UKCAT for 2018 Entry Discussion

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3 weeks to go- go through several scenarios which focus on a range of principles. Try and hone down on what differentiates an action which is appropriate and inappropriate as well as a factor that is either important or unimportant. Focus mainly on appropriateness as these questions come up more often..

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2.5 weeks to go - begin working on timing by doing mini-mocks under test conditions. Use the official question banks on the UKCAT website as well to aid you. Begin writing down any principles you forget or find difficult to understand.

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2 weeks to go- start undertaking full situational judgement mocks. Ensure you are strict with timing, and follow our guide of knowing the player and putting yourself in the position of the character.

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1.5 weeks to go- go over the previous theory by rewatching our videos and the theory taught using the course booklet and online videos .

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1 week to go - have a go at the scenarios on the General Medical Council website. They may not be completely consistent with the UKCAT questions, but will give you a better understanding of what is expected. There is no harm in more questions!

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3 days to go - practice several situational judgement mocks back to back to develop your concentration skills for test day.

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1 day to go - consolidate the techniques briefly and then relax!

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Test day - read over the summary

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Firstly, Abstract Reasoning is the shortest UKCAT section, at 13 minutes long. It can come and go in a flash, and you need to adjust your timing to work quickly.

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Secondly, confusingly you have to adjust the timing per pattern during the section (e.g. between Type 1 and 2 questions), so do not fall into the trap of spending too much time on non-Type 1 questions.

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Thirdly, they will plant some extremely difficult sets to trap you. The better candidates will move on after 1 minute, rather than spend 3 minutes on a pattern. Consider it like this - if you spend 3 minutes on a single pattern, you have used nearly 25% of your time.

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3 weeks to go- practice questions and adapt the theories you learnt. Timing not essential to begin with, just focus on applying the correct theory. Focus mainly on Type 1 Questions.

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2.5 weeks to go - begin working on timing by doing mini-mocks under test conditions. Bring in Type 2, 3 and 4 questions.

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2 weeks to go- work on full mocks to develop your skills for the last run. Use the Pattern Book whilst you do each mock.

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1.5 weeks to go- revisit the theory taught using the course booklet and online videos

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1 week to go - practice several Abstract Reasoning mocks back to back to develop your concentration skills for test day.

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3 days to go - adapt to test conditions by replicating the conditions. Do a mock in your local library using an old computer and a whiteboard. You should no longer use the Pattern Table during mocks.

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1 day to go - consolidate the techniques briefly and then relax!

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Test day - read the Pattern Table before the test to trigger your mind. Good luck!

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Which of the following would the author most likely agree with?

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Which of the following does the author cite as a reason for the recession?

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The author’s strongest stated opinion is…

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The writer’s most strongly stated opinion will tend to be found in the conclusion of the passage, so that is the best place to look.

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The strongest stated opinion may be mentioned the most number of times, or it could be a topic discussed in the most detail.

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When a question asks you for the writer’s strongest opinion, all of the options may be views held by the author. Therefore if you find a reference to statement A, for example, do not automatically assume that is the answer. You should check each option and find the strongest view.

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Ideally the strongest view will be surrounded by an indicator phrase:

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Syllogisms - when you are given two or more statements and have to use logical reasoning to decide which conclusions follow.

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Venn Diagrams - you may be presented with a set of statements and a set of different Venn Diagrams as response options. You will need to select the diagram that best represents the information provided.

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Probabilistic Reasoning - you will be required to select the best possible response out of four statements regarding a probability scenario.

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Logical Puzzles - you are given a series of statements that you need to infer information from. The statements may not make real-life logical sense, but try to deduce the conclusions you can gauge from the information provided.

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Interpreting Information - you will be given information in the form of graphs, charts or written passages. You will be required to read this information and interpret it in a manner which enables you to decide the conclusions that follow best.

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Recognising Assumptions - this will test your ability to evaluate the strength of an argument in support of or against a solution to a particular problem.