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UKCAT for 2017 Entry to UK

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In the Quantitative Reasoning what kind of Maths is generally used. Is algebra used ? I'm just worried as I am a mature student and due to take my Maths GCSE course from this September but I have the UKCAT in September and have just completed the Maths Functional skills ??
Original post by Gogregg
So i just did my test today and i am so happy!
I got:
VR: 720
QR: 850
AR: 790
SJT band 1

Actually quite surprised about that, especially the QR since in the mock i did, i only got 650 in it :lol:

Guess i will be probably be able to apply to Newcastle :biggrin:


That is brilliant I hope I do just as well. How did you find QR was there any algebra involved or is it more problem solving ?

I'm applying for Durham/Newcastle well the Foundation Med anyway :smile:
Original post by MedicineMaybe
That is brilliant I hope I do just as well. How did you find QR was there any algebra involved or is it more problem solving ?

I'm applying for Durham/Newcastle well the Foundation Med anyway :smile:


I would say there is minimal algebra, but you need to be confident with percentages and percentage change/increased/decrease
I was definitely helped since I'm naturall quite good at maths, but timing is really an issue for this section, so make sure you work on that.
Honestly, you should be fine with practice, and if there is some maths you don't understand, ask the people on the maths forum, since they are amazing :smile:
Original post by Gogregg
So i just did my test today and i am so happy!
I got:
VR: 720
QR: 850
AR: 790
SJT band 1

Actually quite surprised about that, especially the QR since in the mock i did, i only got 650 in it :lol:

Guess i will be probably be able to apply to Newcastle :biggrin:


Wowww well done! What resources did you use and how did you study for VR and AR? and even QR please help me lol
Original post by AliceLewis
Hey everyone, I am currently practising as I will sit the exam late in beginning October, but I am thinking of being medify and have doubts about it... Has anyone tried it this year? I would like to know 1) does the VR have relevant to the actual exam questions, ie the structure of it is mainly statement questions now instead of true false cant tell, and last years medify was almost entirely T/F/CT instead which was totally unhelpful to practice... Also 2) is the AR adequately complex? because I have been reading varying comments on that too... Also 3) I expect medify has changed its layout to exclude the code and have the new part instead? Anyone could please advise, as I do not want to pay £50 for nothing. Is there any other GOOD online practice tests I can use/buy or free or whatever?Theofficial ones are quite good but are not too many I have almost finished them, and the 600 questions is too old i think, prob outdated? Any opinions?? Thanks x


Yes Medify have updated their questions. And yes, the 600 book is vastly outdated.
Original post by ronnydandam
Wowww well done! What resources did you use and how did you study for VR and AR? and even QR please help me lol


I'm probably not the best example of how to revise, but, I used Medify and the ISC 1000 Qs book.
I found Medify to be better than the ISC book, simply because the ISC book is way harder than the UKCAT, it's just not representative, but it has really good tips on how to do well, and the questions are good for when you really want to stretch yourself, since it has good explanations for the answers, better than medify.

Medify is fantastic because the questions are of a similar level to that of the actual UKCAT, slightly harder, though. It is useful for keeping track of where to improve, and the limited time mode is useful for when you want to focus on improving timing. The mocks are quite good also, though i only did the QR mini mock and mock 2 :colondollar:

For all of the sections, just practice loads, don't bother with timing until you feel comfortable with the questions. If you do get something wrong, make sure you understand why :smile:

For VR, is just practice really. Don't read the text until you read the question, and then, only skim read it. With T/F/CT click CT then find the answer, because chances are, it is going to be can't tell. Don't be afraid of pressing that. With the worded answer questions, make sure to read it properly to see weather it's asking for agree or disagree, since that's a mistake i made so often :lol: but really, just skim read it looking out for the information you want.

