Hey guys, it’s Zainab. I’m currently a 4th year medical student at UCL, and in this blog I’m going to share the UCAT tips and tricks that helped me score above 3000. With the BMAT no longer being an option, the UCAT is incredibly important for admission into undergraduate medical degrees.
First things first, let’s take a closer look at the structure of this exam.
Understanding the UCAT Structure and Scoring
The UCAT is a skill-based exam, designed to test cognitive abilities, decision-making, and situational judgment – skills that are essential for a career in medicine. Due to its skill-based nature, you can improve your performance with practice and strategy. It consists of five sections:
1. Verbal Reasoning (VR)
– Purpose: to assess your ability to critically read and interpret information from written text.
– Format: there are 44 questions based on 11 short passages, with a 21-minute time limit for the whole section.
– Top tip: I read the question so I knew what key words/ideas to look for, skimmed the passage, read the question again to understand it, and then read the relevant part of the passage again more carefully. This section requires quick reading and an eye for relevant information – it’s very easy in exam stress and time-pressure to miss words such as “not” and “no” – which changes your answer completely; take a couple of seconds to double check.
2. Decision Making (DM)
– Purpose: to test your ability to evaluate arguments and analyse information to make logical decisions.
– Format: 29 questions, including text-based and graphical data, to be completed in 31 minutes.
– Tip: practice interpreting data from charts, tables, and logical statements, as the questions require both quantitative and qualitative reasoning. The more you practice, the faster you can learn to do this.
3. Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
– Purpose: to measure your ability to solve mathematical problems quickly and accurately.
– Format: 36 questions with a 24-minute time limit.
– Tip: Timing is crucial here. Estimate where possible (if the answer options are all vastly different, you can use mental maths and round things for quick calculations), and move quickly. If you see the more complex, multi-step questions – such as the tax ones – immediately guess a random answer, flag it and return to the question at the end if time permits.
4. Abstract Reasoning (AR)
– Purpose: to evaluate your ability to identify patterns and logical rules in abstract shapes and figures.
– Format: 50 questions to complete in 12 minutes, divided into four types of questions that test pattern recognition and spatial reasoning.
– Tip: practise familiarising yourself with common patterns, such as symmetry, number sequences, and rotation. Medify’s practice questions for this section can be particularly useful, as they often cover a broad range of potential patterns. I actually found the Medify AR harder than the real exam, which makes it a useful resource for practice.
The first four sections are scored as a scaled score between 300–900. Section five is a little different:
5. Situational Judgement (SJ)
– Purpose: this assesses your ability to understand real-world scenarios and judge responses based on appropriateness and effectiveness.
– Format: 69 questions across 22 scenarios, with a 26-minute time limit.
– Tip: keep the NHS values and pillars of medical ethics in mind; think from a the perspective of a healthcare professional.
Scoring for this is in bands, with Band 1 being the highest. Medical schools often prefer Band 1 or 2, as these indicate a strong understanding of professional behaviour.
Overall Scoring and Interpretation
Each cognitive section (VR, DM, QR, AR) is scored on a scale of 300 to 900, with a total possible score ranging from 1200 to 3600. Your final score is the sum of your scores from these four sections, which gives you a ranking compared to other test-takers (percentiles for the year you sit your exam are often used to interpret how well you performed). I scored 3050, which was the top three percent in my year.
For Situational Judgement, the scoring is based on four bands:
– Band 1: Excellent situational judgment.
– Band 2: Good situational judgment, with minimal lapses.
– Band 3: Moderate situational judgment, with some lapses.
– Band 4: Poor situational judgment.
When to Take the UCAT
I chose to sit my UCAT exam in mid-August, which worked well for me. A lot of my friends also scheduled their test for August, but didn’t allow enough time for proper preparation and ended up pushing their UCAT back to late September, which was then made harder by the fact that school had restarted. I highly recommend taking the UCAT during the summer holidays or by early September. Taking it later is challenging because you have to balance UCAT preparation with the demands of Year 13, including UCAS applications, coursework, and school assessments.
Completing the UCAT in the summer allowed me to focus solely on my school workload and UCAS applications in September. As an early applicant, you’ll face a lot of UCAS-related tasks and deadlines as soon as Year 13 begins. Having the UCAT done can significantly reduce your stress and help you manage the demanding term. Additionally, you receive your UCAT score immediately after the exam, which is useful for finalising or changing your university choices ahead of the UCAS deadline, dependant on your score.
Preparation Resources
For preparation, I used Medify, a popular UCAT prep resource. There are many different paid courses available, but I found Medify to be particularly worth the investment. Of course, you don’t need paid resources – the UCAT website offers plenty of practise materials – but it can be useful to have additional preparation materials. Medify offers a variety of plans, from a two-month comprehensive course to a two-week intensive option. I chose the two-week crash course, which provided all the resources I needed. But I studied at least 6 hours a day during those two-weeks. If you would prefer the little and often approach, I would recommend you start much earlier (most people prefer having one or two months)
The two-week Medify course included:
– A checklist and revision plan
– A “Diagnostic Mock” that I did initially to identify strengths and weaknesses before starting full prep.
– A vast library of practice questions, which could be attempted in both timed and untimed modes – I didn’t do all of them but I tried to do as many as possible.
– Eight full-length practice mocks and numerous mini-mocks for each UCAT section
– Performance tracking over time, with insights into areas needing improvement
Medify also allows you to replicate the exam experience, including the online calculator (a necessity for the maths section).
Additional Preparation Tips
The official UCAT website provides three past exams and a question bank for free. I recommend saving these official practice papers for later in your prep – but don’t use all three just before the exam.
Based on my experience, some of Medify’s practice questions were slightly harder than the actual UCAT (especially in Abstract Reasoning), so don’t be discouraged if you find the questions in online resources to be challenging.
I would highly recommend practising using the on-screen calculator for QR – whether on Medify, another paid resource or the UCAT’s own website. The test centre does provide you with a whiteboard for calculations, but being able to use the calculator quickly is beneficial.
Importantly, remember that every UCAT question is worth the same, so efficient time management is essential, especially in the QR section. If you encounter a challenging, multi-step problem, it’s best to make a quick guess, flag the question, and move on to those that are quicker to solve. You can return to the flagged questions later if time permits. I recommend prioritising easier questions to secure those marks, rather than risking time on a single lengthy problem only to run out of time for simpler questions at the end.
Ultimately, strategic practice and effective time management will make a significant difference in your performance on the UCAT. Good luck!
