Ukcat verbal reasoning freaking out

Everyone worries about the verbal reasoning section or does the worst in that section you're not alone here. Just scan the text as quickly as you can, guess guess guess and move onto the next question.
Aim for as high marks as possible in the other 3 sections (700+) to boost your overall average score

Reply 3

OP

Original post by Pinkberry_y

Everyone worries about the verbal reasoning section or does the worst in that section you're not alone here. Just scan the text as quickly as you can, guess guess guess and move onto the next question.
Aim for as high marks as possible in the other 3 sections (700+) to boost your overall average score

also is there a digital timer on screen on the UKCAT, my friend said there was but on the practise materials given on the UKCAT website there isn't ... :/

Reply 4

.......Jeff458

3

Original post by medhelp

also is there a digital timer on screen on the UKCAT, my friend said there was but on the practise materials given on the UKCAT website there isn't ... :/

For me there is a digital timer on the ukcat website...

Reply 5

Original post by medhelp

also is there a digital timer on screen on the UKCAT, my friend said there was but on the practise materials given on the UKCAT website there isn't ... :/

Yes I remember when I did it there was a timer

Reply 6

OP

Original post by .......Jeff458

For me there is a digital timer on the ukcat website...

Original post by Pinkberry_y

Yes I remember when I did it there was a timer

okay thanks I think I was doing the untimed test lol, my mistake...

also: you know how they give 1 minute for instructions i mean we've seen the instructions multiple times and could skim read them really taking like 10 seconds and then have 50 sec extra for questions? can we do this or do they not let you move past instructions until 1 minute is up?

Reply 7

Original post by medhelp

okay thanks I think I was doing the untimed test lol, my mistake...

also: you know how they give 1 minute for instructions i mean we've seen the instructions multiple times and could skim read them really taking like 10 seconds and then have 50 sec extra for questions? can we do this or do they not let you move past instructions until 1 minute is up?

No they won't add on the time to your question time. You can skim the instructions quickly and move onto the questions but you won't get any extra time

Reply 8

OP

Original post by Pinkberry_y

No they won't add on the time to your question time. You can skim the instructions quickly and move onto the questions but you won't get any extra time

oh okay, may as well use the instruction time as a little break

do you know approximately what percentage of correct/incorrect in situational judgement gets band 1?
(I know nothing official has been release but in an older kaplan book there used to be guesstimate stats like around 70% is around 700 in VR)

Reply 9

Original post by medhelp

oh okay, may as well use the instruction time as a little break

do you know approximately what percentage of correct/incorrect in situational judgement gets band 1?
(I know nothing official has been release but in an older kaplan book there used to be guesstimate stats like around 70% is around 700 in VR)

In a Kaplan booked I used (score higher on the UKCAT 1000Q) band 1 was if you answered 54-71 questions correctly, band 2 was 36-53 questions, band 3 was 18-35 questions and band 4 was 0-17.

I sat the UKCAT exam in 2014 so I don't know if the number of questions in the situational judgement section are the same, therefore take these Kaplan estimates with a pinch of salt

Reply 10

OP

Original post by Pinkberry_y

In a Kaplan booked I used (score higher on the UKCAT 1000Q) band 1 was if you answered 54-71 questions correctly, band 2 was 36-53 questions, band 3 was 18-35 questions and band 4 was 0-17.

I sat the UKCAT exam in 2014 so I don't know if the number of questions in the situational judgement section are the same, therefore take these Kaplan estimates with a pinch of salt

thank you so much!!

in the kaplan book what is then number of questions out of?
this way I can quesstimate a percentage regardless of number of q

Reply 11

Original post by medhelp

thank you so much!!

in the kaplan book what is then number of questions out of?
this way I can quesstimate a percentage regardless of number of q

71.

