UCAT Tips
UCAT Advice
Hey friends, in this post I want to share with you the methods I used to get a high UCAT score and rank within the top 30 in the UK.
The Main Resource
Medify – It’s the number 1 UCAT resource advised by most medics I know, and I would
recommend the same. I didn’t do anything special!
It’s not perfect (the VR section on most Medify papers is said to be easier than the actual
exam) but resembles the other sections closely.
The layout is clean, and the keyboard shortcuts used match the ones used in the real exam.
There are so many practice questions on there – you won’t run out.
Medify tells you what you’re weak at – this is extremely helpful. Doing an equal amount of
each topic is pointless if you’re amazing at one thing and weak at another
Other Resources
I know some who used UCAT Ninja, though I don’t have any personal experience with it. It
similarly has a large bank of practice questions.
Another resource is Medentry – it may be a bit harder than Medify so this may knock your
confidence.
Since Medify’s VR section is easier than the actual exam, it’s advised to not to rely purely on
Medify. I only used Medify, but VR was my lowest scoring section, so keep that in mind.
The most important resource, which most closely resembles the actual thing – official UCAT
mocks
Preparation Timeline
Ideal preparation time is anything from 5 to 8 weeks. Starting too early isn’t recommended,
as you will likely burn out. You want to build up momentum over time. On the other hand,
familiarising yourself may be helpful and by starting earlier, you can also pace yourself
better.
Personally, I started preparing in a relaxed way before year 12 mocks to familiarise myself
with the sections. I then took a break for mocks and then I spent a month preparing properly
(bear in mind that I took the UCAT fairly early on in the summer though)
For that whole month, UCAT was the only thing I did (schoolwork-wise)
For school days, it was pretty much: get home, do 2 hours of Medify, but no mock
tests yet!
When the holidays properly started, I’d do 2 hours in the morning, a mock early
afternoon, review it, and 2 more hours in the evening. I booked the exam for
1:30pm so I did all my mocks at that time ~ highly recommended!
Medify also gives you a timeline – use this!!
How Specifically Do I Improve?
I’d probably say there are five main stages preparation-wise:
1. First, understand each section’s technique and question style.
2. Practise in non-timed conditions (bear in mind that the biggest difficulty of the UCAT
is the time pressure)
3. Practise sets of timed questions (I liked to do sets of 20 questions at a time, and
continue doing this)
4. Review these questions, perhaps write down which questions you’re getting wrong.
Note down the incorrect process you used and learn from it (this is particularly
useful in the situational judgement section, and can be something you go over the
day before)
5. Mock papers: Medify has loads, and don’t forget the official UCAT mocks too– this is
around 25 papers, and if you’re aiming to do each one, you ideally want more than 5
weeks to prepare and pace yourself. I know people who prepared in less time and
still did extremely well though
More Preparation Advice
Remember, every mark is worth the same!
Learn to skip questions after a quick scan- develop the mindset to do the questions
in the order you want to and that the order Medify gives them to you is arbitrary.
If you know you’re good at a specific question type, there is no point attempting it
until you’ve done everything else.
Learn the keyboard shortcuts!
As aforementioned, Medify uses the exact same shortcuts as the real thing. Make
sure you are familiar with these and get speedy switching between questions.
You may also want to use the number keypad rather than the numbers on the top
row of the keyboard – this will speed up your QR section. This might not be possible
if you’re practising with a laptop though. Nonetheless, to mirror the real thing as
closely as you can, plug in an external keyboard!
The Sections In More Detail
VR
Verbal reasoning is consistently the lowest scoring section on the UCAT on average; most
people find this section the hardest
There are two main ways to do it, and it’s really up to you
1. Have a look the answers, skim the passage, looking for key words
2. Read the full passage and then look at the answers
Personally, I did a mixture of both. I’d first do a quick skim of the passage and understand the
general meaning, before answering the questions. This helped me as it allowed elimination of some
answers from the get-go, and it saves you time in the long run when there are multiple questions for
the same passage.
Sometimes I felt like I wasn’t improving so then I would either take a break from it or look at
specific techniques online – the main thing for me is after each question I got wrong, I would
write down the specific incorrect process I used. Maybe I scanned too quickly, or I ignored
the options based on a wrong assumption.
AR
The main thing is writing down every pattern you see. I felt guilty for not starting this until a
week before the exam, but it works wonders very
quickly.
A common technique is SCANS – shape, colour,
arrangement, number and size
Ultimately, practice makes perfect in AR – the more practice you do the more familiar you’ll
be.
DM
Decision making has the largest variety of question types – sort into the individual question
types and work on each individually
Unlike the other sections, DM is really like 6 different mini sections all in one, and you have
to treat it that way
Again, focus on the ones which you are most weak at!! E.g. I was terrible at Venn diagrams
so that’s all I did for a whole day
QR
Quantitative reasoning is all about practice, timed practice specifically. The questions
themselves aren’t difficult, but the time pressure can get to you.
Really practise those questions where they bombard you with information.
Keyboard shortcuts are really, really important for this section in particular.
Also get into the mindset of estimating and developing your mental arithmetic, as this will
save time in many questions too.
SJT
It’s very important to get band 1 or 2 in this section – some medical school won’t accept
people with anything lower.
The review process is really important. By writing specific learning points and going through
why I answered questions wrong, I was able to improve and not repeat similar mistakes.
When you write down your learning points, you can simultaneously group these into
different types of scenarios. Write down what you learnt from the question at hand.
- Scenario 1: colleague in difficulty -consider being proactive, pt. safety etc.
- Scenario 2: staying late – you must if due to clinical need etc
Final Words
On the day before, try not to spam questions. Instead, look through notes/techniques, relax
and destress.
Aim to get a good sleep the night before and stay screen free on exam-day; you’re going to
be staring at a screen for around 2 hours.
A YouTuber that I would highly recommend for UCAT tips is Kharma Medic.
Don’t be discouraged! I got 2430 in my first mock and 3310 in my actual one. The first mock
is not the one to worry about.
Improvement will come with practice
and time.