UCAT (formerly UKCAT) 2021 entry Results thread - Updated 28th October

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Reply 80

Argonaute

Original post by Sososnake

Well done! Now you can relax for a bit :smile:

Thank you! Yes will be relaxing for a bit! Need to sort out my P.S!

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 81

username4855894

Original post by Argonaute

Thank you! Yes will be relaxing for a bit! Need to sort out my P.S!

I can just use most of my last year one and change a little bit :smile:

Reply 82

username3003398

Original post by Sososnake

VR: 700
DM: 880
QR: 880
AR: 670
SJT: Band 1
Very surprised because I thought I’d do one of my best in AR and worst in VR, but AR was harder than expected.

Original post by melon_bomb

Just did my test today in a centre, scored:
VR 820
DM 710 (was kinda annoyed about that, but my pen ran out pretty early on in the section and I had to get a new one - check your pens!!)
QR: 870
AR: 900
Band 1
If you have questions then you can go for it

Hi! Congrats on your amazing score! Just wondered, when did you start preparing for the exam and do you think a combination of Medify mocks and the official website mocks and question banks would be enough to use? Right now that is what I am doing, and VR is definitely my worst section -but will try out the speed reading tips you mentioned as well as reading the question first and focusing on keywords. I am getting around 700 - 730 average at the moment but I am really desiring to push this up further! Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated :smile:

Many thanks

Reply 83

Argonaute

Original post by Desimusic

In 2018 KCL accepted 6 students with band 3. I've attached a spreadsheet for you to look at. You've done amazing so far Good luck with your application just prepare a lot for your interview and you'll smash it.

How long have you been preparing for (months, weeks)? May I ask how many hours did you prepare for a day? what resources did you use?Any tips for me.

Hey! (I think this was for me? Mods rightly moved my post to the results thread (sorry about that mods!)).

I did about 8 weeks total but was very on and off with my prep, so overall I'd say about 6 weeks. I did a little a day (no more than 2 hours) and used Medify and the official papers.

Tips:
VR: Read the passage briefly and then answer the questions. Over time if you speed read you'll be fine imo. I'd say read random articles and see how much you can understand!
DM, QR and AR: Practice loads of questions is all I did. For AR I found it useful to keep a list of the different patterns that came up.

Medify also has good tips on their website. I watched some videos from KharmaMedic to help with DM and QR so I'd check that out too.

The biggest tip I have is to stay CALM! When you get in there the panic can set in a bit so take a couple mins to gather yourself before you start your exam.

Best of luck!!

Reply 84

VanillaCream

Original post by 3t1ck2

I did mine on a Dell laptop this morning and I thought I would give a rundown (got 2940, 735 average, band 1)
VR: (got 760) simple passages, mostly true false can't tell qs, but the inference ones were kinda hard. All in all pretty similar to medify
Dm: (got 800) same difficulty as official / medify however some of the logicy questions were a slightly diff style but not any harder
QR: (got 700) the * on my keyboard didn't work so I had to do it manually which wasted some time. at the end none of my keyboard keys worked but that was the last couple of questions so it was fine. Aside from technical issues, same difficulty as medify (some were hard tho do not be fooled). also lots of averages
AR: (got 680) hahahahah what a car crash. without revision I would have easily got 300. pretty much every pattern was difficult and I only got the ones I got because I had previously messed up similar ones on medify. guessed about 4 but clearly guessed lucky. only worked out one pattern for each
SJT: (got band 1) normal difficulty, if not easier those weird questions at the end of official mocks did come up

also my mum accidentally walked in at one point but nothing happened so that was good

those are really good scores, congrats!
thank you so much for what you said about VR, after so many people saying it's more difficult than medify, I was soo worried, but it's kinda a relief that you found them similar! :biggrin:

Reply 85

username4855894

Original post by chicken_123_

Many thanks

Thanks

First of all 700-730 would be a good enough score for most, if not all unis. But I do know how it feels to want to do even better :biggrin:

I started preparing exactly 4 weeks before my exam date doing some untimed questions to get a feel for the exam again (I did it last year and got 2800 Band 1). I did about an hour a day for the first 2 and a half weeks and only did 1 medify mock in this time and a handful of mini mocks (1 minimock a day usually). Then about 10/11 days before my exam I started to do full timed mocks (All of the medify mocks and 3 official mocks) at the same time that I was due to take my exam (Also I wore a facemask to simulate wearing it at a test centre). I was then doing about 3-4 hours a day and then about 3 days before my exam I ramped it up to about 5 hours a day. My main tip is practicing and also triaging harder questions. Good luck!

