Candidate Advice

Each year around 36,000 students sit the UCAT.  Here, a selection of high-scoring candidates who've recently sat the test talk about their experience and offer their advice on how they prepared for the UCAT.

Candidate Advice

Imogen

Norwich.

"I spent quite a long time preparing for the UCAT, around 40-50 hours over 8 weeks, because I did not want to leave any part of my application to chance. I started off only spending half an hour a day for the first two weeks and then I slowly increased the amount of time I revised for each day until I was doing a couple hours each day on the days leading up to the test. Although I always gave myself a free day on Sunday so that I had a day to relax."

We asked Imogen if there were any traps to avoid when preparing for the test, here's what she advised:

"I think the biggest trap that I was glad I avoided was that I booked my UCAT for early August. Some people say to book the UCAT as late as possible to give you more time to prepare, but I found doing it in August was the best time I could have done it. I finished Year 12 mocks mid-June and began my preparation for the UCAT straight away while I was still in revision mode from mocks. Therefore, in the final two weeks of my revision, school was finished and I could use my brain to focus purely on the UCAT with no distractions from school."

"Another trap is that it’s very easy to try and want to answer every question correctly but because some questions are a lot easier than others, it’s very important to use the ‘flag’ option frequently and be strict with yourself to move on if you’re taking too long on a question. Make sure you select an educated guess as well as flagging the question in case you don’t have time to come back and spend more time on it."

She also discussed the Quantitative Reasoning subtest with us in some depth.  "I found (this) section the hardest, which was a surprise to me because initially, I believed I would be good at this subsection since maths was always my best subject at school. However, when I started doing practice questions I actually realised that being good at maths hindered my performance because I was so used to getting most questions correct in a maths test that I found it difficult to move on in the questions when I hadn’t completed each one. Over time, I became better at limiting myself to around 30 seconds for a question and if I wasn’t close to an answer, I would make an educated guess, flag the question and move on."

Imogen scored in the 98th percentile and achieved a score of 900 in Quantitative Reasoning, so her tactics and dedication definitely paid off.

Candidate Advice

Meera

Plymouth.

Meera kindly shared her UCAT experience with us, after scoring in the top 5% in her test year.  Her revision period was quite short (around 2 weeks) and this is her advice on her experience preparing for the test.

"(I revised) over about 10-14 days; about 6 hours each day split by frequent breaks. This kept question practice intensive and refreshing, until I began full tests closer to the exam date.  I began by familiarising myself with the test format, numbers and types of questions, and my current level competency in each of the 5 sections by completing a preliminary test. My verbal reasoning was slower than the other sections, so I put slightly more emphasis on this.  I then did (more) questions and 3 other practice tests to measure improvement.

If a question is taking ages, this could indicate the need to step back and work at it from a different perspective. Better to flag the question and move on until you have time to review it."

She also recommended that you "be honest from the start about your strengths and weaknesses in each section so you can critically analyse where your focus should lie.  The most helpful thing was frequent question practise over a short duration - it made sure I didn’t peak too early and kept revision refreshing."

Her final words of advice and reflecting on what she might do differently were "All of the UCAT website resources were helpful, particularly the timed tests and question banks.  If I had to sit the UCAT again I might allow myself more questions to work through, and perhaps work under test conditions more frequently in the lead up to exam day."

Candidate Advice

Joshua

London.

Joshua scored in the top 4% of candidates in his year of sitting and we think his advice is incredibly helpful to anyone approaching the test and wondering where to begin.

"I only decided to sit the UCAT a couple of weeks before the exam so I didn’t have many days – ideally, I would have started at least a month beforehand.  The first thing I did was learn about the structure and what to expect. I then made a study plan where I dedicated each day of study I had left to a section in the UCAT and made a list of all the online resources I could find. I then started with a full paper untimed to see what my strengths and weaknesses were.

For each section I made a word document full of notes and tips I collected along the way for answering each type of question. For example, a list of methods for decision making, and common themes in situational judgement. For abstract reasoning I kept a huge excel spreadsheet of every single pattern I came across and I reviewed it constantly, it made it easier to pick out common reoccurring patterns."

As Joshua identifies - it is the speed of the test which can often be the biggest challenge for many candidates: "The majority of UCAT questions are actually very straightforward if you have all the time in the world to think about them, but unfortunately there is an immense amount of time pressure. Learn how long you are given on average per question and if a question is taking too long learn to move on, flag it, and come back if you have time.  Saving precious seconds is the name of the game and the best way to do this is to ignore unnecessary details. Learn to focus on only the most important parts of every question, such as scanning for keywords in verbal reasoning, and ignoring the ‘context and setting’ of decision making questions. But at the same time you need to read the questions very carefully because there can be subtly important details that can totally change your answer."

