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UKCAT for 2017 Entry to UK

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Original post by ASTK98
My exam is in a month and I've already started revising for it. I'm focusing on verbal reasoning more this year as it was significantly weaker than my QR and AR scores (thank God they scrapped DA as well). I was just wondering though, I have Kaplan's UKCAT book (2015 edition) and I've been using their methods and I've done the questions in their book, and I did pretty well in them. I recently bought the 600Q and 1000Q isc book and I've been doing their VR questions, and I've been scoring 4/8 mainly, sometimes 5/8. It's a bit annoying because I've actually had quite a lot of practice with VR now and I'm not seeing SIGNIFICANT improvements, you know? So I was just wondering how your scores in the books compared to your actual score in the exam? Is 4/8 very bad, or is it just that the isc book questions are harder?


I got between 670-700 (with two 800s in the Kaplan tests) but ultimately wound up with 610 due to nerves. The ISC questions are harder, the VR is more on the lines of Medify, you'll see improvements in VR by speeding up your reading rate using apps like Acceleread but sometimes it really just is a guessing game.

For long passages, I tended to sit back a little bit from the screen to get more text in my peripheral vision as possible. This made it easier to scan through the text!
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by studentsixth
VR and QR are really similar to the Kaplan books. AR is far easier and So was SJT (although I certainly didn't think this during the exam!)


Yeah seems like kaplan SJ is a little harder than medify's but not too different
Hi guys,

I just did my ukcat today and was really disappointed with the results. I worked very hard all summer and didnt get the scores I was hoping for.

Verbal: 560
Quantitative: 700
Abstract: 610
Average: 620

Does anyone have any suggestions of less ukcat heavy universities? Sheffield have a cut off of 1850 and with a total of 1870 is it unsafe to apply there?
Which unis should I completely avoid?
I'm going to try my best to make my personal statement good so I'm open to any universities that are PS heavy.

I got 5A*s and 8As at GCSE and am predicted AAA (Chem, bio and maths) at A Level and an A in my EPQ

I think I will take the bmat as well as I'm not confident with my ukcat score, which bmat unis would I be most suited to with my grades?

Thank you for your help!
Hi guys,

I just did my ukcat today and was really disappointed with the results. I worked very hard all summer and didnt get the scores I was hoping for.

Verbal: 560
Quantitative: 700
Abstract: 610
Average: 620

Does anyone have any suggestions of less ukcat heavy universities? Sheffield have a cut off of 1850 and with a total of 1870 is it unsafe to apply there?
Which unis should I completely avoid?
I'm going to try my best to make my personal statement good so I'm open to any universities that are PS heavy.

I got 5A*s and 8As at GCSE and am predicted AAA (Chem, bio and maths) at A Level and an A in my EPQ

I think I will take the bmat as well as I'm not confident with my ukcat score, which bmat unis would I be most suited to with my grades?

Thank you for your help!
Original post by bluepens
Hi guys,

I just did my ukcat today and was really disappointed with the results. I worked very hard all summer and didnt get the scores I was hoping for.

Verbal: 560
Quantitative: 700
Abstract: 610
Average: 620

Does anyone have any suggestions of less ukcat heavy universities? Sheffield have a cut off of 1850 and with a total of 1870 is it unsafe to apply there?
Which unis should I completely avoid?
I'm going to try my best to make my personal statement good so I'm open to any universities that are PS heavy.

I got 5A*s and 8As at GCSE and am predicted AAA (Chem, bio and maths) at A Level and an A in my EPQ

I think I will take the bmat as well as I'm not confident with my ukcat score, which bmat unis would I be most suited to with my grades?

Thank you for your help!

At the Liverpool open day they said they were probably looking for 1850 if I remember correctly, obviously it's not confirmed yet I don't think but it's at least a small start for your options 😋




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Original post by michaela__
At the Liverpool open day they said they were probably looking for 1850 if I remember correctly, obviously it's not confirmed yet I don't think but it's at least a small start for your options 😋




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Thanks for your help! Sheffield said that too but I feel like i will be right at the bottom of the rankings and that there is no point even applying to ukcat unis
Original post by bluepens
Thanks for your help! Sheffield said that too but I feel like i will be right at the bottom of the rankings and that there is no point even applying to ukcat unis


I have the exact same worry as you and I haven't even taken my ukcat yet ffs😂 Liverpool didn't get many applicants last year and they are expecting a slight increase but not by much so I'd say maybe risk it. You're brave for wanting to try the BMAT though I never even considered it because it seems too hard lol😬


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Hmm I see, if the ISC ones are harder than the ones in the actual exam then that's good I guess.

For very long passages/Qs that ask about which conclusions can be drawn I always guess them, flag for review and come back to it later. The time restraints in VR is very difficult so I reckon it would work out better to pick up the easier marks and then when I have 5 or so minutes left I come back to the 10 or so questions I flagged for review. Decent strategy IMO.
Original post by ASTK98
Hmm I see, if the ISC ones are harder than the ones in the actual exam then that's good I guess.

For very long passages/Qs that ask about which conclusions can be drawn I always guess them, flag for review and come back to it later. The time restraints in VR is very difficult so I reckon it would work out better to pick up the easier marks and then when I have 5 or so minutes left I come back to the 10 or so questions I flagged for review. Decent strategy IMO.

