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UKCAT

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TSR Wiki > University > Choosing a Subject > Medicine > UKCAT

For more information, don't forget about the main UKCAT page: http://www.ukcat.ac.uk/

This is a test of aptitude rather than academic achievement and tests a range of different mental abilities and attributes for people applying to medicine and dentistry.

The test takes about 2 hours and includes 5 sets of multiple choice questions.

Contents

Important Dates and Costs

Registration opens: 01 May 2009

Testing begins: 07 July 2009

Registration deadline: 25 Sept 2009

Last testing date: 09 Oct 2009

UCAS application deadline: 15 Oct 2009

07/07 – 31/08: £60 for those taking the test in the EU, £95 for other candidates

01/09 – 09/10: £75 for those taking the test in the EU.

Bursaries:

If you are in receipt of Income Support or Educational Maintenance Allowance at the top rate (£30) you can apply for a bursary voucher entitled to the full cost of the exam. You can apply for the voucher by filling out a form found on the UKCAT website[1] and attaching adequate evidence of your eligibility with this form. The bursary voucher is received by e-mail, which you need to keep; the number on the voucher is needed when booking your UKCAT exam.

Who needs it? How is it used?

University UCAS Course Code How do they use it for medicine applicants?
University of Aberdeen A100, A201 UKCAT scores are ranked in quartiles and contribute up to 4% of the total score given to an individuals application.
Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry A100, A101, A200, A201 "Applicants are ranked according to their UKCAT score. Those who achieve the appropriate UKCAT score are considered for an interview (top 700?). The appropriate UKCAT score will be determined by the performance of candidates each year. Therefore there is no predetermined cut-off score for the UKCAT at which candidates will be interviewed."
Brighton and Sussex Medical School A100 "We are interested to see what additional information we might gain from the UKCAT scores, and so we will be using the UKCAT results selectively and with care in informing the judgements of our admissions assessors in making offers to individual students. This is because the UKCAT test is relatively new. An above average UKCAT score is likely to be an advantage but a lower score is not necessarily a disadvantage if outweighed by other factors in your application as a whole."
Cardiff University A100, A104, A200, A204 From the open day: they only use it to decide borderline applicants.
University of Dundee A100, A104, A200, A204 "Dundee University Medical School requires applicants to sit the UK clinical aptitude test (UKCAT) which will contribute a small amount to the selection process."
University of Durham A100 "The UKCAT cut off score may differ in each admission cycle as our cut off is derived from the scores achieved by those applicants who apply to our Medical School in the current cycle." This score determines whether someone is rejected or interviewed.
University of East Anglia A100, A104 There is no cut off score for the UKCAT. Score considered as part of academic screening. In the past, they have said that until they have analysed the results of end of year exams and looked for correlation with UKCAT score, they will not rely on it too strongly.
University of Edinburgh A100 The UKCAT score is scored relative to other applicants in the cycle: with points awarded depending on which quartile your score lies in.
University of Glasgow A100, A200 "The University of Glasgow Medical School considers further applicants who meet minimum academic entry requirements and who also possess a minimum overall UKCAT total score of 2400 (providing all subtest scores have been made available to the Medical School by UKCAT). Depending on the number of applications the Medical School receives and the standard of scores achieved in the UKCAT, the Medical School may need to increase the UKCAT total score requirement." In 2009, some applicants were told after applying that anyone with a UKCAT below 2570 would be unlikely to receive an invitation to interview.
Hull York Medical School A100 "Hull York Medical School awards a maximum of 10 points for the UKCAT, based on the applicant's total UKCAT score." These points are then added to those from the UCAS form and candidates are ranked with the top 600 invited to interview. For more information
Keele University A100, A104 "The results from this will contribute to our decision making process."
King's College London A100, A101, A102, A103, A202, A203, A205 "It will not be the sole indicator for selection, it will be balanced against achievement in other areas, in particular your academic performance to date. It is therefore important to understand that there is no universal ‘cut off’ score for the UKCAT when applying for 2008-9 entry."
Imperial College London A101 (grad entry) Interview offers will be based on the content of your application and your performance in the UKCAT.
University of Leeds A100 "UKCAT scores will be taken into account during the final stages of the Admissions process. Credit will be given at this point for high scores."
University of Leicester A100, A101 "The UKCAT scores are assessed individually rather than by total or mean. We do this because the four domains are tested separately." The scores are banded and awarded points. The UKCAT is scored out of 5. A Score of 700+ = 5/5, 600+ 4/5, 500+ = 3/5, 400+ = 2/5, 300+ = 1/5. Please note that if you receive a score of 1 this does not mean that your application will be rejected as all elements of your application are considered. Therefore, a strong UCAS application is required.
University of Manchester A104, A106, A204, A206 "This year we will be selecting for interview by ranking by UKCAT score all those applicants who have successfully passed through our initial UCAS assessments."
University of Newcastle A100, A101, A206 "The UKCAT cut off score may differ in each admission cycle as our cut off is derived from the scores achieved by those applicants who apply to our Medical School in the current cycle." This score determines whether someone is rejected or interviewed.
University of Nottingham A100 "Selection for interview will be on the basis of those candidates with the overall best profile of attributes from: academic ability, UCAS statements, UKCAT scores and further information."
University of Oxford A101 (grad entry) "The results of the test will be used (with information from other documents in your application) to help us to decide whether you will be called for interview."
Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry A100 "UKCAT test results are used alongside interview scores alongside the academic information provided on the UCAS form in order to select candidates for interview."
Queen's University Belfast A100, A200 "In considering applications, GCSE performance in the best 9 subjects will be scored with 4 points awarded for an A* and 3 for an A grade. UKCAT will be scored with an additional point given for every paper where the result is above average and a point taken away if the result is below average. This might therefore make a maximum difference of plus or minus 4 on a candidate’s GCSE points score. In addition, a candidate who meets the academic criteria for admission but whose UKCAT score falls below the 30th percentile will be interviewed."
University of Sheffield A100, A104, A200 "The Undergraduate Dean for Admissions will decide on the basis of the scores for academic achievement and personal qualities, and the UKCAT score whether a candidate will be called for interview or not. The number of places in any given year will determine the assessment scores required in order to receive an interview." Last year, there was a cut off score of 675, and the Year before was 670.
University of Southampton A100, A101, A102 "The UKCAT score will be used alongside all other information as part of the selection process." A cut-off score has been used in the past. They seem to rank the PS above the UKCAT.
University of St Andrews A100, B900 "At St Andrews the UKCAT is used alongside all other admissions assessments. There is no pass or fail mark. Each year the UKCAT scores of all those who apply to St Andrews are ranked. The ranking is divided into bandings and points are allocated per banding. The test result is worth 10% of the overall admissions assessment score."
St George's University of London A100 "Candidates not offering GCSE and A level qualifications or lower achievements than those mentioned will be considered on their merits paying particular attention to their UKCAT score among other things."
Warwick University A101 (grad entry) "Our decision to invite you to attend a selection centre is based upon your written application plus your UKCAT score."

