How to study for the UCAT?
Read this post for tips and tricks to get 700/800+ in each UCAT section....
I’m back with a post full of tips for the UCAT! I collated all my tips and advice that I usually give to people into one post so that it’s easy to navigate through!
UCAT question banks and websites
General tips for revising the UCAT
Verbal Reasoning tips
Quantitative Reasoning tips
Abstract Reasoning tips
Decision Making tips
Situational Judgement tips
In case you weren’t sure, these are the number of questions and timings for each section:
UCAT question banks and websites…
When I was studying for the UCAT, I used Medify religiously. It was the closest tool to the real UCAT, with the option of timed questions, individual section tests, and full UCAT tests. It is also on the affordable side compared to some other websites. I would very highly suggest getting Medify, as it really did help me with the exam. I got used to the time pressure, and the types of questions were very similar to the real exam in terms of difficulty. Definitely, use the UCAT tests on the official website, although I did find some of the questions harder than the actual exam.
Kaplan also has monthly subscriptions that are affordable, and I’ve heard people do well with those as well, but I haven’t personally used so can’t vouch for it!
There are some websites that are quite ridiculously expensive, and they are trying to rinse your money so don’t fall into these traps!
I found this other website that is full of free UCAT questions, and has other very helpful resources for medicine applicants so check it out: Aspiringmedicsanddentists
Medify
Medify is extremely useful as it has an introduction section showing you the different types of questions for each section, and how to go about doing them. I wrote out some of these points and used it whilst doing the questions initially to help me.
It also tracks your progress and shows you whether you’re improving. I found this really helpful as it showed me which types of questions I was struggling with and I knew to focus on these more.
How to actually revise for the UCAT….
Most people recommend doing a solid month of UCAT practice. Whilst I agree, I also think it is good to do 1 or 2 weeks of casual untimed practice, so you can get into the routine of studying (especially during summer), and so that you get a gist of the questions. Don’t worry about how many you get wrong, just focus on the technique and looking out for patterns.
Once you’ve done 2 weeks of untimed practice, I suggest doing 2 to 3 weeks of consistent timed practice. Every day for at least 2-3 hours at the minimum. At first you will struggle with timed questions, and this is very normal. But as you keep doing them, they will become easier (don’t expect to be able to complete them all though!). By giving yourself 2 to 3 weeks of practicing timed questions, you have plenty of time to improve, and it factors in busy days where you won’t be able to study.
When you are 2 weeks away from your UCAT, you should spend this time doing the section practice tests and the full UCAT mocks. And this is when you should be at your peak or reaching your peak.
Don’t study for more than 6/7 weeks intensely, otherwise you WILL tire yourself out and feel very unmotivated. That’s why I suggest doing casual revision for the first 2 weeks, then increasing the amount you do.
Use a WHITEBOARD, it will help you a lot, and you get one in the exam too!
The flagging tool will become your new best friend (i’ll explain in each section why)
Verbal Reasoning
This is the first section of the UCAT, usually the hardest and the one people get the lowest marks in. This section is extremely time restricted, and be proud if you complete 60% of the questions!!
When I sat my UCAT, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to finish this section so as soon as I started, I clicked the answer “A” for every single question! This way I knew I had something filled in for each question, and had 25% of getting it right, rather than leaving it blank. I did it at the start so that I wasn’t rushing at the end when the time is running out. I then went back and glanced at the passage. If it looked very complex I immediately flagged it and moved onto the next passage. Some of the passages are much easier to understand, such as general knowledge or medical passages. Whilst passages about history I found too confusing and complex.
There are several different ways to approach verbal reasoning questions:
Skim read the passage to get a general overview, then read the question and look for key words in the text. You should know briefly where the answer should be as you’ve skimmed read the text.
Read the question first, and then try and find it in the text.
Read the passage in detail first, and then look for the answer.
I personally did the first method and found it to be the most effective, but people prefer different ways. I wouldn’t advise reading the whole passage in detail as this will take up to a minute and you simply do not have that time. Try each method and see which works for you!
Verbal reasoning just requires a lot of practice, and even then don’t expect to be able to answer all the questions. Here are some tips:
Do the true/false/can’t tell questions first as they are generally easier
Some texts are longer than others so skip the long texts. They are all worth the same amount of marks are shorter texts!