His final reflections were that "I would start earlier. Two weeks was not enough, definitely give yourself a month!"

Candidate Advice

Suhur

Middlesex.

Suhur was a really interesting candidate to hear from as she was very honest in her reflection on how difficult it can be to prepare for the test and to stay positive.

"I spent just over 4 weeks preparing for the UCAT exam. In this month, I tried to complete questions from each section every single day, even if it was only for 20 minutes. If there was ever a day that I didn’t have time to fit in any practice, then I tried to watch a few YouTube videos on tactics from past applicants. 

The most difficult part for me was staying motivated. But as I was sitting the exam the same year as one of my best friends, we made sure to check up on each other and keep each other going. I would strongly advise having a study partner just so you can monitor each other’s progress and support each other."  We think this is great advice if you are able to find someone you know who is also planning on sitting the test.

"As soon as you begin practicing, try to identify your weakest and strongest section. My weakest was Abstract Reasoning and my strongest was Situational Judgement and as soon as I was aware of this, I stopped doing any questions from the SJT section and made sure to start every practice session with Abstract Reasoning.  Also, don’t do any practice unless it’s timed otherwise you will not be ready for the time constraints in the real exam."

In terms of attitude, Suhur advises: "Don’t beat yourself up if you’re having a bad session or you keep doing badly in a particular section. On the day of the exam the questions that come up are completely random and their level of difficulty might not be as hard as you expect. The most important thing to do is to go into each section with as much confidence as possible and I can guarantee that you’re more likely to perform better. I knew from my practice sessions that I wasn’t particularly good at Abstract Reasoning so in the 1 minute that I was given to read the instructions for that section, I gave myself a silent pep talk in my head and I told myself that I was going to ace it!  It’s actually crazy how much positive thinking can affect your results because I ended up scoring the highest in that section."

Suhur scored on the 96th percentile in her test year.

Candidate Advice

Niamh

Glasgow.

Niamh made full use of the preparation resources on the UCAT website during her revision and her organised approach paid off as she scored on the 98th percentile.

"I attempted the banks of questions for each category on the UCAT website in order to figure out which sections and question types I struggled with most. After this, I read through the question tutorials and advice for the types of questions I had been struggling with, before attempting these questions again with a better understanding.

Once I had completed all the question banks, I moved onto the timed practise tests. I made sure to set up my computer as similarly to test conditions as I could. I went through the review of each test and for the questions I answered incorrectly I carefully read and took notes of where I had gone wrong to ensure I would not make the same mistake again."

Like a number of our high-scoring candidates, she recommends reflecting on your areas of strength and weakness when preparing for the test.  "Identify the type of questions you struggle with early so that you have time to practise them, look for common question types and work out strategies for answering them quickly, and figure out the type of questions which take you the longest so that you can flag them and leave them to complete at the end of the test."

"I struggled with quantitative reasoning, at first, I was only able to complete about 15 questions in the given time. I spent a lot of time practising these types of questions, figuring out common question types and strategies, and practising reading graphs and data tests quickly. I also learned to recognise the types of questions that took me the longest, and adopted a strategy of flagging these and leaving them until last to ensure all the easier questions were answered first.  This way you make sure that every question you can answer easily is completed rather than running out of time and leaving questions unanswered."

Candidate Advice

Olukayode

Dundee.

Olukayode scored in the ‘Top 1%’ of candidates in his test year.  Here he explains how he approached his initial preparation for the test. 

 “My first steps, a few months before the testing opened, were to decipher what specific skills each of the different sections required.  For example, abstract reasoning requires pattern recognition; quantitative reasoning – basic arithmetic skills; verbal reasoning – being able to read and extract key information from vast texts, etc.  My next step was to reflect on how good I was at these key skills.

As I hadn’t done any maths since my A levels 6 years ago, I knew my basic arithmetic skills would be lacking.  I’ve also always found pattern recognition puzzles difficult so I decided that I needed to practice these skills.  I downloaded an app on my phone that had basic maths questions and different brain training exercises and did these a couple of times a week in the months leading up to my test.”