With AR, it really is just practice again, same for all sections really, but especially AR. With practice you'll be able to spot patterns quite easily, and the actual questions only have one, or at most, two relationships. Some people find it useful to have an acronym which would be like Shapes Position Rotation and whatnot, there's some earlier in this thread, as you can probably tell, i didn't have one of these :lol:
AR is probably the most difficult section when you start, or at least it was for me, but with practice it becomes relatively easy.

QR is generally somewhat simple maths, but the timing can be horrible. Make sure you are good at interpreting graphs and can calculate percentages well and quickly, because they seem to come up quite often. Yet again, read the question properly and do loads of practice beforehand and you'll be fine :smile:

With SJT, just familiarise yourself with the NHS values, and with enough practice you'll start to recognise question patterns. If something shows a lack of integrity, it is always the worst possible option, unless it is a white lie which would protect the patient.

Hope this helped, and good luck for your test :h:
Original post by Gogregg
So i just did my test today and i am so happy!
I got:
VR: 720
QR: 850
AR: 790
SJT band 1

Actually quite surprised about that, especially the QR since in the mock i did, i only got 650 in it :lol:

Guess i will be probably be able to apply to Newcastle :biggrin:


Congratulations on your awesome scores! And, thanks for the tips you posted as well... :biggrin:
Original post by Gogregg
I'm probably not the best example of how to revise, but, I used Medify and the ISC 1000 Qs book.
I found Medify to be better than the ISC book, simply because the ISC book is way harder than the UKCAT, it's just not representative, but it has really good tips on how to do well, and the questions are good for when you really want to stretch yourself, since it has good explanations for the answers, better than medify.

Medify is fantastic because the questions are of a similar level to that of the actual UKCAT, slightly harder, though. It is useful for keeping track of where to improve, and the limited time mode is useful for when you want to focus on improving timing. The mocks are quite good also, though i only did the QR mini mock and mock 2 :colondollar:

For all of the sections, just practice loads, don't bother with timing until you feel comfortable with the questions. If you do get something wrong, make sure you understand why :smile:

For VR, is just practice really. Don't read the text until you read the question, and then, only skim read it. With T/F/CT click CT then find the answer, because chances are, it is going to be can't tell. Don't be afraid of pressing that. With the worded answer questions, make sure to read it properly to see weather it's asking for agree or disagree, since that's a mistake i made so often :lol: but really, just skim read it looking out for the information you want.

With AR, it really is just practice again, same for all sections really, but especially AR. With practice you'll be able to spot patterns quite easily, and the actual questions only have one, or at most, two relationships. Some people find it useful to have an acronym which would be like Shapes Position Rotation and whatnot, there's some earlier in this thread, as you can probably tell, i didn't have one of these :lol:
AR is probably the most difficult section when you start, or at least it was for me, but with practice it becomes relatively easy.

QR is generally somewhat simple maths, but the timing can be horrible. Make sure you are good at interpreting graphs and can calculate percentages well and quickly, because they seem to come up quite often. Yet again, read the question properly and do loads of practice beforehand and you'll be fine :smile:

With SJT, just familiarise yourself with the NHS values, and with enough practice you'll start to recognise question patterns. If something shows a lack of integrity, it is always the worst possible option, unless it is a white lie which would protect the patient.

Hope this helped, and good luck for your test :h:


This is brilliant! Got my test a week tomorrow, I'm nervous but I've been using medify and it's really helped! I totally agree with what u were saying about AR it as so difficult to begin with but its actually one of my stronger sections now. You mentioned u did mock two on medify, do u mind me asking what score you got in this, as I have done it also, and how did u feel this mock compared to the real thing? Thanks so much for that previous reply, it really helps us all!
Original post by Gogregg
I would say there is minimal algebra, but you need to be confident with percentages and percentage change/increased/decrease
I was definitely helped since I'm naturall quite good at maths, but timing is really an issue for this section, so make sure you work on that.
Honestly, you should be fine with practice, and if there is some maths you don't understand, ask the people on the maths forum, since they are amazing :smile:


Thank you will look into that :smile:
Original post by Gogregg
I'm probably not the best example of how to revise, but, I used Medify and the ISC 1000 Qs book.
I found Medify to be better than the ISC book, simply because the ISC book is way harder than the UKCAT, it's just not representative, but it has really good tips on how to do well, and the questions are good for when you really want to stretch yourself, since it has good explanations for the answers, better than medify.