Don’t assume anything that is NOT in the text. There may be a football passage, and you may already know the answer but if it is not in the text then you cannot say it is true!!
Quantitative Reasoning
My favourite section from the UCAT. I found the questions in the actual exam were actually easier than those in Medify! I got the highest in this section, scoring 880 the first time I sat the UCAT. Quantitative reasoning requires basic maths knowledge including percentages, fractions, currency conversions, multiplication, division, mean, modes, medians, ratios, timetables, metric conversions etc..
Here are some of the common question types:
Old price vs new price
Percentage questions
Speed = distance/time
Unit conversions e.g. km to miles
I made myself a guide of how to do these types of questions, and had a page of formulas that I had to learn, which I found very useful as well. As you do more and more questions, you’ll realise what the common questions are.
If you find a certain type of question hard, for example I struggled with currency conversions, I recommend guessing them, flagging them and moving on. Come back to them if you have time. Most people manage to do all the questions in this section, so the more you practice the better your timing will get. Also if the question looks quite long, with several tables and conversions. Flag it and move on as well. There will almost certainly be a question that is two lines long later on that will take a 1/4 of the time but will be worth the same amount of marks.
Last tip for this section - familiarise yourself with the keyboard! It will make this section SO much easier to do especially using the on screen calculator. Don’t practice with an actual calculator as this will really mess you up in the actual exam when you have to use the onscreen one. Make use of the whiteboard as well, write down some answers from your calculator, especially if you may need them later on in the question.
Abstract Reasoning
This section can also be done within the time limit and aim for 700+. The secret to abstract reasoning is practice and recognition. The patterns will be REPEATED. So if you do all the practice questions, you would have almost certainly seen all the pattern types.
Some people make mnemonics for this section. I had one called ‘SCANS’: Shape, Colour, Angle/Arrangement, Number and Symmetry. Write this down before the section starts, so if you get stuck you know what to look for! Make sure you know your prime numbers as sometimes they do number of sides/shapes as a prime number and this catches a lot of people out.
I highly recommend noting down difficult or complex patterns that you got wrong or didn’t notice initially. How you do this is up to you. Some people prefer actually writing it down in a notebook, but I screenshot hard patterns and made a powerpoint with the question on one slide, and then the answer on the following slide. I then used to look over these and try to guess the pattern. I also wrote down the patterns in words for example ‘2 stars in the left corner” or whatever the pattern was.
Practice makes perfect in this section.
Decision Making
This section was a bit of a strange one when I first started doing it, I didn’t really understand the point of it. The questions are a bit strange, and can depend on your opinion to some extent. But the most important thing is to do this section logically, and do not make assumptions. If it doesn’t mention it in the text, then don’t assume something.
Also there are several probability questions (3-4 questions), so make sure you master simple probability. Know how it works and how to do these types of questions.
Write down things clearly. Use letters as abbreviations for names. Make sure you use the whiteboard as it will structure your thoughts. Make tables and Venn diagrams as these are very useful for some question types. Use them to eliminate answers as well.
There is also a question type about evaluating arguments. For the ‘strongest’ argument, choose the argument that addresses ALL parts of the question, not just the first part or the last part. Read it properly!
Situational Judgement
Usually people are tired when they start the situational judgement section so don’t actually perform their best on it, even though it’s not that hard. Just tell yourself, you’re near the end and don’t rush it just so you can leave and see you results (this is what I did and got band 2 when I could’ve got band 1 lol).
For this section, it requires some basic medical knowledge of ethics, and some general common sense. I recommend reading the Good medical practice by GMC if you seem to be struggling with this section. They have the majority of things outlined there.
There are certain rules about topics such as confidentiality or medical students that you will come across, so make a bullet point list of these! They will come in use.
If you get band 1 or 2, you will be safe in terms of getting an interview. But some universities may score you higher during interview depending on whether you got a band 1 or 2. If you get band 3 then some universities may reject you, and very very few accept a band 4.
Summary
I hope this post has been helpful in any kind of way! Make sure to book your UCAT now so that slots don’t fill up and you don’t get the one you want! Work hard, have breaks and rest days. But remember the more work you put in, the better you will do!
Till next time,
Mimz :)
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