Quantitative Reasoning

**Optimistic** · 21-08-2006, 05:48 PM

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**Marwa** · 21-08-2006, 06:06 PM

That's exactly what I did... only missed 2 Questions at the end... the people i asked missed 20/30 i think there are 64 questions

**dsn** · 21-08-2006, 06:39 PM

The problem with it being on a computer is - how do you know that the next questions will be easier. You can't flick through as quickly as if it were on paper, so you might waste more time missing them out and marking for review...

**J :)** · 21-08-2006, 07:20 PM

Hi! i did the UKCAT 2 days back and managed to complete the first and last two sections on time and in the shapes section had time to go through the section twice!
However...the maths section i hated

and guessed probabaly more than half as i realised i had hardly any time left...only this way did i answer every question in the test. What did really irritate me was that the questions started to get kinda easier towards the end (what i thought)...(having just had a quick glance at them)!!!

What i would advise is just to keep an eye on the clock and like 'Optimistic' said..go through the first few items of each question first

**dsn** · 21-08-2006, 07:31 PM

No.

The problem is that there are two "expenditures" of time involved;
A) read the information and work out what graphs etc. mean
B) answer questions.
y) time to answer last question

If you leave questions to the end you have to re do (A), so if you just do all questions, the time taken for a section is (A+B). Whereas, the time taken if you leave a question till later is (2A+B) and if you just leave the last question the time is (A+B-y).

However time per mark that becomes: (A+B)/4 ; (2A+B)/4 ; (A+B-y)/3

Which is more efficient, obivously depends on the values of A, B and Y. Probably A < Y < B, so if A = 1, Y = 2, B = 3
we get as time per question 1; 1.25; 0.66 respectively
So in this case it is actually better to not do the last question (unless you have time at the end, but this model assumes that you do not have time at the end).

So with a bit of thinking we can see that as Y increases, time per question if Y is left out decreases. What does this prove. Nothing we didn't already know. Not a very good model, this. Just as well thay don't ask you to construct a model in the UKCAT.

**J :)** · 21-08-2006, 07:44 PM

lol i like your idea of interpreting the UKCAT but i would still stick to what 'Optimistic' had said earlier. The thing is that up unitill now i've not heard of anyone being able to finish the maths section (without guessing) and i doubt any one could...and because most of the time maybe taken up on the last few items of each question (which most were say are the hardest), these items can be put for review and that way you could have more time in doing the easier first few items of each question
and actually finish the test knowing you have done all you could.

Basically, you are not expected to finish the entire test (the maths section mostly) without the exception of guessing....

**J :)** · 21-08-2006, 07:46 PM

ermmm....by the where did the first bit of this thread go..?

**medi2cine** · 30-08-2006, 06:14 PM

The problem with the maths was that reading the question, analysing the diagram consumes so much time, im sure if they gave you time to read the question then most of us can answer them. I was especially stressed about the Maths section, but I do kind of feel better now im on this site and I can see some people had the same problems. By the way did you lot think that the preparation questions provided in the UKCAT test (for the maths section only) were so much easier then the real exam!