Medify is fantastic because the questions are of a similar level to that of the actual UKCAT, slightly harder, though. It is useful for keeping track of where to improve, and the limited time mode is useful for when you want to focus on improving timing. The mocks are quite good also, though i only did the QR mini mock and mock 2 :colondollar:

For all of the sections, just practice loads, don't bother with timing until you feel comfortable with the questions. If you do get something wrong, make sure you understand why :smile:

For VR, is just practice really. Don't read the text until you read the question, and then, only skim read it. With T/F/CT click CT then find the answer, because chances are, it is going to be can't tell. Don't be afraid of pressing that. With the worded answer questions, make sure to read it properly to see weather it's asking for agree or disagree, since that's a mistake i made so often :lol: but really, just skim read it looking out for the information you want.

With AR, it really is just practice again, same for all sections really, but especially AR. With practice you'll be able to spot patterns quite easily, and the actual questions only have one, or at most, two relationships. Some people find it useful to have an acronym which would be like Shapes Position Rotation and whatnot, there's some earlier in this thread, as you can probably tell, i didn't have one of these :lol:
AR is probably the most difficult section when you start, or at least it was for me, but with practice it becomes relatively easy.

QR is generally somewhat simple maths, but the timing can be horrible. Make sure you are good at interpreting graphs and can calculate percentages well and quickly, because they seem to come up quite often. Yet again, read the question properly and do loads of practice beforehand and you'll be fine :smile:

With SJT, just familiarise yourself with the NHS values, and with enough practice you'll start to recognise question patterns. If something shows a lack of integrity, it is always the worst possible option, unless it is a white lie which would protect the patient.

Hope this helped, and good luck for your test :h:

That really really really did help, thanks a lot man and thank you, good luck for the pretty much guaranteed interview at Newcastle!
Original post by Euan1603
This is brilliant! Got my test a week tomorrow, I'm nervous but I've been using medify and it's really helped! I totally agree with what u were saying about AR it as so difficult to begin with but its actually one of my stronger sections now. You mentioned u did mock two on medify, do u mind me asking what score you got in this, as I have done it also, and how did u feel this mock compared to the real thing? Thanks so much for that previous reply, it really helps us all!


I did better in my actual thing than in the mock, I think I got:
VR 750
QR 650
AR 720
SJT Band 2

So you can see I improved from it. It's definitely helpful in that it shows you where you need to improve, but I think it's probably a bit harder than the actual thing. Just make sure you learn from it and you can easily improve :smile:

You sound like you've been practicing quite well, so I'm sure you'll do great :u:
Original post by ronnydandam
That really really really did help, thanks a lot man and thank you, good luck for the pretty much guaranteed interview at Newcastle!


Haha, thank you so much! I'm going to the open day in September, so I'll see if I like it then, but I probably will, Newcastle is such a nice place :h:
Original post by AliceLewis
Hey everyone, I am currently practising as I will sit the exam late in beginning October, but I am thinking of being medify and have doubts about it... Has anyone tried it this year? I would like to know 1) does the VR have relevant to the actual exam questions, ie the structure of it is mainly statement questions now instead of true false cant tell, and last years medify was almost entirely T/F/CT instead which was totally unhelpful to practice... Also 2) is the AR adequately complex? because I have been reading varying comments on that too... Also 3) I expect medify has changed its layout to exclude the code and have the new part instead? Anyone could please advise, as I do not want to pay £50 for nothing. Is there any other GOOD online practice tests I can use/buy or free or whatever?Theofficial ones are quite good but are not too many I have almost finished them, and the 600 questions is too old i think, prob outdated? Any opinions?? Thanks x


Blimey, talk about leaving it till the last minute.

