UCAT (formerly UKCAT) 2022 entry discussions megathread

What exactly is the problem with "over preparing"? Like does it slow you down in the exam?

Reply 581

A_J_B

Original post by the.cricketer

What exactly is the problem with "over preparing"? Like does it slow you down in the exam?

Makes you burn out

Reply 582

gogrizz123

Original post by the.cricketer

What exactly is the problem with "over preparing"? Like does it slow you down in the exam?

you will slow down in the exam if you burn out, but there's always red bull to speed you up again lol

Reply 583

Original post by A_J_B

Makes you burn out

I did 5 weeks prep last time round. Is that an ideal length of time for practise?

Reply 584

Kibser

18

Original post by the.cricketer

I did 5 weeks prep last time round. Is that an ideal length of time for practise?

Differs person to person. Generally 4-6 weeks is probably good enough, so that is probably fine.

Reply 585

A_J_B

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by the.cricketer

I did 5 weeks prep last time round. Is that an ideal length of time for practise?

Depends on how burnt out you felt really.
Usually I would recommend 1-2 months of practice

Reply 586

WTSBLG

16

Original post by the.cricketer

What exactly is the problem with "over preparing"? Like does it slow you down in the exam?

like others said, you burn out and feel incredibly saturated :frown:

i personally think i over-prepared last time and so my scores suffered so that's why i'm back here on the UCAT thread; just take it easy to begin with and then gradually build up

Reply 587

TSR George

OP

17

Original post by the.cricketer

What exactly is the problem with "over preparing"? Like does it slow you down in the exam?

In addition to what everyone said, you may also run out of practice material.

Post originally created by ecolier.

Reply 588

Original post by WTSBLG

like others said, you burn out and feel incredibly saturated :frown:

i personally think i over-prepared last time and so my scores suffered so that's why i'm back here on the UCAT thread; just take it easy to begin with and then gradually build up

Yh that's probably what happened to me then lol.. I did over 10K questions in 5 weeks, even when I was getting average 700 in the mocks I ended up getting 2670

Reply 589

gogrizz123

I had that problem, I ran through all the questions on medify but luckily i couldnt remember any answers to any questions when I saw them for a 2nd/3rd/4th time

Reply 590

Medic Mind

11

Original post by becausethenight

A BSc thesis, perhaps? :tongue:

3 in fact! Not for a month but I’ll probably disappear for a few weeks soonish :biggrin:

Thank you

I’m only on a 109 day streak, I defer to your expertise! :biggrin:

I know, I’m going to keep doing it religiously even after exams in case of resits - at least by then the numbers of cards per day will be pretty low :tongue:

Interesting to hear it’s still as popular at Oxford when your course is pretty different?

Yeah, mega popular here. We have both MCQ exams and essay exams, I use them for the MCQ component and it works well. The more I use it, the more I get into the add-ons and MOD packages. Do you use things like Image occlusion enhanced and cloze??

James 😊
Y2 Oxford Medical Student
Medic Mind

Reply 591

Medic Mind

11

Original post by McGinger

You don't need either. These are commercial companies set up purely to extract ££ from gullible 17 year olds.
If you needed this sort of 'help, the Uni would run their own courses - they dont, because you dont need it.

UCAT is an aptitude test - you cannot be coached for this as it is not a test of knowledge. There are plenty of past UCAT questions etc online - practise some and get familiar with the format of the test. That is all you need to do.

Thousands of people excel at UCAT every year and get places at Med School without doing any of these daft courses.
Don't waste your money.

Hey @McGinger :smile:

While I admire your passionate stance on this topic, please be careful with the the advice that you give. I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'you cannot be coached' but you absolutely can learn techniques and methods that will improve your UCAT score.

I would encourage candidates to look back through this thread and read posts from myself and others on methods and tips that can help improve your UCAT score! You can find lots of free resources online that will help with developing good UCAT technique.

James 😊
Y2 Oxford Medical Student
Medic Mind

Reply 592

Medic Mind

11

Original post by gogrizz123

you will slow down in the exam if you burn out, but there's always red bull to speed you up again lol

@gogrizz123

Recently I've started drinking darjeeling tea, and oh boy that stuff is like a natural, healthy alternative to red bull. You just feel so alive. Honestly, give it a go. I think I buy mine from tescos. Really helps me study.

This post is not in anyway a paid promotion for darjeeling tea growers or tescos. @redbull please don't sue.

James 😊
Y2 Oxford Medical Student
Medic Mind

Reply 593

becausethenight

Original post by Medic Mind

Yeah, mega popular here. We have both MCQ exams and essay exams, I use them for the MCQ component and it works well. The more I use it, the more I get into the add-ons and MOD packages. Do you use things like Image occlusion enhanced and cloze??

James 😊
Y2 Oxford Medical Student
Medic Mind

Didn't realise you guys had MCQs as well - only ever hear from people complaining about the essays :biggrin:

Of course - how could I screengrab all my lecture slides for highly efficient Ankification without IO :lol:

I quite like Cloze too but it can become a bit of a lazy shortcut, just pasting in a huge chunk of text from Grey's or something.

Reply 594

gogrizz123

Original post by Medic Mind

@gogrizz123

Recently I've started drinking darjeeling tea, and oh boy that stuff is like a natural, healthy alternative to red bull. You just feel so alive. Honestly, give it a go. I think I buy mine from tescos. Really helps me study.

This post is not in anyway a paid promotion for darjeeling tea growers or tescos. @redbull please don't sue.

James 😊
Y2 Oxford Medical Student
Medic Mind

il give it a try!

Reply 595

I am planning on doing the UCAT as soon as they start testing (26th July) and begin preparing steadily from late may/early june. Are there any disadvantages of doing the UCAT in the really early slots?

Reply 596

Paranoiaa

Original post by the.cricketer

I am planning on doing the UCAT as soon as they start testing (26th July) and begin preparing steadily from late may/early june. Are there any disadvantages of doing the UCAT in the really early slots?

I have the same question

Reply 597

TSR George

OP

17

Original post by the.cricketer

I am planning on doing the UCAT as soon as they start testing (26th July) and begin preparing steadily from late may/early june. Are there any disadvantages of doing the UCAT in the really early slots?

Original post by Paranoiaa

I have the same question @ecolier

The only slight disadvantage I can think of, is NOT knowing how other people have done.

The interim UCAT scores will usually be released in September... but knowing it - will it be to your advantage or add to your pressure? Who knows.

I would still advise doing it early - you don't want to be leaving it until the end of September in case you can't take it for whatever reason, then you'd be really stressed.

Post originally created by ecolier.

Reply 598

Bexjw

21

It’s exactly the same test regardless of when you sit it. The only difference is that it may be more convenient to sit it early and get it out of the way. It makes no difference on the difficulty, questions or scores given.

Reply 599

TheMedicOwl