BMAT without science A Levels?

Hi guys,

Just to give you a bit of background, I am on a gap year having finished my A Levels in arts and humanities subjects, so I have decided to do an A2M course this Sep and apply to the normal 5 year courses.

I have emailed around all the unis to check and clarify things, but one I am really keen on is BSMS. They've been fantastic at getting back to me, I love the city and of course cadaver dissection is a bit of a bonus.

They have recently made the BMAT a requirement, which means I will be expected, from an arts background, to sit the BMAT. I wanted to see if any fellow applicants or medics have any advice as to whether it is a wise move without the science background or to give me some idea to how much preparation would be needed.

Thanks in advance !

What are the average marks for the BMAT?

Nice to hear from a fellow gapper! Where are you applying?

I have always felt like the BMAT is a rather hardcore admissions test and I'm sure people are deterred from it for that reason. But it's nice to hear it doesn't require too much in depth scientific knowledge.

haha yeah it's good to know that there are others who are in the same boat as me! To be honest I found the UKCAT waay more stressful and hard than thr BMAT but then again some of my friends found it was the other way around for them - so I guess it does depend on your personal strengths.
I'm still researching the unis atm but i'm considering Nottingham and Birmingham what about you?

Hi guys,

Just to give you a bit of background, I am on a gap year having finished my A Levels in arts and humanities subjects, so I have decided to do an A2M course this Sep and apply to the normal 5 year courses.

I have emailed around all the unis to check and clarify things, but one I am really keen on is BSMS. They've been fantastic at getting back to me, I love the city and of course cadaver dissection is a bit of a bonus.

They have recently made the BMAT a requirement, which means I will be expected, from an arts background, to sit the BMAT. I wanted to see if any fellow applicants or medics have any advice as to whether it is a wise move without the science background or to give me some idea to how much preparation would be needed.

Thanks in advance !

I think they claim that the BMAT requires knowledge up to GCSE level in all sciences, but from my experience of it, that's a bit generous. If you haven't done A levels in the sciences, you'll probably want to spend a bit of time going over all the GCSE stuff just to make sure you grasp it completely.

I've heard that a few times, that it's a bit more than just knowing GCSE stuff. What do you recommend in terms of material to use for BMAT?

Nice one !




Yeah I have a mate who did poorly on his UKCAT yet he's doing Medicine at UCL now. I did the UKCAT last year and didn't do too bad, so hopefully this year I can get a really competitive score.

Cool, I've been looking at BSMS and UEA but not really sure. I guess the rest will depend on my UKCAT score.

oh wow, i wish I was in your position because the unis I am considering require the UKCAT ! Yeah except i tend to do crap at interviews, which let me down last year *sigh*

Very little of the stuff I did at A-level, or GCSE either tbh, came in useful. I believe there's a specification saying everything you need to know (seems to be based on all the stuff that used to be in GCSE's before it got dumbed down), and there are plenty of BMAT prep books with most of it in


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I can't help you there too much, I'm afraid. When I did the BMAT, I found that science A levels were very helpful because they made sure that you really grasped the science. I don't think they go above GCSE level in terms of actual content, but they require a strong fundamental understanding of the concepts, not just the ability to remember the facts required for a GCSE. I seem to recall they have some past questions on the website, so make sure you take a look at those.