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you are very confused my friend but i do not have the effort to explain. i am sure a kind soul will come to your assistance fairly soon. good day. farewell

Original post by notgonnasaymisha
Hi! I'm currently a GCSE/A-level student (just finished my GCSEs so not really sure aha) but I was wondering..
a) what is the UKCAT and BMAT exactly?
b)when would be the best time to take the UKCAT and BMAT?
c)do all universities want BOTH UKCAT and BMAT? -because on the Cambridge website on the Medicine page, it only talks about BMAT not UKCAT
I'm sure someone else will be able to fill the gaps as I don't know about BMAT, but to my knowledge:

A) UKCAT is an entrance exam to prove you have the mental capacity to train in medicine

B) there are training centres where you can do summer courses which will train you to pass your UKCAT or you can just find a test centre and revise yourself, I believe they schedule them throughout the year however my school used to schedule UKCAT for students wanting to go on to do medicine

C) you don't need both to my knowledge, different universities will want different scores in the UKCAT where you will have to pass the threshold score to be considered an applicant. I'm afraid I'm unsure about how BMAT is assessed by universities
Original post by yesmynameis
you are very confused my friend but i do not have the effort to explain. i am sure a kind soul will come to your assistance fairly soon. good day. farewell

Good thing I asked on here then :')
Original post by wjtbootstrap
I'm sure someone else will be able to fill the gaps as I don't know about BMAT, but to my knowledge:

A) UKCAT is an entrance exam to prove you have the mental capacity to train in medicine

B) there are training centres where you can do summer courses which will train you to pass your UKCAT or you can just find a test centre and revise yourself, I believe they schedule them throughout the year however my school used to schedule UKCAT for students wanting to go on to do medicine

C) you don't need both to my knowledge, different universities will want different scores in the UKCAT where you will have to pass the threshold score to be considered an applicant. I'm afraid I'm unsure about how BMAT is assessed by universities

-thank you so much!
Both the UKCAT and BMAT are tests that universities use to, among other things, make the differences between candidates with similar grades more pronounced. The UKCAT is a computer based test that has five sections of multiple choice questions. You can do it whenever you want in the summer or early autumn. The BMAT is a paper based test that has two sections of multiple choice questions, one of which is focused on science, and an essay section. You need to do it on one of two specific dates in September or November. Universities want either the UKCAT or the BMAT, no university wants both. The way they use the tests can vary quite a lot though - for example, Newcastle only uses the UKCAT to determine who they want to interview while Bristol doesn't use it almost at all.

Google might be helpful. :wink:
Original post by StationToStation
Both the UKCAT and BMAT are tests that universities use to, among other things, make the differences between candidates with similar grades more pronounced. The UKCAT is a computer based test that has five sections of multiple choice questions. You can do it whenever you want in the summer or early autumn. The BMAT is a paper based test that has two sections of multiple choice questions, one of which is focused on science, and an essay section. You need to do it on one of two specific dates in September or November. Universities want either the UKCAT or the BMAT, no university wants both. The way they use the tests can vary quite a lot though - for example, Newcastle only uses the UKCAT to determine who they want to interview while Bristol doesn't use it almost at all.

Google might be helpful. :wink:

-thank you so much, I actually did google it but ended up thinking you had to take the UKCAT and BMAT, but thank you so much
Original post by notgonnasaymisha
Hi! I'm currently a GCSE/A-level student (just finished my GCSEs so not really sure aha) but I was wondering..
a) what is the UKCAT and BMAT exactly?
b)when would be the best time to take the UKCAT and BMAT?
c)do all universities want BOTH UKCAT and BMAT? -because on the Cambridge website on the Medicine page, it only talks about BMAT not UKCAT


Hi there!

a) Broadly speaking, the UKCAT is an aptitude test for medicine that assesses skills divided into five sections: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Decision Making and Situational Judgement. The BMAT is split into three sections that involve mathematical skills, scientific knowledge and essay-writing. You can learn more about both tests on our UKCAT Guide and BMAT Guide.

b) Most students take the UKCAT in the summer between Year 12 and Year 13, and you can take the BMAT in September or November of Year 13.

c) Most medical schools use the UKCAT, however only a handful use the BMAT. You can find a complete list of the universities that use the UKCAT and BMAT on the guides linked to above.

