assesses your ability to solve problems that use numbers. Data could be presented in graphs, tables or charts. The questions may require you to calculate averages, percentages, ratios, and/or rates.
Top tips for Quantitative Reasoning:
- Utilise mental maths skills and the onscreen calculator to balance speed and accuracy when answering questions
- Use the whiteboard and pen to help with key calculations
- Round numbers to make them more manageable, eliminate incorrect answers, and make educated guesses if you are unsure
- Avoid spending too long on a question. Flag it for review and return to it later if you have time!
Abstract Reasoning
This section focuses on your ability to identify patterns amongst a series of shapes. It requires you to utilise the relevant information in generating hypotheses or ‘rules’ whilst ignoring anything that is irrelevant.
Top tips for Abstract Reasoning:
- If there are two sets of shapes, the rules of each set will often be related in one way or another
- Rules are sometimes easier to spot in the boxes with the fewest number of items
- There could be more than one rule in place e.g. an even number of black circles in one set and an odd number of white circles in another
Situational Judgement Test
This section looks at your ability to comprehend real life scenarios and your ability to determine important and appropriate responses and behaviours.
Top tips for Situational Judgement Test:
- • There is no expectation that you have previous clinical knowledge/experience• Put aside your own beliefs
- • Approach the question from the perspective of the character identified in the question. Think about what they should do.
- • Be aware that:
- Patient confidentiality is key
- Respect and dignity should be maintained at all times
- People, with mental capacity, should be involved with decisions regarding their health
- Teamwork is vital for person-centred care
Current Student Top Tips
A number of our current medical students have also provided their top tips for preparing for the UCAT.
"I downloaded the app with revision questions which I worked through in my free time. I also found doing a mock test online a few days before the exam helped me to better understand the timings and format." - Peter
"I decided to take the UCAT in mid August so that I had half the summer to revise and half to relax/look at the BMAT. My main piece of advice is to not spend money on those expensive preparation courses; they exploit the competitiveness of medical applications to take advantage of concerned students. All you need are the free resources!" - Enya
"I did some research online to find out which sources other students found useful and eventually settled for the medic portal. I read through every page of their advice documents, where they broke down how to answer each type of question and how best to manage time. I spread out my revision over roughly a month for each exam. If I am being totally honest, I wish I had done a bit more. I feel I should have started earlier and perhaps done more questions under time pressure or focused on weak points rather than doing bits of everything each week." - James
"Lots of practice questions! For UCAT I tried to come up with an approach / mnemonic for each type of question. This allowed me to save time as I had a system to work through if I was stuck on a question. My top tip for the UCAT would be that if you don't immediately know the answer, just guess and come back to it as it isn't worth wasting time for 1 mark." - Olivia
"Past questions, past questions and more past questions. On reflection, I should have been more organised and allowed myself more time to get to grips with the abstract reasoning in UCAT, which I found the hardest." - Oli
Find out more about UCAT here >