Preparation for the UKCAT

No commercially available preparation courses are endorsed by the medical and dental schools that use the UKCAT and the website states that 'coaching is not necessary, desirable or advantageous.'

Despite what the UKCAT website says, practicing the questions is essential and you can learn what sort of things to look out for in the Abstract reasoning.

Familiarising yourself with the styles of questions has been found to be useful and some people recommend getting hold of some old 11+ style test papers for practice. Practice questions for each section of the UKCAT can be found with each section.

Thanks goes to Lu-x (unless otherwise credited) for finding and collecting them all together.

The UKCAT website also contains some practice tests which can be found here.

The UKCAT book, 'Get into Medicine - 600 UKCAT Practice Questions', is highly recommended for practice questions - http://www.amazon.co.uk/into-Medical-School-comprehensive-explanations/dp/1905812094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252499592&sr=8-1. Comments gathered from this forum show that this is the best preparation book, with questions matching the level of the exam, except for quantitative reasoning which is harder in the book but provides excellent practice for the most challenging exam questiions.

A bank of practice questions are available here though you need to sign up for free to access them.

The subtests

Verbal Reasoning

This looks at how logically people can think about written information and whether they can arrive at a well reasoned conclusion.

You are given a passage of text to read and then presented with 4 separate statements. Your task is simply to judge whether or not the statement follows logically from information presented in the passage. The choices are 'true' if it does follow on logically, 'false' if it doesn't and 'can't tell' if you can't tell from the information you've been given.

Practice questions

'Get into Medicine - 600 UKCAT Practice Questions' - http://www.amazon.co.uk/into-Medical-School-comprehensive-explanations/dp/1905812094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252499592&sr=8-1

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/verbaltest.htm

http://www.assessmentday.co.uk/Free_practice_Verbal.htm

http://www.assessmentday.co.uk/Practice%20Graduate%20Aptitude%20Test1_Verbal.htm

http://www.shldirect.com/verbal.html

http://www.psychometric-success.com/faq/faq-sample-verbal-critical-reasoning-questions.htm

http://www.psychometric-success.com/faq/faq-sample-verbal-comprehension-questions.htm

http://www.excitingfutures.com/verbalreasoning.htm

http://www.policecouldyou.co.uk/officers/verbal.php

http://money.guardian.co.uk/work/psychometrics/0,1456,589733,00.html?R1=&R2=&R3=&R4=&R5=&R6

http://europa.eu/epso/pdf/verbal-tests_en.pdf

http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/wmprrecruit/uploadedimages/Numerical%20Reasoning.doc

http://practicetests.cubiks.com/verbal.htm

http://www.onexamination.com/ukcat/PracticeQuestions.aspx?tid=UKCAT

http://ukcatpracticeonline.com/homepagelinks/SampleVerbalReasoning.html (thanks to thecutiepie for posting)

http://space.businessballs.com/paulnewton/resources/Psychometric%20Success%20Verbal%20Ability%20-%20Comprehension%20Practice%20Test%201.pdf

http://irisharmy.shlsolutions.net/VMG1.htm

Quantitative Reasoning

This assesses your ability to solve numerical problems. You will need to solve problems by using information from tables and graphs. You need some background knowledge for this part of the test, but only GCSE level.

