The UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) is part of the selection process for the majority of Medical Schools in the UK. It is an online test designed to test cognitive abilities, attitudes, critical thinking, and logical reasoning. There are four reasoning tests and a situational judgment test. Students will be tested on their cognitive abilities, attitudes, critical thinking, and logical reasoning.
How should I prepare for the UCAT?
Students who achieved the 99th percentile in their UCAT have reported on what helped them to score so highly in their test. Their best advice for UCAT preparation is to focus on the following:
- Time Management - Don't linger on any particularly difficult question, move on and come back to it later
- Educated Guessing - Eliminate as many possibilities as you can and use your instincts when required
- Maintaining Composure - "Keep your cool" on any sections that you are unsure of, and take breaks to avoid frustration
- Understand each question type and strategies to solve them - Each question type requires a specific approach to answer it efficiently and accurately
- Identify your Weaknesses - Identify which skills you need to improve most upon and work on those
- Don't Rely on Common Knowledge - within the 'Verbal Reasoning Subtest', rely solely on the information in the body of the text, do not use existing outside knowledge
Other tips on how to ace your UCAT include internal reflection so you know what your test anxieties are how you can manage them, and creating short and long-term plans for your UCAT preparation schedule.
Visit our UCAT Top Tips page for more details on how you can prepare for the medical school admissions test.
How do I interpret my UCAT Score Report?
The UCAT Score Report provides students with a scaled score for each subtest (i.e. a combination of your score in UCAT Verbal Reasoning, UCAT Decision Making, UCAT Quantitative Reasoning and UCAT Abstract Reasoning). A separate score is provided for the UCAT Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which is a ‘non-cognitive’ UCAT subtest.
UK universities will use your total UCAT score (out of 3600) and SJT band (1, 2, 3 or 4) when making interview offers. Most UK universities require a score in the 90th percentile to be considered for their programs but these do vary between universities. The UCAT score is a key component of a UK Medicine School admissions process.
Our UCAT Training Days
If you have not yet taken the UCAT test, contact us to learn more about our one-day intensive UCAT Training Course hosted by Rahul, our Cambridge University medical student who is experienced at helping students score highly on the test.
Rahul has delivered presentations on medical admissions to 100s of students, and organized a medical admissions conference for over 100 attendees, considering all aspects of the admissions process. Learn more about the UCAT training here.
How can SI-UK help me with the UCAT?
If you are interested in learning more about medical school admission tests, arrange your free consultation today. For help with your application to a Medical School in the UK we recommend you inquire about our Medicine Service. There's a reason 90% of our students get a place at a UK Medical School.
