Where should I apply?

[Genious]

I just did my UKCAT and got an average of 640, which is average I suppose... My GCSEs are 9A*s, and IB predictions for MATH, PHYS and CHEM HL is 7,6,7 respectively, and SL predictions are 6,6,7. So, my question is, which universities will I have a decent chance of getting in? Thanks

[nikusm]

Your score is above average as it is over 600 overall. In fact, you're in the first 31% of people sitting the UKCAT. Don't apply to Sheffield because as far as I know they demand at least 675. Btw which EU country are you from?

[ristretto]

I just got back from a very pleasant UKCAT experience and am quite happy with an avg score of 710. I wish to know where I can apply to which doesn't bother about individual subtest scores and just looks at the total/avg as a whole? And I'm an international graduate student who will consider both 4yr and 5yr courses as long as I can get in!

my breakdown is as follows:
VR 640
QR 770
AR 600
DA 830

I have no idea what went wrong at my abstract part. I thought I saw the pattern and was quite confident with at least 50% of the sets......

[nikusm]

Ristretto, how many questions did you answer and how many did you guess in the VR?

[ristretto]

i answered all the questions but completely guessed 5 of them and half-guessed another 5.
it was like this: i went through the test quite smoothly until an extremely long passage and realised time was running out. so i skipped the passage and guessed blindly for the 5 questions to that passage. then when i was reaching the last passage, i had only 1min 30sec left so i only briefly glanced through the passage and the questions to find an answer by instinct. i clicked on my last answer at the last second. i don't think that worked, really...

i was quite surprised at my DA cos i did quite badly for DA in the practice tests. and i absolutely flunked QR in the practice because of time constraints.

anyhow, don't be too worried over the UKCAT. i think the experience was very pleasant overall. the test centre personnel were friendly and the room was pretty quiet. i did mine in china where very few students apply to the UK so i was the only one taking the test this morning...

have you done the practice tests? try them out to familiarise yourself with the question style! and the time constraint! i think if we were allowed to spend an hour on each section of the UKCAT, we'll all be scoring above 800. seriously, it's not that difficult. just need to get the timing right. and i have a feeling the standard of the practice tests were jacked up from the actual standard. my test this morning wasn't as horrifying as the practice tests seemed...

lastly, all the best for your test on 9 aug!

[nikusm]

Thanks, man! You be lucky too with the rest of your app!
I kinda did the same in the VR but I guessed a tad more; I think there were 12 questions I blind guessed.
Up to now, I worked all the practice tests on their website, the 600q book mock, all the other questions in the 600q book and the questions on emedica website all with time constraints.
Today I did the second standard practice test from ukcat and I did like this:
25/44 VR
15/36 QR
25/65 AR
18/28 DA
I wanted so bad to do as many questions I could in the alloted time but got frustrated because my brain "stopped working" during the QR and the AR which I utterly loath.
I did better in the 600Q Book mock though:
VR 24/44
QR 20/40
AR 41/65
DA 21.5/26 [and the 600q book gave me 745 for that, can't wait too see how much over 800 I'll be in the actual test in the DA)]
Everybody says the QR is easier in the exam and also I'm pretty sure that if I'd get half questions right in any section except DA I'll have at least 600 which is perfectly fine for me.
I'm thinking of working some QR and AR from http://ukcatpracticeonline.co.uk/ . Does anyone know anything about this site. How soon will I be able to work the questions? I guess immediately after payment has been done.

[ristretto]

well i think you have a good chance of scoring above 800 for DA since i really don't think i could have got above 21/26 in that section...

as for the VR, i got 33/44 and 30/44 in practice tests 1 and 2 respectively. QR was embarrassing. only around 16 for both tests, i think...

but really, the actual test has much easier and much shorter questions for QR so there's really enough time to complete. but some can be tricky though... i got a bar chart with about 8 bars and the question for me was to rank the mode, median and mean of the data presented.. daunting as it looked, cos i thought i had to calculate all the figures.. but soon i realised that the mode is clearly the lowest and there's only one option that puts mode at the end. so i didn't even calculate anything for that question.

so sometimes questions that look like they need a lot of work actually don't need that much work to answer... just be aware of those and you could save up some time. i had about half a minute left at the end of QR for review...

[nikusm]

Looking back at the QR in practice tests from the ukcat I have noticed that shorter-texted and easier questions are from like question 22 to 36? How's that related to the real thing?

[ristretto]

i got the short and easy questions right from the start. it only got harder and longer at around qn15, i think... i would think it's wise to practise more on questions regarding money. they seem to love asking such questions.. exchange rates etc etc. can get confusing under the stress on a ticking clock (albeit a silent one)... but remember, any second spent on confusion is a second wasted. always keep your cool. since u're sitting in front of this UKCAT test station, u have all the maths skills required to ace it! so just believe in yourself and do it!

[GEP_Jen]

Hey ristretto, well done on your score! Can I just ask how did you find the AR section compared to the practice tests? I have the 600 question book and I found that ok... eventually! but the practice tests just have me stumped every time! My test is on Friday and I think I'm starting to mildly panic! x