Reply 86

MarshmallowStars

Original post by melon_bomb

Hi there, thanks very much! QR, my main tip is triaging tricky questions or ones that are just gonna take to long. For example, in my test there were a couple of questions that would have taken aaages like calculating two big averages and then finding a percentage change etc. Those questions just aren't worth your time, guess, flag and move on. Likely the next question will just be mental maths or a single calculation and worth the exact same so don't waste your time! Also, get as good as you can at using the calculator with your numpad, and using the whiteboard to make notes of things to remember as you go through a question that maybe requires a couple of calculations. Honestly, you'll improve with practice, and the test is definitely easier than the mocks on medify or the UCAT website :smile:

No worries! and thank you so much. i deffo think that triage is something i need to work on - i need to stop getting bogged down with certain Qs. Another Q, if you don't mind me asking, but should I wait to get a few more Qs right untimed or just see what happens timed?

Reply 87

phoebeEGS

Original post by Sososnake

Thanks

First of all 700-730 would be a good enough score for most, if not all unis. But I do know how it feels to want to do even better :biggrin:

Hello

can I ask why you didn't apply last year with 2800 or did you apply and you wern't successful? I still think that's a really great score and probably around where I am aiming for. I'm looking at St Georges, Queen Mary, King's - do you think that would be okay for an interview at these places? Thank you!

Reply 88

Josh burns

Original post by melon_bomb

In Verbal Reasoning what method suited you best. Did you read the question first or text.

In AR how do you find the pattern cause i dunno i can never find it uno and i feel like time always runs out before i can

Reply 89

Keewi

I got 2770 in the real thing with band 2
Is that ok?

Reply 90

xsowmix

Original post by Keewi

I got 2770 in the real thing with band 2
Is that ok?

yes absolutely! well done on your results!

Reply 91

melon_bomb

Original post by Josh burns

In VR, I always read the question first, found a keyword and then scanned for it. That works better for me but maybe something else could be more suited to you? In AR, practise really dose make perfect, I started of scoring low 600s or in the 500s for AR but just kept on practising and really improved. It helped me to make a list of all the patterns I ever saw, then I could review this in the time leading up to my test. Also, as I'm sure you've been told before, look at the simplest boxes first and use SCANS or whatever acronym suits you. Good luck!!

Reply 92

omarwastaken

Original post by Keewi

I got 2770 in the real thing with band 2
Is that ok?

Smashed it lad

Reply 93

melon_bomb

Original post by MarshmallowStars

I think it depends how soon your test is? Either way though, getting started on timed practice sooner rather than later is definitely a good idea. As I'm sure you know, timing is by far the hardest part of UCAT, so starting to get a feel for how you can perform within the time and then start to improve it is really useful! You also can't really triage with untimed practice. Keep doing some untimed to work on your technique and also warm you up to questions before you go into timed practice, but definitely consider starting to put yourself under that bit more pressure!

Reply 94

maccles02

just did it now. got 2670 band 2. feeling really disappointed, was quite hard especially AR :/

VR: 630
DM: 670
QR: 780
AR: 590
SJT: band 2

Resources used: medify, ucat official

Reply 95

melon_bomb

Original post by chicken_123_

Many thanks

Hiya, sorry for the late reply! That sounds like a great way to practise, that's pretty much exactly what I did. VR is definitely tricky, but the thing you can really improve with practise is your speed reading skills. Just do lots of practice questions, and work out what works better for you - finding a keyword then hunting for it, or skim reading and then going to the question. I tried both of them before deciding that for me, it was better to just go straight in hunting for a keyword. That average is great, honestly, and the nice thing about UCAT is you can definitely improve with practise. Don't kick yourself if you don't improve straight away!

Reply 96

username4855894

Original post by phoebeEGS

Hello

4 interviews, no offers haha. I'm not sure about the London unis since I never applied but generally 2800+ puts you in good stead for ucat unis provided they aren't GCSE heavy.

Reply 97

robbie1237

just did my ucat today in a test centre, overall very disappointed with my score
VR-500
DM-560
QR-750
AR-800
SJT-3(i have no idea how i got this ngl)
At his point im just glad its over, and still got bmat to come. Could someone give me some advice on where to apply, i was very keen on KCL however i know that these scores are not strong enough for KCL.
My gcses were 5 9s, 3 8s and 2 7s
any advice would be greatly appreciated, and im more than happy to answer any Qs about ucat

Reply 98

username5344968

Original post by melon_bomb

Hiya, do you have tips regarding abstract reasoning as I am really struggling despite using the SCANS technique. My test is in around a week

Reply 99

melon_bomb

Original post by medicine2611

Hiya, do you have tips regarding abstract reasoning as I am really struggling despite using the SCANS technique. My test is in around a week

Make sure you're looking at the simplest box first, and maybe if you have time consider writing down all the patterns you see (or at least the ones you can't find) and then reviewing them every now and then to get the patterns that you're less good at recognising into your head. Mainly, just practise! You can still definitely improve your score in a week, so don't lose hope and keep working for it.