When we asked him what one piece of advice he would pass onto future candidates, he offered some thoughts on the importance of reflecting on your progress.   “You’ll probably get tired of hearing this, but reflection is incredibly important. After each practice session, reflect on what the questions you answered were asking for and ask yourself is there a quicker or easier way to do this? Is there a reason why the answer couldn’t possibly be any of the other options? In doing this, you become a lot better at ruling out answers so even if you feel pushed for time you can make a very good guess.   Also, learn and practice the keyboard shortcuts!  It saves valuable seconds!”

Candidate Advice

Rahul

Rugby.

Rahul achieved a great score of 3330 in his test, scoring 800 or over in each of the four cognitive subtests, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.  He explains how he felt unprepared for his test, and decided to allow for some additional practice time.

“I originally booked it for the first weekend in September in order to give me the maximum amount of preparation time without interfering with my school work.   I originally planned to spend the whole of the summer holidays doing preparation for the test but I turned out to be much less productive!  I still managed to do some good work in the last couple of weeks but this wasn’t enough, I ended up getting a worryingly low score on a mock test the week before my test and I decided to postpone it by another two weeks to try and improve… better time management is definitely advised!  Obviously, the time needed to prepare is different for everyone.  For me, 4 weeks was a good amount of time.”

He explains how he split his preparation time: “The first 2 to 3 weeks were spent doing untimed individual practice questions on all sub-tests and then blocks of questions under timed conditions.  I assumed that the official question banks would be the most realistic and probably the toughest out of all my practice resources.  I completed all of the practice questions but I saved the actual mock tests for the week before my test.  Doing the mock tests timed, rather than untimed, gave me sense of the pressure that I would be under when doing the real thing.”

Like many candidates, the time constraints within the test were challenging, but finding strategies to cope with these was vital for Rahul.  He explains “I knew how long I had for each question but when I was in the moment, this all went out of the window.  I realised how easy it was to become bogged down on one question as I stubbornly refused to just move on.  I realised how important it is to just guess and skip to the next question if I got stuck.  People applying to medicine are very dedicated and take pride in their work so the thought of skipping a question is not a nice one.  It is important to appreciate that the questions themselves would not be so challenging if we had unlimited time. The test is made tough by the time constraints in which we have to do those questions.”

His best advice to future candidates?  “I would advise everyone to have a structured preparation plan.  The ‘guess and skip’ technique is also crucial.  Above all, just stay calm and don’t force yourself to cram in the hours leading up to the test.”  Looking at Rahul’s score, his preparation certainly paid off.

Candidate Advice

Sarah

St Helens.

We firmly believe that candidates shouldn't have to pay for expensive practice materials and coaching courses to do well in the UCAT, so it was interesting to talk to Sarah who used both the official resources and a commercial website. 

"I think I probably spent just over the recommended 25 hours and I think this was key to my success.  The UCAT question banks and mocks are great for getting an idea of the exam layout and timings, however I would save the mocks until closer to the exam date so you can get a better idea of where you stand with your preparation and get a better idea of what score you are lying around."

"I also used (a commercial company's) mock tests, starting from about 4 weeks before my exam. I would advise however, that mock scores aren’t always reflective of how well you will do in the real thing, either because your score can suffer under added exam pressure, or you do better in the real thing because the questions aren’t as tricky.  Judge your progress more on how much preparation you have done and how confident you feel too rather than just on scores."

When we asked about traps to avoid, Sarah answered: "Paying for UCAT courses. They are really just a waste of money. Absolutely everything you need is online or in books, there is no reason to pay lots of money for a course."

She also emphasised the importance of keeping things in perspective during the run up to your test. "I would stress less, and incorporate some other things into the weeks leading up to the exam that weren’t just UCAT preparation. I think a bit of a balance in the couple of weeks leading up would have relaxed me a bit, and made me ready to go back to college the next week."  Sarah scored in the top 1% of candidates in her test year.

Candidate Advice

Saba

Manchester.

Saba spent around 4 weeks preparing to sit the UCAT and shared her experience with us.  

"My practice spanned over about one month. The first couple of weeks I spent 3 hours a week doing questions. Towards the last week, I began to do roughly 2-3 hours a day, usually 2 hours on a mock test and one hour to go over the test from the previous day."

In terms of her top tips for current candidates, she said: "I would keep reviewing the questions and mock tests, so you can learn where you’re making the most mistakes. This way you can work out which type of questions you find the most difficult and can focus your time on them. Finding patterns in the questions and learning skills for each section is more helpful than trying loads of questions that you don’t know how to approach."

