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UCAT (formerly UKCAT) 2020 entry discussion

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What did you get in UCAT

Hey everyone so from now on in Australia you will have to do the UCAT if you want to get into medicine/dentistry. No unis have set their cutoffs, and I haven't really got a clue of how hard it is. We used to have a 3 hour UMAT exam but it is now switched to UCAT because apparently it is a better exam in determining the best applicants for medicine. So I was wonderig what are usually the cutoffs in each section in the UK, for context I will be applying for a good medicine schools but not the best one out there. There aren't really that many Med schools in my state but the Uni that will be on the top of my list is still known to be one of the best in the state. Also I'm taking the test in the month of July, what do you guys reccomend in terms of how much to study for it. And how hard would you say each section is (I'm not good with shapes). Anway, I'm really nervous for it because I can't talk to anyone who has done it before, since 2019 will be the first year anyone is doing it, so any answers will be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone. Also sorry for the extra long post

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Reply 1
Avatar for KVJ
KVJ
11
Most unis say scores of over 630ish (averaged over the first four sections) and Band 3 or higher (where 1 is the highest) are good
Here's an article I wrote that gives some clarification on the UKCAT:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/university/apply/medicine/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-doctor
In terms of studying for it I'd say about 3 weeks is ideal. The difficulty of each section is very subjective, personally I found abstract reasoning to be the hardest section!
While getting a high UCAT score is your goal, in the UK some universities look solely at UKCAT / UCAT scores to select for interviews, others use it among other factors (e.g. GCSEs, personal statement) while others just want you to sit the exam but not necessarily use them. In the event of too many interviewees performing well, some universities take the UKCAT / UCAT score as a tie breaker. It may be worth examining individual universities' selection criteria and deciding which you have greatest chances of success, assuming you are mad keen on a medical career that you'll go anywhere as long as they'll take you in. In the UK, results are known immediately and therefore you have that information before making your application choices.
Heya! Anyone studying UCAT 2019 for 2020 application to Medicine? :biggrin:
Are you actually studying for it now ? Isn’t it quite early? - I do admire your dedication though
I’m thinking of applying to medicine but wasn’t planning starting practice until June - how are you finding it?
hi,
anyone got any useful resources, websites, pdf for UKCAT especially for the siutation decision section. would appreciate the help thanks
Reply 8
Avatar for meddad
meddad
18
Original post by theoverthinker
hi,
anyone got any useful resources, websites, pdf for UKCAT especially for the siutation decision section. would appreciate the help thanks

Lots of people recommend Medify for practice - some don't.

ISC Medical book on UKCAT can be useful, but heavy going in parts doing it from a book.
How am I supposed to prepare for the ucat(and bmat too I guess lmao) I’d assumed it was but a couple books and have a go but I have friends going on two grand courses and I’m thinking will I be at a huge disadvantage if I don’t pay 2500 quid? Would I benefit from a tutor( my parents are (willing??? ) to pay and seem wary of me saying it’s not needed so can someone tell me how much prep you did and what you’d recommend? Is it like the 11+ where you’d never pass without loads of tutoring or is it diffeeent- my dad wants to pay for stuff c neither of my parents know much about it so they feel they should but I think we can’t really afford it and it would be more or less a waste of money-

Your two cents??

(Also if someone feels like moving this to medicine that would be super cool and I’ll be forever grateful I can’t Find it anymore) lov u x
£2500?! Wtf. No way - that's way too excessive.

For the UCAT, I'd strongly recommend Medify. If you decide to do the BMAT, I recommend just going through the official guide online that they have for Section 2, and going through A-Level Critical Thinking papers for Section 1. The TSA papers are also helpful for section 1. I found both to be easier than the BMAT, however.

Both tests are all about practice (the UCAT moreso than the BMAT). Having some company charge extortionate amounts where they just give tips which can be found online isn't worth it. It's too early to start preparing right now, however.
Hi! Decided to make a thread for 2020 entry (meaning doing the UCAT in 2019) as I haven’t seen one yet!
Reply 12
Avatar for elle439
elle439
6
I aim to apply to medical school this year, but obviously I need to take an admissions test, I've looked at the UKCAT just now and it looks ridiculously hard, I struggle with problem solving and quick thinking. Does anyone have any tips?
Time traveller questions

Hello
I am practising the quantitative reasoning section of the UCAT

I am a bit stuck with the times questions.

When I need to find the travelling time, for example
13h 25min - 7h 50min
I use the calculator and I find
5,75
From the book I know that 5,75 is 5h and 35 min but it takes a long time for me to convert the number that I get from the calculator to the actual time in hours and minutes.

Does anyone know if there is a short way or if it is completely wrong what I am doing?
Thanks a lot
(edited 4 years ago)
Are you sure the answer said 5.75 equals 5hrs 35mins? According to my working it should be 5hrs 45mins, unless I’ve been doing my calculations wrong all this time haha
Reply 15
Avatar for .Red
.Red
16
5.75

Just focus on the number after the decimal point --> .75

What is 75% of an hour?

50% (half an hour) = 30 mins. Therefore 25% (quarter of an hour) = 15 mins (and 75% obviously is 45 mins)

Hence 5.75 converted to time = 5h 45 min
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by Jfueofkrnb
Are you sure the answer said 5.75 equals 5hrs 35mins? According to my working it should be 5hrs 45mins, unless I’ve been doing my calculations wrong all this time haha


Yep this is from 1250 UKCAT third edition QR question number 25
Original post by Unwavering
5.75

Just focus on the number after the decimal point --> .75

What is 75% of an hour?

50% (half an hour) = 30 mins. Therefore 25% (quarter of an hour) = 15 mins (and 75% obviously is 45 mins)

Hence 5.75 converted to time = 5h 45 min

That makes sense, thanks.
Oops I am sorry it doesn't say that !
It seems like I can't get these sort of questions right
Original post by france.cianetti
Yep this is from 1250 UKCAT third edition QR question number 25
Unwavering is right—.75, or 75%, of an hour is 45 minutes. But the error you're making is a step earlier than that: I'm assuming you're typing 13.25 – 7.5 into the calculator? If so, that won't work because hours/minutes and decimals aren't equivalent. In other words, the 25 in 13h 25min represents 25 out of 60 (the number of minutes in a whole hour), not 25 out of 100 as it does in the number 13.25.

The answer given in the book, 5h 35min, is correct, but to get there you need to subtract 7 and 50/60 from 13 and 25/60. This sounds complex, but you can quickly do it in your head by recognising that 7 hours and 50 minutes is 8 hours, minus 10 minutes. 13h 25min minus 8 hours is 5h 25min, plus 10 minutes gives you 5h 35min.

The upshot of this is that you can't really use the calculator for these kinds of questions: you need to practice quickly adding and subtracting numbers of minutes out of 60. (In addition to the method I've worked through above, you could try visualising a clock face and counting forwards or backwards: the questions nearly all stick to multiples of five minutes.)

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