Reply 12

*pitseleh*

20

Original post by Pinkberry_y

Everyone worries about the verbal reasoning section or does the worst in that section you're not alone here. Just scan the text as quickly as you can, guess guess guess and move onto the next question.
Aim for as high marks as possible in the other 3 sections (700+) to boost your overall average score

That's an odd thing to say. VR was my best section (850), and QR - which a lot of people say is their best section - was my worst (680 I think). *

OP, do what practice you can during the next week, but remember that most people don't perform equally well in every section. Go through a couple of practice VR sections, and try different methods - e.g. limiting yourself to two minutes per question on one set of questions, and then taking your time on the second set. If you have enough questions, repeat that process a few times and figure out which method achieves a higher score. It may well be that sacrificing the last few questions leads to a higher mark overall.

Reply 13

.......Jeff458

3

Original post by Pinkberry_y

In a Kaplan booked I used (score higher on the UKCAT 1000Q) band 1 was if you answered 54-71 questions correctly, band 2 was 36-53 questions, band 3 was 18-35 questions and band 4 was 0-17.

I sat the UKCAT exam in 2014 so I don't know if the number of questions in the situational judgement section are the same, therefore take these Kaplan estimates with a pinch of salt

Original post by medhelp

oh okay, may as well use the instruction time as a little break

do you know approximately what percentage of correct/incorrect in situational judgement gets band 1?
(I know nothing official has been release but in an older kaplan book there used to be guesstimate stats like around 70% is around 700 in VR)

The 1000 book says 221-272 points is a band 1 where 4 points = correct answer.

Really unpredictable cos one of my friends consistently got band 1's but in the exam got a band 3. Another friend only ever had band 2's, nothing else EVER. In the exam he got a band 1.

Reply 14

Original post by *pitseleh*

That's an odd thing to say. VR was my best section (850), and QR - which a lot of people say is their best section - was my worst (680 I think). *

OP, do what practice you can during the next week, but remember that most people don't perform equally well in every section. Go through a couple of practice VR sections, and try different methods - e.g. limiting yourself to two minutes per question on one set of questions, and then taking your time on the second set. If you have enough questions, repeat that process a few times and figure out which method achieves a higher score. It may well be that sacrificing the last few questions leads to a higher mark overall.

Well no it's not an odd thing to say. Everyone I know who sat the UKCAT in my year, the year before and after me found the verbal reasoning section the toughest as you had to analyse the text but had little time. Even on TSR you'll find a plethora of threads about people worried about the verbal reasoning section.

Reply 15

*pitseleh*

20

Original post by Pinkberry_y

Well no it's not an odd thing to say. Everyone I know who sat the UKCAT in my year, the year before and after me found the verbal reasoning section the toughest as you had to analyse the text but had little time. Even on TSR you'll find a plethora of threads about people worried about the verbal reasoning section.

You said 'everyone' worries about it/performs worst in it; I was pointing out that that isn't the case. I've seen at least as many threads from people worrying about AR as VR, and have known plenty of people who found VR just fine. So yes, it's strange to generalise; different people are good at different things.

Reply 16

OP

Original post by *pitseleh*

You said 'everyone' worries about it/performs worst in it; I was pointing out that that isn't the case. I've seen at least as many threads from people worrying about AR as VR, and have known plenty of people who found VR just fine. So yes, it's strange to generalise; different people are good at different things.

lol I can tell why you did well in the VR section
most people don't use that much logic in day to day scenarios though it's amazing how nitpicky you have to be.

tbh the nitpicking with phrases isn't that hard it's trying to skim read so fast but also find words and then *understand the context* which is so hard, I've managed to reduced my timing by about 30s so far.

Reply 17

*pitseleh*

20

Original post by medhelp

lol I can tell why you did well in the VR section
most people don't use that much logic in day to day scenarios though it's amazing how nitpicky you have to be.

tbh the nitpicking with phrases isn't that hard it's trying to skim read so fast but also find words and then *understand the context* which is so hard, I've managed to reduced my timing by about 30s so far.

Haha, being pedantic does come in useful for this sort of thing. :tongue:

Do you attempt to skim-read the whole passage before you answer the questions? I always went straight to the questions and skim-read once I knew what information I was looking for, if that makes sense?

Reply 18

OP