"Year 10 Student: UCAT 2026 Preparation Advice Needed"

3

Hi everyone! I’m a Year 10 student planning to apply for Medicine 2028.
My current situation:
- GCSEs: Biology, Chemistry, Maths
- English level: Intermediate (IELTS 5.5 equivalent)
- UCAT prep: Just starting

Questions:
1. How can I balance GCSEs and UCAT prep?
2. Best free resources for Verbal Reasoning?

Thanks in advance! 😊

Reply 1

natylamine

11

Original post

by Dalia_Abb

Hi everyone! I’m a Year 10 student planning to apply for Medicine 2028.
My current situation:
- GCSEs: Biology, Chemistry, Maths
- English level: Intermediate (IELTS 5.5 equivalent)
- UCAT prep: Just starting
Questions:
1. How can I balance GCSEs and UCAT prep?
2. Best free resources for Verbal Reasoning?
Thanks in advance! 😊

Hello!
As for medicine GCSE requirements, you will need at least 6 GCSEs at grade 6 and above. For A-Levels you will need Biology and Chemistry and a choice of a third subject. Just make sure that you will be able to achieve an A as med requires AAA.
You do not need to be doing any UCAT prep alongside GCSE or even during secondary school. Your UCAT prep will be done during the summer year before application basically after year 1 of A-Levels (eg. Summer 2027 for entry of 2028). Between 6-7 weeks of prep before test to avoid burnout as that impacts your score.
For the future, UCAT official website has free resources however they are not that great and do not offer any timed practice. Medentry and medify are paid, but you get your money's worth as you only get one attempt for your UCAT a year otherwise you will have to wait the next year to reapply if your score is not great.
Goodluck :smile:

Reply 2

Dalia_Abb

OP

3

Original post

by natylamine

Hello!
As for medicine GCSE requirements, you will need at least 6 GCSEs at grade 6 and above. For A-Levels you will need Biology and Chemistry and a choice of a third subject. Just make sure that you will be able to achieve an A as med requires AAA.
You do not need to be doing any UCAT prep alongside GCSE or even during secondary school. Your UCAT prep will be done during the summer year before application basically after year 1 of A-Levels (eg. Summer 2027 for entry of 2028). Between 6-7 weeks of prep before test to avoid burnout as that impacts your score.
For the future, UCAT official website has free resources however they are not that great and do not offer any timed practice. Medentry and medify are paid, but you get your money's worth as you only get one attempt for your UCAT a year otherwise you will have to wait the next year to reapply if your score is not great.
Goodluck :smile:

Thank you very much for your guidance.

Reply 3

18sphillips

9

Original post

by Dalia_Abb

Hi everyone! I’m a Year 10 student planning to apply for Medicine 2028.
My current situation:
- GCSEs: Biology, Chemistry, Maths
- English level: Intermediate (IELTS 5.5 equivalent)
- UCAT prep: Just starting
Questions:
1. How can I balance GCSEs and UCAT prep?
2. Best free resources for Verbal Reasoning?
Thanks in advance! 😊

like natylamine said, you will need more GCSEs. For the UCAT, don't start too early. People normally do 6 weeks of intense practice in the weeks leading up to taking it. Whilst familiarising yourself with the questions might be a good idea, you can't keep up that level of practice for that long so I wouldn't worry about that for a couple of years to be honest.

"Year 10 Student: UCAT 2026 Preparation Advice Needed"

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