Thank you I'm gonna try that in my mock soon ☺️



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Original post by michaela__
Thank you I'm gonna try that in my mock soon ☺️



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Welcome! Let me know how you get on.
Hey,
I have been revising for my exam which is in three weeks time. For QR I just can't complete a set of questions in time. For some reason I can't calculate questions quickly, and its a huge downfall. I have no idea how to improve as whenever I practice I feel that I'm not improving my speed. Even though I do maths A Level, I'm finding this section really difficult.

Does anyone have any advice on how to improve on this section? Thank you!

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(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by r_98
Hey, I'm starting at Nottingham this September and they went over their application process at the interview so I can give you some info on it. They use a scoring system where they rate your personal statement, best 8 GCSE grades and UKCAT score. Regarding the UKCAT, they score your result in each individual section rather than the overall score. They then total your scores for UKCAT, personal statement and GCSE and the top 50% of candidates are invited to interview.

I can't really tell you how competitive your UKCAT score is without the breakdown of what you got in individual sections, however, if you have brilliant GCSEs and an amazing personal statement you may be able to make up for a low UKCAT score - but don't rely on it as personal statement scoring is probably quite subjective.

This is the document released outlining the process for 2016 entry - https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/documents/ugstudy-docs/a100-and-a108-scoring-system-2016-entry.pdf

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions about applying, interviews etc.



Thank you for your help I really appreciate it! My raw scores: VR 680 QR 720 AR 530 and my GCSEs 9A* 2A (biology and physics are the As due to complete lack of revision :/)
any more thoughts? :smile: congratulations on getting into nottingham med as well!
Original post by DaVinciGirl
Hey,
I have been revising for my exam which is in three weeks time. For QR I just can't complete a set of questions in time. For some reason I can't calculate questions quickly, and its a huge downfall. I have no idea how to improve as whenever I practice I feel that I'm not improving my speed. Even though I do maths A Level, I'm finding this section really difficult.

Does anyone have any advice on how to improve on this section? Thank you!

Posted from TSR Mobile


Triage: guess hard questions and flag. Do guess with some sense though, if you can cut it down from 5 options to 3 you have a much higher chance...
Hey guys, I just took my UKCAT an hour ago and I've been feeling really down My stats are:

VR 530
QR 640
AR 860
SJT band 2
avg 676.6

I was panicking really badly in the exam and I froze for the majority of it, wasting lots of valuable time, causing me to guess many of the QR and VR questions. Im feeling pretty crappy atm. Is it even possible for me to get into a medical school? I'm was hoping to graduate next year and then move onto medical school but I'm not sure if i can anymore :frown:
Original post by therainman
Hey guys, I just took my UKCAT an hour ago and I've been feeling really down My stats are:

VR 530
QR 640
AR 860
SJT band 2
avg 676.6

I was panicking really badly in the exam and I froze for the majority of it, wasting lots of valuable time, causing me to guess many of the QR and VR questions. Im feeling pretty crappy atm. Is it even possible for me to get into a medical school? I'm was hoping to graduate next year and then move onto medical school but I'm not sure if i can anymore :frown:


A 677 AVERAGE IS GOOD. JUST BECAUSE TSR IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU ARE BAD!
Honestly.

Though, are you applying to GEM, or the 5 year course?
Original post by therainman
Hey guys, I just took my UKCAT an hour ago and I've been feeling really down My stats are:

VR 530
QR 640
AR 860
SJT band 2
avg 676.6

I was panicking really badly in the exam and I froze for the majority of it, wasting lots of valuable time, causing me to guess many of the QR and VR questions. Im feeling pretty crappy atm. Is it even possible for me to get into a medical school? I'm was hoping to graduate next year and then move onto medical school but I'm not sure if i can anymore :frown:


Sorry it didn't go as planned. However this is a very good score.
If you are able to finance a 5 year course, your options are wide open.
However you're more limited with GEM courses. If predicted a first then Barts is a possibility. Unfortunately your VR is probably not enough for Warwick.
However, hold out until September when the scores are released, as the averages may have dropped


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Screenshot_1.png
Could someone help with this?

I've worked out r=6 as 18 + 18 = 36 (=r2)
3.14 x 36 118 or thereabouts
118 - 18 = 100
each part is 25???
Where am I going wrong?

EDIT: dm I was using diameter oops lol
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Gogregg
A 677 AVERAGE IS GOOD. JUST BECAUSE TSR IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU ARE BAD!
Honestly.

Though, are you applying to GEM, or the 5 year course?


I just have that horrible feeling in the back of my head telling me that I could have done better :/ And my VR is horrible :frown: Yes, I was originally planning to apply for GEM. Doesn't seem possible right now though.
Original post by sean0219
Sorry it didn't go as planned. However this is a very good score.
If you are able to finance a 5 year course, your options are wide open.
However you're more limited with GEM courses. If predicted a first then Barts is a possibility. Unfortunately your VR is probably not enough for Warwick.
However, hold out until September when the scores are released, as the averages may have dropped


No I'm predicted a 2:1 :/ What universities do you think would accept my UKCAT score? The scores being posted on TSR is seriously making me feel horrible about mine. Will I even stand a chance at GEM universities?
Original post by therainman
I just have that horrible feeling in the back of my head telling me that I could have done better :/ And my VR is horrible :frown: Yes, I was originally planning to apply for GEM. Doesn't seem possible right now though.


I don't know much about GEM courses, but I think it may still be possible, but if you can finance it, the 5 year course will be more viable.

Also, everyone could have done better! I could have done better, you could have done better, the girl who got an 890 average last year could have done better! That doesn't mean that your score is bad!

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