when do I start revision for UCAT

hi guys, everyone I've spoken to about the cat are saying different things. some said to start revising for it as early as you can and others are saying to only revise for 8 weeks.

Reply 1

TSR Hippocrates

Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum.

The Medicine forum gets a high volume of questions being posted, and some of these are already answered by the resources and Megathreads that members of the community and volunteers have created. This is an automatic post which is designed to highlight these resources. Below is a list of threads and articles that could answer your question (you should be looking in the original post of the megathreads). If one of the below threads is a more relevant place to ask your question, please post a reply in that thread to ask your question. If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked below, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.

Megathreads (Please read the first post before posting any further questions you have within that thread.)
The "Which Medical School Should I Apply To?" Uberthread
The Ultimate 'Am I Good Enough For Medicine?' Angst Thread
Medicine A-Level subjects queries
Work Experience and Voluntary Work
GANFYD's "Which medical schools accept retake A-Levels" list

2026 Applicants :
Official Thread: (Undergraduate) Medicine 2026 entry
Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2026 Entry
Medicine 2026 entry for resit/retake/gap year applicants
International Students for Medicine 2026 Entry (overseas students applying to the UK)
UCAT 2026 Entry Discussions Megathread
GAMSAT Megathread 2026/2027 entry
GAMSAT Megathread 2025/2026 entry
2026 entry A100/ A101 Medicine fastest and slowest offer senders
Medical Schools Index 2026 entry
Medical Schools Index 2025 entry

UCAS Extra and Clearing:
Medicine UCAS Extra for 2025
Medicine UCAS Clearing for 2025

Other application years:
Official Thread: (Undergraduate) Medicine 2027 entry
Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2027 Entry
Official Thread: Graduate Entry Medicine 2028 Entry

Current Medical Students and Doctors:
Guidance on posting in this subforum
So, you're going to medical school.... MKII
OSCE Tips and Advice
Increase in the NHS Bursary and expenses for placement
The postgraduate exams thread

Useful Articles:
Work Experience as a Graduate or Mature student
Medicine Personal Statement Advice
Medicine Personal Statement Advice (Graduate Entry)
Interview Frequently Asked Questions
MMI Medicine Interview Tips
What to do after an unsuccessful first application
Funding medicine as a second degree

Our Community:
Medicine Community Feedback and Suggestions
Medicine Gap Year Stories
Project: Minimum UCAT Score Trends

If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked above, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.

Reply 2

34med1

Original post

by fiiona555

hi guys, everyone I've spoken to about the cat are saying different things. some said to start revising for it as early as you can and others are saying to only revise for 8 weeks.

Starting asap won’t hurt, starting any later can hurt as you may be short on time available for revision, especially alongside education. The reason there is different recommendations is because it varies for people

Reply 3

vchang

Hey, it really depends on many things:
Do you feel that you might "forget" these UCAT skills over time? I know for me, it's been a few months since I did my UCAT and I can strongly say if I did it again right now, I would not have gotten the high score I got. If so, maybe consider starting proper practice 2 months before.
Are you paying for resources? Things like Medentry, Medify are paid. Are you able to pay for these resources for a long period? Official question banks exist too, but I highly recommend you save these until the weeks before your test day.
Finally, do you have the time to actually do UCAT practice consistently at the current moment? If so, go for it, but you may have other priorities too look at for now (e.g. work experience, school subjects etc.)

Overall the aim is to do things consistently, and no matter what, it is a good idea to familiarise yourself with how the UCAT works ASAP so it isn't as daunting when you get to practicing.
Hope this helps, this is my opinion, might not work for you!

Reply 4

Foodis8ae

Personally, for me you can look over some types of the questions and familiarise yourself with the types and how they ask questions. You can also incorporate this in day-to-day life (e.g for VR you need to speed read so read over school textbooks quickly and see what you remember). I wouldn't start any hard-core revision until 6-8 weeks before and definitely after exams are done (so you can solely focus on prep and not get too burdened) as it is very easy to get bored/burn out. And when you do get there use medify/medentry, the official UCAT site, reddit (there's a lot of good suggestions for strategy)

Reply 5

JxJJ

Original post

by fiiona555

hi guys, everyone I've spoken to about the cat are saying different things. some said to start revising for it as early as you can and others are saying to only revise for 8 weeks.

I'm assuming you're in year 12. In this case I'd suggest not to worry about now until April time, focus on getting predicted 3 As in your subjects so you can focus more on UCAT and bit less on end of year mocks at the end of the year.
I think 8 weeks of proper prep is enough and for me I found that by the 7th week I was burning out and my scores were no longer improving so it will be different for everyone, you will eventually reach a peak and that is when you know you're ready.
If you are desperate to start now, there is no harm in trying a few questions on the UCAT website every now and then and practice speed reading now for VR

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Articles for you

A guide to the Oxbridge application process

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.

Try out the app

Continue on web

when do I start revision for UCAT

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you

How The Student Room is moderated