1 - Yes it is updated
2 - AR slightly more complex but also Medify does not have all the question types for AR
3 - Don't bother about the new decision making section. it is not relevant this year.
4 - 600Q book has now been replaced by 1000Q book.
Hey congrats on the great scores guys, anyone who's done the test this year in verbal reasoning section did you find more t/f/ct type questions or the sentences type questions.
Thanks.🙂


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by UKCATrocks
Blimey, talk about leaving it till the last minute.

1 - Yes it is updated
2 - AR slightly more complex but also Medify does not have all the question types for AR
3 - Don't bother about the new decision making section. it is not relevant this year.
4 - 600Q book has now been replaced by 1000Q book.


Hey where did you hear that they updated abstract section, what have they changed


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by medicapplicant
Hey congrats on the great scores guys, anyone who's done the test this year in verbal reasoning section did you find more t/f/ct type questions or the sentences type questions.
Thanks.🙂
Posted from TSR Mobile


Personally I found that it was about a 1:2 ratio of T/F/CT:s-smilie:entences. It could be different for you, though. I've heard some people have had a larger majority of Sentences.
Has anyone used ukcathelp.com as a resource? If so could you tell me how similar the questions are to the real exam? Thanks!*
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by .Jeff458
Hey guys,

I have booked my UKCAT for the 28th of September (because I'm not the brightest of candidates and am busy the whole Summer) so was wondering if it really is worth using medify?

I have the 1000 questions book but people keep saying medify is brilliant but I don't want to buy it now because it would cost a truckload. When should I buy it? Please help. So lost and scared with this test.


Thank you so much :smile:


Hi .Jeff458

I just came across your post and thought I would ask how you are getting on with your UKCAT prep now?

You still have quite a bit of time before your test date, which is great that you are getting ready for it now. As I'm sure you've already realised, it is a much better approach to set time aside to practise in the weeks leading up to your exam rather than trying to cram beforehand which will no doubt leave you stressed.

Have you got lots of resources together to help you? There are so many different things available, sometimes it can be difficult to decide what to spend your money on. Do let me know if I can give you any pointers on this.

You might be interested in reading this blog when you have a minute. It's full of tips to help you get ready for the big day, so hopefully you'll find it useful.

Do give me a shout if you have any questions that I can help you with.

UniAdmissions
Original post by Gogregg
Personally I found that it was about a 1:2 ratio of T/F/CT:s-smilie:entences. It could be different for you, though. I've heard some people have had a larger majority of Sentences.


Yep, I too had a 1/3 - 2/3 ratio of T/F/CT to sentences
Original post by dr_2b
Thanks for all the advice.. Keep them coming. I'm sure those of us doing the ukcat this year will need it all :smile:

I'm doing my test in august and the plan is to study a month before starting with the 600 book then medify in the last 1-2 weeks. Since I'm doing the gamsat too, I'll have to somehow squeeze revising for that whilst I revise for the ukcat. I'm not confident I'll get an offer for 2017 (first time applicant, haven't started work experience, etc) so I'm focusing more on the gamsat since the results are valid for two years.

Good luck to everyone with their preparation and actual test!


Hi dr_2b

Just saw that you have your UKCAT coming up in August and wondered how you are getting on with your prep?

Hopefully you have been managing to set aside a few hours each day and can continue to do so up until your test date. It is definitely a good idea to do regular practise in the weeks leading up to the exam rather than trying to cram right before.

Have you got lots of resources available to you? Let me know if you would like any pointers with this.

With your test date not far away, I thought you might be interested in reading this blog. You'll find some great tips for doing the best you can on the big day.

Do give me a shout if you have any questions... always happy to help.

UniAdmissions
Original post by kosvengali
Posted from TSR Mobile

Is there no decision analysis this year?


There's Decision Making, which is replacing DA, but neither ourselves, nor the universities get the results for it.

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