UKCAT and BMAT

[scrubs]

They wont be decreasing the amount of people going to medical school, there will still be the same number of places at universities for medicine. It'll be the number of applicants that'll be cut down if anything.

[gymmet]

Doesn't the government and the overall population of the world need more doctors anyhow? and they're trying to DECREASE the amount of them by introducing expensive tests for us?! The government's great =)!! Hehehe And yeah, i might be taking the BMAT and the UKCAT and the whatever exams you need to be a great medical student....**shudders** though with only 5A's and 6B's...I just might not be able to get into med school >.<

Course you will, those are perfectly respectable GCSE results! Just make sure you think twice about applying to universities such as Birmingham who want 6A*s etc.... study the prospectuses and look on this board to help!

[sal3469]

hi!i went to medlink last year, dec-2005, and they told us a little about UKCAT-google it, and the presentation will come up-thats got all the info thats available about them at this very moment in time.
i dont think its something to be majorly worried about-theyre new to us and to them remember! SO CHILL OUT EVERYONE!!!!
sal XX-FIRST YR COLG

[*em*]

yea i agree - was also a medlink
basically sounds like admisssions people dont know much more than we do
i posted a load of info on the old styly forum ill see if i can copy and paste

lets jus wait til more confirmed info!

xx

[gymmet]

Found from the Medlink website which tells you everything you need to know so far:

New Admission Test for Future Doctors and Dentists

BLOOMINGTON , Minn. , January 18, 2006 ? From summer 2006, candidates applying to the Dental and Medical Schools of 24 UK universities, for entry in 2007, will be required to take the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT).

The test will help universities widen access and make more informed choices from amongst the many highly qualified applicants who apply for medical and dental degree programmes. It will help ensure that the candidates selected have the best combination of mental abilities, attitudes and professional behaviours required for doctors and dentists to be successful in their clinical careers. The 90 minute test will require no specific preparation as it aims to probe innate skills and competencies and seeks to assist rather than place an additional hurdle in front of potential candidates.

The UKCAT is being developed by the UKCAT Consortium of Universities with Pearson VUE, a global leader in computer-based testing and part of Pearson plc. It will be delivered on computer through Pearson VUE test centres worldwide. No UK applicant should be more than 40 miles from a test centre and 80% will be within 20 miles.

Professor Ian Johnson, Chair of the UKCAT Consortium, said: ?We are delighted that so many universities have acted together and agreed to use the same test to provide additional information for selectors and to improve transparency when feeding back to candidates. The UKCAT will assess a wide range of general skills and attributes rather than strictly academic achievement and will assist universities in creating a level playing field for applicants from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds.?

Peter Miller, Commercial Director, Pearson VUE, commented: ?We are excited to be working together with the UKCAT Consortium to deliver this important test. Pearson VUE has ten years of experience in developing computer based assessments. As those who have taken the LNAT (National Admissions Test for Law) have discovered, our network enables candidates to choose from over 150 UK test centres, so that they can sit a test near their home, school or college.?

Further information about the UKCAT will be available on the UKCAT website www.ukcat.ac.uk when the site is launched in April 2006.

Notes for editors

UKCAT Consortium
The UKCAT Consortium includes the following 24 university Medical and Dental Schools :

University of Aberdeen
University of Birmingham
Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Cardiff University
University of Dundee
University of Durham
University of East Anglia
University of Edinburgh
University of Glasgow
Hull York Medical School
Keele University
King?s College London
University of Leeds
University of Leicester
University of Manchester
University of Newcastle
University of Nottingham
University of Oxford Graduate Entry Medical Degree
Peninsula Medical School
Queen Mary, University of London
University of Sheffield
University of Southampton
University of St Andrews
St George?s, University of London

Candidates will need to refer to university Medical and Dental School websites for the specific entry requirements.

