Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

UKCAT and BMAT

I am currently an AS student and considering to study for medicine in universities, I have been summarising universities i am interested in. Out of my 4 choices, 3 require the BMAT and 1 require the UKCAT. However it is not my final decision and it could be ending in all 4 universities using the BMAT. Therefore, I am not sure if thats safe because it is like all the eggs in one basket although i am already starting to look into and practice some BMAT questions. On the other hand, I am also wondering will doing both the UKCAT and BMAT disperse the attention. Could someone give me some advice on choosing between the admission tests.
Thank you for the attention

Reply 1

nexttime

Don't apply to 3 BMAT unis. Its too many. All it takes is a bad result (which most people will get) and your application is over. You won't even get a chance to show any other areas, any other strengths you have.

Two max. Anything more is just stupid.

Reply 2

Brian28msa

So lets say it is now even for like 2 UKCAT and 2 BMAT, with practice is it possible to get quite good result on both of them as they do have some similarities but still require adequate practice for each of them?

Reply 3

nexttime

Original post by Brian28msa

They're months apart. And something that the vast majority of people who sit the BMAT go through. Yes, you have time.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 4

StationToStation

Original post by Brian28msa

Yeah of course it's possible to get a good score in both. I did. It's requires time and effort but not, like, insanely much. In the end they're pretty different tests though, so while getting quick at mental maths will help in both, you'll have to put in significant effort in each test if you want to do well.

You'll know your UKCAT score before sending off your UCAS so I think that should be a big factor in choosing your unis. If you get a good one I'd try to pick 2-3 UKCAT unis even if they aren't the ones you'd ideally like to go to. Getting into medicine is tough and you need to choose unis where you have a good chance of being interviewed, and unfortunately a bad admissions test score equals no interview at most of them. If you get a really crappy UKCAT though then perhaps applying to 3 BMAT unis (and then doing LOTS of practise to score well!) could be a sensible option.

Reply 5

Brian28msa

I see thank you for the advice guys I will try hard to obtain good scores in both

Reply 6

6med

Applying to 3 BMAT universities isn't necessarily a bad option. It depends on what the aim is. If the aim is 'to get into medical school' then I fully agree with Nexttime - it's silly to apply to lots of BMAT universities because it's an unknown variable at the time of applying.

However, if the aim is to 'get into Oxbridge, Imperial or UCL' (for example), then it makes perfect sense to apply to 3 BMAT universities and try to prepare ultra hard for the exam.

Of course, one could argue that 'all medical schools are the same, therefore, it's stupid to want to go to Oxbridge/Imperial/UCL at the risk of missing out altogether', but that's a topic for another day :smile: