Terrified

**Ben_NCFC** · 14-06-2009 01:41 AM

OK i have a place on an access to medicine course for September and thought I'd try and get on with some UKCAT practice papers etc and started the practice test on the UKCAT site. I feel I did OK on verbal reasoning but when it got to quantative reasoning I just blanched, It looks very difficult and Maths is probably my weakest subject. Am I going to screw the whole test on that one area? Does everyone find UKCAT hard, some advice or reassurance needed from fellow strugglers please!

**alex89** · 16-06-2009 12:48 PM

hey no worries.

i did the trial UKCAT test on the website and did miserably. It's A LOT harder than what you will be getting for the real test. It's probably just to scare you into practicing a lot. The math section is riddled with lots of errors if you notice.

just have a calm piece of mind when you get there for your exams. I didn't get any of the practice books. So i was very nervous on the test day. didn't know what to expect. but i scored better than i expected to =]

hope that helps...

**sara7000** · 16-06-2009 02:03 PM

hey i just wanted to ask are the practise questions in the book HOW TO PASS UKCAT similar to tht in the real test or harder, easier?

**akira333** · 16-06-2009 05:28 PM

if you practice the maths section in the practice books, those are the only type of questions that will come up, by "type" I mean the kind of calculations you have to do doesnt get very complicated in UKCAT! just relax and go through the two books at a nearby bookstore
verbal is easy, but dont be misled like I was. I got my practice perfect and then in the exam all was well until 5 questions into the exam when the computer started throwing up long passages to read.
so the exam itself has some longer extracts that you must read before answering questions and none of the books or practice paper companies/books acknowledge this fact. so make sure you can the do the practice ones in the books really fast and then practice reading longer extracts fast as well

**sara7000** · 17-06-2009 04:05 PM

i am finding the verbals even hard, i just feel so disheartened, i ser dont get this test. App how long should u spend on reading the passage and answering the 3 questions aswell? 30 seconds per question but then passage reading time? How was ur UKCAT, do u mind me asking what u got?

**sara7000** · 17-06-2009 04:06 PM

plus any other suggested books rather than the HOW TO PASS UKCAT, that i could use with extra questions, alot of material online but i have no access to net in the house, I TOTALLY RELY on this one book for now

**sara7000** · 17-06-2009 04:07 PM

also how long beforehand should u start practising for the test? my test is like jus over a month away, is it enough? should i put in like an hour a day? thnx alot!

**beatrix7** · 17-06-2009 09:00 PM

Yeh the thing is is could have been me writing that post (Ben's). I HATE maths a lot and when I did the practice one on the internet I cried. I get about half way through and about half of those were right. I was also bad at the shapes one, one website (Kent uni I think) told me that I was "clinically spacially retarded". I looked over GCSE maths books the night before and looked at the answers to the shape ones really closely. It was fine! I got 635 which isn't that great but my maths one was the highest one (765). Why? Okay the secret is: IT IS SO SO SO SO SO MUCH, LIKE 1000000000000000000000000000 TIMES (told you I was bad at maths) EASIER IN THE EXAM THAN THE PRACTICE. Well thats my opinion anyway. GOOD LUCK! x

**beatrix7** · 17-06-2009 09:04 PM

OMG I've just looked at your post Sara! An hour a day? You would get like 900! Do half an hour in the week up to it maybe? You would be insane if you did that, the computer would be on fire! Oh yeh and dont listen to what they say about it being innate ability and you can't revise. You can revise for it and you should do a bit if you want to do your best. But not too much!

**Baki** · 17-06-2009 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by beatrix7

OMG I've just looked at your post Sara! An hour a day? You would get like 900! Do half an hour in the week up to it maybe? You would be insane if you did that, the computer would be on fire! Oh yeh and dont listen to what they say about it being innate ability and you can't revise. You can revise for it and you should do a bit if you want to do your best. But not too much!

Doesn't hurt to do too much.

UKCAT can really affect your application (well depending on what unis you apply to).