You're presented with 10 tables/charts/graphs and asked 4 questions on each with a choice of 5 different answers for each question.

Practice questions

'Get into Medicine - 600 UKCAT Practice Questions' - http://www.amazon.co.uk/into-Medical-School-comprehensive-explanations/dp/1905812094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252499592&sr=8-1

http://www.assessmentday.co.uk/numerical/Free/aptitude_test_2.html

http://www.assessmentday.co.uk/numerical/Free/aptitude_test_1.html

http://ukcatpracticeonline.com/homepagelinks/SampleQuantitativeReasoning.html (thanks to thecutiepie for posting)

http://www.shldirect.com/numerical.html

http://www.psychometric-success.com/aptitude-tests/numerical-aptitude-tests.htm

http://www.policecouldyou.co.uk/officers/numbers.php

http://www.mckinsey.com/locations/ukireland/applicationprocess/Problem_Solving_Test.pdf

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/mathstest.htm

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/mathstest2.htm

http://www.excitingfutures.com/numericalreasoning.htm

http://mlsc.lboro.ac.uk/resources/numeracy/nrpt1_98_1.pdf

http://www.stationcrafts.net/maths180/shlnumericalreasoning.pdf

http://practicetests.cubiks.com/numerical.htm

http://www.aptitudetestsonline.com/quizzes/freenumerical.asp (password: demo)

http://irisharmy.shlsolutions.net/NMG1.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/maths/

http://www.mathsrevision.net/gcse/

Abstract Reasoning

This assesses your ability to find patterns when looking at some groups of shapes.

You are given 2 sets of shapes. All of the shapes in each set are similar in some way, but there is no link between the 2 different sets. For each pair of sets, you are given 5 'test shapes' and you need to identify which set each fits in with or whether it fits with neither.

Practice questions

'Get into Medicine - 600 UKCAT Practice Questions' - http://www.amazon.co.uk/into-Medical-School-comprehensive-explanations/dp/1905812094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252499592&sr=8-1

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/spatialtest.htm

http://www.shldirect.com/inductive_reasoning.html

http://www.psychometric-success.com/aptitude-tests/abstract-reasoning-tests.htm

http://www.psychometric-success.com/aptitude-tests/spatial-ability-tests.htm

http://www.psychometric-success.com/faq/faq-abstract-reasoning-tests.htm

http://www.testgrid.com/demo/sampleabstractq.tg

http://ukcatpracticeonline.com/homepagelinks/SampleAbstractReasoning.html (thanks to thecutiepie for posting)

http://www.practicetests.co.uk/Launchtest.asp# (email/name required)

http://discovery.axiomsoftware.com/abstract/abstract.php (email/name required)

http://www.morrisby.com/content/candidates-support/faqs/sample-morrisby-profile-questions/test-samples/page1.htm

http://www.morrisby.com/content/candidates-support/faqs/sample-morrisby-profile-questions/test-samples/page6.htm

http://www.morrisby.com/content/candidates-support/faqs/sample-morrisby-profile-questions/test-samples/page7.htm

http://www.morrisby.com/content/candidates-support/faqs/sample-morrisby-profile-questions/test-samples/page8.htm

http://irisharmy.shlsolutions.net/DIT6.htm

Decision Analysis

This assesses your ability to decipher and make sense of coded information.

You are presented with one scenario and some information along with 'items' that are designed to be complex and ambiguous, and unable to be solved through logic. There will be 26 items with 4/5 options for each. Sometimes, multiple options will fit and on these occasions, you have to identify all of them.

Practice questions

'Get into Medicine - 600 UKCAT Practice Questions' - http://www.amazon.co.uk/into-Medical-School-comprehensive-explanations/dp/1905812094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252499592&sr=8-1

http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/trol/trolc03.pdf

http://ukcatpracticeonline.com/homepagelinks/SampleDecisionAnalysis.html (thanks to thecutiepie for posting)

Non-cognitive analysis

This subtest is not used in the actual selection process as there is no evidence yet over the link between the results and success/failure as a medical or dental student. This section is designed to identify any characteristics or attributes that you have that may contribute to success in a medical or dental career.

Practice questions

http://ukcatpracticeonline.com/homepagelinks/SampleNonCog.html (thanks to thecutiepie for posting)

http://www.personneltoday.com/quizzes/2/integrity-test.html

http://www.outofservice.com/morality/

http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/

http://www.testgrid.com/demo/samplecompetencyq.tg

http://www.testgrid.com/demo/samplepersonalityq.tg

http://irisharmy.shlsolutions.net/OPQ32i.htm

http://peoplemaps.com/questionnaire.php?refAffiliateID=28&refTypeCode=reseller

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