Low Practice UKCAT score

I just tried a practice test and got below 50% on most parts. Is this normal or is it just because it is a first attempt? Also, I am trying to work out which books to buy but I have VERY limited funds. Does it make much of a difference if you get last year books or is it best to get the most up to date?

Thanks in advance!

Reply 1

cookiemonster15

Original post by hels_roberts

Don't worry about that, I did a practice paper a day before my UKCAT and ended up with like 600, however ended up with 680 in the real thing.

If you can't buy books, I would recommend getting medify as it has loads of questions and comes with 3 practice papers. Just out of curiosity, when are you taking the exam as it seems a bit early to start practicing!

Reply 2

The Medic Portal

Original post by hels_roberts

Hello,

No! That's fine - people do wayyy worse on their first attempts, and it's good that you recognise that you need to do some practice now. Hopefully, by the time of the real thing, you'll do really well!

Regarding books, the only sections that might be out of date are those with sections on Decision Analysis (DA). The DA (as you probably know already) is being replaced by the new Decision Making section (DM).

However, as your score in this section will not be passed on to the universities, there is no pressure to buy extra material to help you practice it. Therefore any book used for last year's UKCAT should also help you revise for this year's.

As you're low on funds, have you checked out the Candidate Toolkit on the official UKCAT website? It's free and you should (if you haven't already) go through every section on that hyperlinked page. Read all the material available and do all their practice questions!

We also have a UKCAT Question Bank, which you can access here - the first 50 questions are free :smile:

One last thing, if you want slightly cheaper books - have you Googled UKCAT 2015 book? This tends to bring up slightly cheaper search results than UKCAT 2016 book.

Hope the above helps & good luck!

The Medic Portal

Reply 3

hels_roberts

That's great!!! Thank you so much I really appreciate it! Hopefully I'll have enough time to get good now! Really great advice though, thank you!!!

Reply 4

hels_roberts

Thank you!!! Ive not booked it yet but I am hoping to do it by September so it will be 1 less thing to think about. I am such an organiser, I feel like I've not started early enough hahaha. I think I need to brush up on my maths too, but if I have caught it this early there is time to improve! Loads of people seem to do better on the day! Mad! Would have thought it would be the opposite way around!!!

Reply 5

cookiemonster15

Original post by hels_roberts

Yeah, it's weird how people do better in the real thing, I remember panicking so much when I was taking mine! I would say a month should be enough preparation time, any more and it'd probably become too much

Reply 6

Freyr

most people do better in the real thing. But thats a generalisation and isn't a reason to slack off thinking you'll do better becuase most people do. Just keep practicing, key is to do as many questions as possible

Reply 7

greys-anatomy

How come you're doing a practise paper now? Don't you have AS exams as well? Or am i meant to be starting ukcat practise now haha

Reply 8

hels_roberts

Original post by greys-anatomy

How come you're doing a practise paper now? Don't you have AS exams as well? Or am i meant to be starting ukcat practise now haha

I'm currently on a different access course and will be doing access to medicine next year, not a-levels. I just like being very prepared! I figure, although I have loads to do at the moment, if I can start doing a little bit even 10 minuets a day now, it will help! But that's just me!!! Good luck in your exams!!!

Reply 9

Yammy

Original post by hels_roberts

If you were doing the practise "official" ukcat tests online then don't worry. They were actually really hard. As for book, the kaplan one is quite good :smile:

Reply 10

hels_roberts

Original post by Yammy

If you were doing the practise "official" ukcat tests online then don't worry. They were actually really hard. As for book, the kaplan one is quite good :smile:

Thanks!!! I'm feeling wayyyy more at ease now!!!! :smile: