When are you going to do your UKCAT?

Poll

When are you going to do your UKCAT?

July here! Think I've been preparing long enough, and feel I can do little more so I feel it's worth a shot earlier rather than later :smile:

When are you going to do your UKCAT?

Brachioradialis

July here! Think I've been preparing long enough, and feel I can do little more so I feel it's worth a shot earlier rather than later :smile:

Reply 1

Steerforth

Having taken the test twice, I would recommend taking the test in either July or August. This will leave enough time to choose your choices wisely. Also I think lots of unis have open days in September so it is good to have an idea of where you are going to apply so that you don't waste time going up to Manchester for example, where a decent UKCAT score is a necessity.

Good luck though!

Reply 2

Ra.One

Original post by MattKneale

July here! Think I've been preparing long enough, and feel I can do little more so I feel it's worth a shot earlier rather than later :smile:

How long have you been preparing for?
Do you just want to get it out of the way so that you can focus on your personal statement?

To the OP, I'll be booking mine for October. :biggrin:

Edit: Standard med applicants negging for no reason.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

Brachioradialis

Original post by Ra.One

How long have you been preparing for?
Do you just want to get it out of the way so that you can focus on your personal statement?

To the OP, I'll be booking mine for October. :biggrin:

I've been doing general work on VR & QR since about February, and using various online sites & the practice parts of the 600Q book since March. As part of that I've been doing GCSE past papers since around mid-April. Other than doing the mock tests in the 600Q book & signing up for a final batch of online questions a couple of weeks before the exam, there's nay more I can do!

I sat the UKCAT a few years ago anyway, so have a reasonable idea of what to expect. This time I've just been practicing time management more than anything else. As for the PS & interview stuff, that doesn't phase me too much. The hardest bit of my application is getting past admissions tests!

Can I make a cheeky, but very sincere recommendation? Don't book the UKCAT for October. Why?

•

You don't need that long to prepare for it.
[INDENT]Start now and you can do it by August!

•

If you become ill, you'll struggle to rebook it
[INDENT] (this happens every year, please take the warning!)

•

It's cheaper!

Like the above said, book it for July or August. You really don't need to prolong it that for and it can be detrimental to do so!

Reply 4

hslakaal

When I did mine, it was in mid-July. Was the best time imo. You've got enough time to finish revising after exams for the UKCAT, and it gives you enough time to make up for any lacking things over the summer for your application :smile:

Reply 5

friendlyonejim

Im going to do mine in Spetember I think, but to be honest my mind changes on this every day and its not really top of my list of priorities atm. Although having said that everyone else is starting to talk about it

Reply 6

candy_please

I just booked mine for August, very nervous about it tho!!!!!!! My brother's gf is a second year and she said the UKCAT was actually far worse than her Alvels :frown:

Reply 7

candy_please

Original post by eco2bottle

Your Brother's GF is a drama queen, don't ler her comment scare you, it's actually quite fun ... especially the shapes and codes sections. I'm also looking forward to the pilot section on situational judgement this year. I'm reapplying so have sat it in the past.

To the OP; I'll be sitting the exam in October, by the results of the poll, it should be a nice and quiet room. :biggrin:

LOL i hope thats the case! Thanks, hope it goes well for you

Reply 8

Larry31

Booked for mid-August...now the preparation begins!

Reply 9

rachkin

Original post by Larry31

Booked for mid-August...now the preparation begins!

Im thinking of booking mine mid august/start of september - do you think we'll have enough time to prepare?

Reply 10

Larry31

Original post by rachkin

Im thinking of booking mine mid august/start of september - do you think we'll have enough time to prepare?

Yeah I reckon so...to be honest, UKCAT prep is mainly getting to know what the style of question is like. I went to the ATOM conference, and they reckon you need about 2 weeks of solid prep for the UKCAT and that's all :smile:

Reply 11

Brachioradialis

Guys and girls, newsflash, if you can sit it before September (i.e. no work commitments or school/uni commitments), then do it! You only need two or three weeks to prepare, maybe a month at a push! You'll paying over the odds if you sit post-August and you can start revising now if you really want to get ahead of the rest. It's not the kind of test you can really learn, all you can do is practice.

Reply 12

jme18

Booked it for September! Already have the 600Q book from when i sat it last year, but does anybody know of other good resources that will help me achieve a high score?

Reply 13

wannabedentist2013

I just booked mine for 2nd October at 14:00. :eek3:

Reply 14

wannabedentist2013

It just feels so real, now that I've booked the test!

When is everyone starting their personal statement? I might start mine in July after I complete the work experience and voluntary work I have booked.

Also just found out my favourite university (Leeds) is changing to the MMI format for 2013 entry and interviews will take place on 17th December. It's weird, I'll know in 7 months time whether or not I got into Leeds (this is for Dentistry by the way, the Medicine forum is mroe active so I prefer posting about my excitement in here) :biggrin:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

sarahlovesfun

August for me!!!!! :/

Reply 16

Mangodepo11

Original post by wannabedentist2013

OMG leeds is my number 1 university aswell. I think this is great after they kept everyone waiting for 6 months Last time in the medicine application process. Its really getting close now.

Reply 17

kiwipomme

I did mine in August last year and it worked well for me! It was long enough after the AS exams finished that I felt like I'd had a bit of a break, so I didn't mind spending time revising again, but before I had school work and the personal statement to start worrying about. Best advice I can give for the UKCAT is to keep practicing - honestly after a while you start to get the hang of it. Also I think you can download practice ones for free from the website and I found it really helpful to see how it would all be laid out before I actually sat it. It helps with timing practice too. Obviously its great if you can get a really good UKCAT score but don't panic if you don't - there are still med schools which don't look at the UKCAT at all and others who only look at it as one part of the whole application. That's another good reason for doing it in July / August - if it doesn't go as well as you hoped on the day, you can still go on open days for unis you might not have thought about before, who aren't that bothered about the UKCAT, in September. Good luck! :smile:

Reply 18