Verbal Reasoning

[ra49]

I have the 'Passing the UKCAT and BMAT (2008)' Book to help me prepare for the UKCAT, and I'm alright with everything (rusty on the numerical but it's coming back...) but the verbal reasoning, in which I don't seem to be 'getting' the questions, even though I understand the format...Like, I just can't seem to understand some of the examples they give until I really think about them (and there isn't time for that in the exam...). Does anyone have any tips on it?

[latestarter]

Hi, I feel a bit of a veteran on UKCAT as this will be my 3rd time... but still I bought the book this year after my marks slipped last year.
The main point for verbal reasoning is to really focus on what the text says and don't jump to conclusions about what you may already know or extrapolations which may be shouting at you.

The school leaving age question is a classic distraction, as even though you know it is 16 the text does not say this and therefore you do not know what the actual wage is for 16-18 year olds. The answer must be Can't tell as the information is not there.

[Chuwy]

same, this is the part which i struggled most on last year. I find it hard to keep to the time limits.

Quick question is the 2007 and 2008 edition of 'passing the UKCAT and BMAT' identical? eg are the questions the same?

[Giggy]

I was going to ask about the exact same thing!

I've been using the 2007 edition of the book which I have borrowed from my college library. Last year i didn't use the book and i got 780 on the verbal reasoning section (my 2nd highest of the 4). This year although I have taken an offer for Medical Biochemsitry at Leicester they have said places will be available for a course transfer, though to apply you must do the UKCAT test again.

As soon as the A-levels were finishes i started practice on UKCAT with learning support and my form tutor. The quantiative reasoning subtest I did very well in practice (it was my weakest last year at 660) and after a bit of work the Decision Analysis and Abstract reasoning started to make more sense. The verbal reasoning subtest has caught me out though, I tried the first 24 questions and got a grand total of 8 right, my form tutor agreeing with the majority of answers i gave. We are going to check with the critical thinking teacher at the college and see what he thinks but someone I know who applied last year (and got an offer) said she found the verbal reasoning questions in the book aukward.

Does anyone else think the book may just have overly difficult examples? If not then in my case i have got a lot worse at verbal reasoning over 1 year.

[Emperor]

was the same wit me.....i think there were some errors in the book.
your ukcat score were really good...how did you do it?

[Giggy]

Erm...part of me has a nasty feeling it may have just been luck. I'm hoping that isn't the case as i can't see myself being lucky twice in a row.

For preperation last year me and another person doing the UKCAT went over the sections with our form tutor at college. The three of us looked at how each section was structured and techniques for answering the different questions. We didn't really focus much on the time limits, we looked at example questions and discussed what we thought the answer was and how we reached those answers. It helped to develop an understanding of what was being asked, what to expect and what they were looking for.

I'm hoping the practice is what it really came down to as I've also been doing a fair bit of work for it this year with my form tutor and with learning support. Have to admit though the trouble with the verbal reasoning has made me nervous.

Most people don't finish all (or in some cases any) of the sections and the time limits are meant to press you. I had slightly extra time due to learning difficulties (dyspraxia) and if i remember correctly I only finished 1 section, 2 at the most. I haven't booked my UKCAT yet, as i said before we were gonig to check over the verbal reasoning section and see where we're going wrong.

[?dentist?]

I think mine was just luck, well nervous about having to do it again cause of this. In the 2007 book verbal reasoning was way way harder in the book than in the actual test.

[Emperor]

whats the best strategy to employ in decision analysis...........

[Emperor]

Giggy your results were awsome!!.......... how come u didnt get into med sch in the first attempt? was it the interviews

[Giggy]

I only got one interview and that was Leicester. With the others i think GCSE grades let me down as they were ok but nothing special. Liverpool for example after applying i found out their minimum GCSE requirements were higher than my grades. Though the person who came to our college told me they were good enough so I was one down from the beginning much to my annoyance. Interview at Leicester I got 43/48, apparently we needed 46/48. I was also perhaps let down by work experience as i didn't have much.

As I said i've accepted the offer for Medical Biochemsitry and will apply for a course transfer - therefore will only be applying within Leicester Uni next year. Hopefully if my A-level grades go well they will back me up and my application will be stronger. I've also got a job as a care assistant at a nursing home from which I've gained a lot of work experience. If this transfer doesn't work out I'll finish the Biochem degree then apply for graduate entry programmes. For reasons stated above I would not under any circumstance apply to Liverpool again.

Decision analysis i tend to take each symbol, translate it seperately and then put those together and see how they work in a sentence. Remember every part of the code should be present in the answer (either the exact words or their equivalent) however the answer may include words which were not in the original code.

Are you applying for the first time or is it a reapplication?