"For all sections, I would consider skipping certain questions. I discovered that I could not do the ‘shape equation’ questions at all. It wasn’t a common question type, so it made sense to learn to skip these so I could spend time getting other questions right."

She was also reflective on her preparation methods, particularly regarding trying the practice tests too early in your revision.  "I would take more time at the start to do questions slowly, before going on to the mock tests. This would mean you understand all the question types and then it would be easier to put the skills into practice later."

Candidate Advice

Ayaz

Bolton.

Ayaz first heard about the UCAT during his first year at college, but decided not to focus on it until later in the year after his exams.  He then thought carefully about when to book his test.  “I knew I didn’t want it to be on my mind when I started my second year at college, with all the extra work we have to do for applying to university.  I had also arranged extensive work experience during the holidays, so to ensure I had enough time to prepare for the test, I booked it for near the end of the summer holidays.”

 He explains how he prepared for the test:  “I first began by reading into the general background of the test, such as what it consisted of, how long the test was etc.  I found the Official Guide on the website was really helpful for this. I then got a book that was recommended to me, and started by first going through each section individually in a lot more detail, and making notes on any tips or tricks that I thought were useful.  I also practiced some questions, however I made sure these were not in timed conditions to start with, as I knew this would stress me out unnecessarily at this stage.  For each subtest I had a rough idea of how long each question should take which allowed me to practice any number of questions when I was feeling comfortable in a time frame that reflected actual test day. Also, before every practice test I would write down at what time I should be halfway through each section. This acted as a marker for me and meant if I was spending too long on a particular question I would force myself to move on as there may be easier marks I could gain towards the end.”

Like many candidates Ayaz found the Abstract Reasoning daunting at first.  “But I found that by doing simpler questions first to build confidence and, more importantly, to get an idea of the patterns that constantly came up, before moving onto more difficult questions, was a system that worked for me.  The biggest thing you can do to improve is practice more questions, as inevitably you will get better over time.”

As advocated by other top scoring candidates, Ayaz said that the official practice tests were the most vital resource in his preparation, but cautions:  “Don’t attempt to replicate testing conditions straight away as it will only be counterproductive…  I used the practice tests on the UCAT website, although only when I thought I was appropriately prepared. These were the closest replicas to the real exam, so I found them to be particularly useful, and they also helped me to get used to the format of the exam.”

Candidate Advice

Emma

Sutton Coldfield.

Emma’s score was in the 99th percentile in her test year, and she achieved over 800 in three of the four cognitive subtests, in addition to a Band 1 for SJT.

 She offers some sound tips on approaching the Situational Judgement subtest: “Look at lots of past questions, and read through the explanations or model answers that are given as feedback.   Have a look at the GMC website; this provides a great guide to what the modern doctor should aspire to be.   A general summary of any appropriate answer would be that the idea proposed is a local, direct solution to the problem, that doesn’t reflect badly upon the profession and always puts the patient first.”

She also gives some good advice for how to manage the challenging time constraints within the Abstract Reasoning subtest.  “I developed a tactic of moving onto the next set if I hadn’t worked out the pattern within ten seconds.  I would select an answer for each question in that set, flag each question, and quickly move on.  This meant that all of the questions had answers (so I wasn’t throwing away marks if I did run out of time) and also meant that I had time to come back to those harder patterns and think about them at the end.

The best tactic is to be strict with yourself – if you aren’t sure, try to eliminate one or two of the other answers and then make an educated guess from the answers you have left. Move on quickly, to make sure you have time to finish the sub-test. Remember, in the actual test, as long as you put an answer for each question you have a chance.”

Candidate Advice

Adam

Sevenoaks.

Adam’s score was in the 99th percentile in his test year and he achieved full marks of 900 in the Quantitative Reasoning section.  

His advice shows that different strategies can work for different candidates and, during your preparation, it’s important to find a strategy that works for you.  For him, he employed the following technique for tackling Quantitative Reasoning: “In the maths section, my tactic was to answer all the easier questions first, and to skip any question that looked like it would require a lot of working.  If you have time at the end, then you can attempt, or at least make an educated guess, at these harder questions.”

He also made full use of the resources on the Preparation page of the UCAT website, and has these words of advice about how to use the materials.  “The official website was the resource I used the most. I did all three of the mock tests at various points before my test, and did most of the question bank questions for the sub-test areas I found hardest. It was really useful being able to see official standard questions before taking the test.  The mock tests on the UCAT website are the most valuable resource you have; don’t waste them by attempting them before you’ve done any preparation.  Find a bank of questions and get practice on each type before trying a mock test.” 