Hope this helps! :smile:
The Medic Portal
Original post by The Medic Portal
Hi there!

a) Broadly speaking, the UKCAT is an aptitude test for medicine that assesses skills divided into five sections: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Decision Making and Situational Judgement. The BMAT is split into three sections that involve mathematical skills, scientific knowledge and essay-writing. You can learn more about both tests on our UKCAT Guide and BMAT Guide.

b) Most students take the UKCAT in the summer between Year 12 and Year 13, and you can take the BMAT in September or November of Year 13.

c) Most medical schools use the UKCAT, however only a handful use the BMAT. You can find a complete list of the universities that use the UKCAT and BMAT on the guides linked to above.

Hope this helps! :smile:
The Medic Portal

-thank you so so so much!!!! i've got my mindset on to when I want to do the UKCAT and BMAT now, I've decided to take both next year. UKCAT at the end of the summer holidays and BMAT around November time because I can use two months (Sep/Oct) to prepare and then the year after I can do my driving tests etc.
Reply 9
How long do you need to revise for the UKCAT?

I'm going abroad in a week until 29th July, and my test is on 31st August? Should I push it back?!
Reply 10
Original post by massie25
How long do you need to revise for the UKCAT?

I'm going abroad in a week until 29th July, and my test is on 31st August? Should I push it back?!


Hey :-) Honestly don't worry, we normally tell our students that around 4 weeks approx 2hr/day is a perfectly adequate amount of time to prepare for the UKCAT.

Alex, 4th year UCL medic
6med
Original post by massie25
How long do you need to revise for the UKCAT?

I'm going abroad in a week until 29th July, and my test is on 31st August? Should I push it back?!


Hi Massie,

We'd recommend between 4-6 weeks of preparation. You don't want to peak too early and run out of resources, or start to forget the theory you learnt early on.

Good Luck!

Mohil
medicmind.co.uk/resources
Original post by massie25
How long do you need to revise for the UKCAT?

I'm going abroad in a week until 29th July, and my test is on 31st August? Should I push it back?!


I started two months before the exam, and really cranked it up in the final month!

I used the 1250 book which helped a lot, but found I reached a bit of a plateau, so then I found a tutor to help, which really helped push up my score to 753 which I was so happy with!!!

Definitely recommend starting earlier rather than later, and make sure you seek help (1-1 if possible) to guarantee your score

Julie
Original post by julieandrews
I started two months before the exam, and really cranked it up in the final month!

I used the 1250 book which helped a lot, but found I reached a bit of a plateau, so then I found a tutor to help, which really helped push up my score to 753 which I was so happy with!!!

Definitely recommend starting earlier rather than later, and make sure you seek help (1-1 if possible) to guarantee your score

Julie


Hey,

Thanks I will buy the 1250 book.

Did you think the tutor was worth it/good value. Who did you use? I'm a bit sceptical!

Mark
Original post by markgodfrey
Hey,

Thanks I will buy the 1250 book.

Did you think the tutor was worth it/good value. Who did you use? I'm a bit sceptical!

Mark


I didn't like the 1250 book. It was not an accurate portrayal of the real tests at all. The only advantage it gives you is that when you do the real thing you'll feel more comfortable as the 1250 book is ridiculously harder than the real test. But that's about it.

For me, Medify is the only resource worth spending on. Their questions are the most similar to the actual thing.

Definitely DO NOT get a tutor. In my opinion, it's a massive waste of money as I've heard it is quite expensive too. They won't tell you anything which you can't find online. There are plenty of free resources online which you can use like the UKCAT practice test on the official UKCAt website.

Good luck!
Original post by GrandMedic
I didn't like the 1250 book. It was not an accurate portrayal of the real tests at all. The only advantage it gives you is that when you do the real thing you'll feel more comfortable as the 1250 book is ridiculously harder than the real test. But that's about it.

For me, Medify is the only resource worth spending on. Their questions are the most similar to the actual thing.

Definitely DO NOT get a tutor. In my opinion, it's a massive waste of money as I've heard it is quite expensive too. They won't tell you anything which you can't find online. There are plenty of free resources online which you can use like the UKCAT practice test on the official UKCAt website.

Good luck!


Totally agree with this. Tutors aren't needed in this day and age, they're not worth it when sites have guides and enough questions. Wouldn't even bother with books unless you like studying with something physical infront of you (I'm that type though :smile: ).

I'd go with the cheapest version tbh, because you should ALWAYS leave the official ukcat question prep stuff to revise just beforehand. Realistically though, I've never heard of anyone doing more than 3/4000 questions. Even when they were revising for 6 weeks like my mate at school. We used docme and medify.

I just followed all that and got into my first choice london medical school.

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