I sat my UKCAT yesterday and I must say I was dreading it. I sat it last year and got 585. This year after a bit of preparation I managed to get 720.
Thought it would be worth letting people know what I found useful and what I didn't.
General comments- Make sure you answer all the questions even if this involves guessing
- Leave enough time to guess the remaining questions. My advice would be 1min.
- Be aware that if you have not viewed the whole screen of the question that you are on, you cannot move onto the next question or go back to any of the questions you have answered. There are both vertical scroll bars and horizontal. I spent about 30 seconds trying to move forward/back but not being able to just because I hadn't scrolled over to see the 1cm of blank screen just off to the right!!!!!
- You will need to save a lot of the space on the laminated writing sheet you are given for the fourth section (Decision analysis) I would recommend leaving at least one side for this section. When I sat the test I had no way of cleaning off what I had written. Two sides of A4 is all you get.
- Earplugs are a must, there are lots of people taking their driving theory test just inches away clicking like mad on their hazard perception tests.
- The calculator you get is as basic as it gets, big buttons, not scientific, no brackets. Be careful. If you type in 2x5+5x6 you get 90 not 40 like you would expect from a decent calculator.
- Now this may seem like common sense to most of you, but I sat my UKCAT last year on a Thursday afternoon, after four days of work. I was mentally worn out. Sit your test some time when you are mentally rested. I chose to sit it at 10:30 on a sat morning this year and I think it made the world of difference.
Section specific advice
Verbal Reasoning
Read the question first. Really do!
I read the passage through once properly. Then I skimmed it for the relevant sentence prior to answering all the other questions. I only just made it through the section time wise.
Questions that are true are the easiest to get right.
Questions that are false must contradict something that is written in the passage.
If they aren't true or false then they are 'can't tell' (obviously).
In order for the answer to be 'can't tell' there must be something missing from the text that is required to answer the question.
Practice/Preparation
Other verbal reasoning tests online are really bad for practice as many of the answers are in many peoples opinion wrong. They require you to use your own knowledge of a subject or to make assumptions. This is NOT what you need to do in the UKCAT. All the information you need to answer the question is in the passage don't try to add to it from your own knowledge!
The most reliable practice i would recommend is that on the UKCAT Website (although i have seen some posts saying even this is not completely correct).
The book 'Passing the UK Clinical Aptitude Test and BMAT' is not great for this sections. Some of the answers are wrong and some require you to add things from your own knowledge to the text provided which is not what you are meant to do in the UKCAT. My advice would be to avoid this section in the book or to take the whole exercise with a pinch of salt.
Links to similar verbal reasoning sites/tests in the same format (true, false, can't tell). You need to give a few details but no money
These are all pretty good I'd say.
http://www.profilingforsuccess.com/kogan-page/
http://www2.practice.shlsolutions.co...99F0873&LID=18
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/verbaltest.htm
Numerical Reasoning
Now this one is the easiest to prepare for and also the easiest to mess up.
This section tests
basic math. Percentages, Ratios, calculating volumes, calculating areas, interpreting basic graphs, pie charts and line graphs. Everything you did in GCSE math and nothing more. At least that was my experience of it. It is not the complexity of the calculations that will catch people out, rather it is the time it takes to work out what is being asked of you. By all means brush up on your math but i don't think it is going to help much in getting you through.
If there is too much information to interpret in one question then move on. I skipped one question because it had a massive exhibit with additional info in it. Everyone i have seen comment on this section has said that they didn't finish in the time allowed. In that case skip the questions that are too long.
Practice/Preparation
Try the questions in the 'Passing the UK Clinical Aptitude Test and BMAT' book. However i don't think the math questions in the UKCAT section are as hard as the questions in the real test. Also the BMAT section questions are O.K. but again not great.
Links
Not many I would recommend for this really just the one below.
http://www.profilingforsuccess.com/kogan-page/
Abstract Reasoning
This section seems to be the one that people either love or hate. This section should be your friend. It is fine if you do some research into what exactly you need to look for when answering the questions.
The way to tackle these questions is to look at the two sets of shapes presented and find the patterns/similarities in each. Don't look at the question shapes. Once you find the pattern in the two sets it should be simple to place the question shapes in one group or another. The only thing you need to do is to find the patterns in the two sets of shapes (you may not find this easy but they are there).
You are not looking for similarities
between the two sets of shapes given.
You are looking for similarities
within each of the sets.
These could be as simple as the number of shapes in each box, the number of lines in each box, all shapes having an even number of sides or odd number of side, one black shape in each box etc.
It can be as hard as all the boxes having a four sided shape in the bottom right hand corner.
This section needs practice, and practice really can help
Practice/preparation
The best sources of info for this section are the 'Passing the UK Clinical Aptitude Test and BMAT' and another book called 'Practice tests for diagrammatic and abstract reasoning' this book is very cheap on Amazon. However it is only chapter 2 test 3 that is any use (although it is of a lot of use). This book really is a must.
Links
http://www.profilingforsuccess.com/kogan-page/
Decision Analysis
There is plenty of time for this section.
I was able to write down every code (this is a must in my opinion).
What you need to do is to choose which meaning is the simplest interpretation of the code given.
Again don't use personal knowledge, just what is in front of you.
Sometimes it is easier to work out which answers are not correct and arrive at the correct answer by elimination. Some of the possible answers can be eliminated simply because they do not contain all the words used in the code or because they include extra words.
Practice/preparation
I found the 'Passing the UK Clinical Aptitude Test and BMAT book invaluable for this section. It is the only similar test i have found to the actual thing apart from the practice test on the UKCAT website. It uses different symbols but this doesn't make any difference, a code is a code.
No links for this one I’m afraid.
All in all, try your best. Some people can just fly through these tests some can't. I'm still puzzled at the use of it for getting into med school but if they ask we must obey.
I'm amazed at some people who get 600-650 and say they are disappointed. On the UKCAT website it says that most people taking the test (all highly intelligent people applying for med/dentistry) will score between 500 and 700. This means that the average is 600. If you are above average then you did well. If not then it doesn't mean that you aren’t clever, not at all. Just remember that you are all probably used to being top of your school class etc. But when you make a new class full of all these people, someone still has to come top and someone still has to come bottom.
Anyway, that's enough from me.
Hope this helps and good luck
Craig
UKCAT Advice for those yet to take it