He was also pretty pragmatic on how to keep calm on the day of the test, offering these final words of advice: “It was quite stressful, but the important thing is to realise that your score will only be affected by your natural ability and your preparation; by the day of the test, there is really nothing more you can do apart from staying composed and focused and letting your preparation do the work for you.”

Candidate Advice

Rachael

Reigate.

Rachel, another ‘Top 1%’ candidate, explains why she decided to sit the test early in the cycle towards the end of July.  “I started first thinking about the test towards the end of May and began to start preparing in June, once I had booked my test.  I had a very busy summer so I knew I wanted to get it done as early as possible, whilst giving myself enough time to prepare after my AS levels.   Also, I had heard that people tend to do better the earlier they do it, so I decided to book my test for the end of July.  I think this was a really good decision as I could really focus on the test at the start of the summer knowing I then had the rest of the summer to do other things towards my application such as my personal statement.  It also then gave me time to really research universities to see where my high score would be advantageous.”

Rachel used one of the 3 timed practice tests to get a feel for how she performed in each of the subtests, this allowed her to allocate her preparation time accordingly as she explains below.  “After doing a practice test I knew my strengths and weaknesses so allocated my time appropriately.  I found the Abstract Reasoning the hardest section, and initially found it impossible, whereas, the Quantitative Reasoning I had no problems with, so I knew where I needed to focus my time.

I think one of the most important things is to identify the sections you find easiest and those you find the hardest to then try and improve technique and scores on your harder sections, by spending more time on them.  After doing this, I created a timetable of when I was going to do everything.  I started preparing in small amounts about 6 weeks before the test, and then the 2 weeks before I designated the majority of my time to preparation - about 50 hours in total.

Overall, I think the best thing is to practise the tests in timed conditions with no distractions to mimic the test conditions and the pressure that you will be in in the test.  Another thing I found useful were YouTube videos, both those the UCAT website provided and others I found, to help with the subsections I found the hardest.  For example, there are lots of videos looking at Abstract Reasoning technique which helped give me visual aids and helped me improve my score in this subsection.”  This hard work must have paid off, Rachel achieved her second highest subtest score in Abstract Reasoning, an impressive 870.

Candidate Advice

Shivani

Stanmore.

Shivani’s high score put her in the Top 1% of all candidates in her test year and she offers some great advice for approaching some of the different subtests.  

 “I found that each subtest required different strategies, depending on my individual strengths and weaknesses.  For Decision Making, which has a wide variety of question types, I identified which types I was best at and did them first when doing papers.  I would aim to get them right before going onto more time consuming questions…  In Abstract Reasoning I would take each question as it came, but if I spent longer than 10 seconds trying to find a pattern, I would guess the set and come back to it…  In Quantitative Reasoning I would be really selective about which questions I did (doing easier or very short ones first) and do the ones needing a calculator later…  I was therefore able to work well within the time here.”

 She was also structured in the way in which she approached her preparation for the test, as she describes here:  “I don't work well using timetables, but I did make a checklist of areas that I thought I was weak in.  I targeted each of them individually by finding tips online, and trying each of them to see what worked for me and what didn't.  I planned out when to do each of my practice papers, and by doing a checklist after completing each one, I was constantly working on sections where I was lagging behind.” 

Candidate Advice

Daniel

Chislehurst.

Daniel performed highly on his test, scoring in the 99th percentile, despite having a very short time to prepare. 

Here he reflects honestly on how this impacted on his preparation: “I had around two weeks from the start of the summer holidays, but I also had work experience on one of the weeks.  Despite not having much time, I spent a good three or four hours each day practising 2/3 sections on each.  By the time it got to the exam I felt as though as was as ready as I’d ever be, but maybe having an additional week or two (to not have to spend so much time each day on it) would have likely been better.”

He was also happy to share his tips of how he approached some of the subtests within the test.  “In Abstract Reasoning, some of the patterns are unique, but many of them will be ones you have seen before. If you make a bank of all the different patterns you come across in your practice and familiarise yourself with these, then after some practice the pattern ‘pops out’ at you. I didn’t do what some people do in systematically considering types of patterns and seeing if they match the sets presented – instead I tried to get so used to common patterns you would quickly recognise them.  But be sure not to get bogged down on a single question…

… In Situational Judgement, with practise you can come to see very similar questions which will mean you have encountered many of the scenarios which appear in the actual exam. This isn’t time pressured at all but don’t fall into the trap of getting stuck on a question and continually second guessing your answers.”