Pearson VUE ( www.pearsonvue.com ) is the global leader in electronic testing services for academic admissions, certification and licensing programmes. Pearson VUE offers exams through the world?s largest network of more than 4,000 test centres in 145 countries, providing testing services for information technology, regulatory and certification boards, academic, government and corporate clients. Its innovative technology offers the security and control required by admissions, licensing and certification programmes while its commitment to service provides customers with an unmatched testing experience.

Pearson VUE is a business of Pearson (NYSE: PSO; LSE: PSON), the international media company, whose other businesses include the Financial Times Group, Pearson Education, and the Penguin Group.

The National Admissions Test for Law, or LNAT, is run by a consortium of 11 UK universities. It helps universities to make fairer choices among the many highly-qualified applicants who want to join their undergraduate law programmes.

[Kaz88]

isnt pearson the company that also does the theory tests for the DSA?

[Haligh Haligh]

Thing about the entrance exams is if you are genuinely intelligent you have nothing to worry about.

I applied to Oxford for Medicine and had to sit the BMAT and thought it was ridiculously difficult. I'd never sat an exam so cringe-worthy before. My results came back and I got a 5.8 which I was really impressed with considering how much I hated that exam. Still, my GCSEs weren't good enough for them to give me an interview but they said my BMAT score indicated I was a 'suitable candidate for medicine because I had the aptitude' as they put it.

What the beauty of the BMAT is, is that you can't revise for it. This means to get a good score on it, you genuinely have to be intelligent. The problem is because AAB at A Level is not really a problem for a lot of students to obtain, especially if you revise for months beforehand, universities need something else to discriminate upon before they start dishing out interviews.

This means when you get an interview, it will be much less competitive thanks to these admissions tests.

However, the down side is that the universities might interview candidates who did well on the BMAT/UKCAT but who do not have the necessary people skills, thereby conning you out of your interview.

So it works both ways.

My advice - if you want to do medicine, then don't let stupid aptitude tests put you off. If you don't try, you'll never get in. And even if you don't get in first time, if medicine is what you really want to do, there are other ways to do it.

[medickhead]

What the beauty of the BMAT is, is that you can't revise for it. This means to get a good score on it, you genuinely have to be intelligent. The problem is because AAB at A Level is not really a problem for a lot of students to obtain, especially if you revise for months beforehand, universities need something else to discriminate upon before they start dishing out interviews.

Couldn't agree more. The more admissions tests the better! So many people at the top unis have all As at AS, and are likely to go on and get the same for A2 that there really needs to be another way of distinguishing between candidates.

Problem with UKCAT is that I've heard it won't have so much scientific knowledge tests (could be a good thing) or the essay question (bad thing IMO - allows those with a less scientific brain than some geeks to flourish here).

And please, don't complain about the price. Yes, it's a bitch, but honestly its actually peanuts compared to how much debt you'll be graduating with - since I'll have to intercalate at UCL, I'll be looking at around £20000 just in tuition fees, let alone the cost of 6yrs in London. And that's just because I applied for 2006 entry rather than 2005 - who would have had to pay well under half of this. Life's a bitch - and £60 is **** all.

[dejavu]

Doesn't the government and the overall population of the world need more doctors anyhow? and they're trying to DECREASE the amount of them by introducing expensive tests for us?! The government's great =)!! Hehehe And yeah, i might be taking the BMAT and the UKCAT and the whatever exams you need to be a great medical student....**shudders** though with only 5A's and 6B's...I just might not be able to get into med school >.<

correction: they're trying to decrease the amount of clueless people who land up in med school without a hint of appreciation or worth for the profession they'll be getting into. the UKCAT serves to sieve out the really worth ones from the 'medicine is just 6 years to laugh ma ass off at uni' sorts.

[gymmet]

dejavu and medikhead.... good point. Hadn't thought about it like that. Though someone who thought 6 years at med school would just be a laugh would seriously have to be insane... lol!

Just wondering how they're going to score it and whether it'll have any real effect on how we get in... some unis are only doing it for research purposes as far as I've gathered... maybe it'll tell us more on the website when it gets up and running.