Be careful of Emedica UKCAT Prep site..

**Masuda** · 11-06-2012, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by jhallam9

Thanks,

Is emedica and modify changing their question style then? or have the already done this?
I don't want to spend £25 if the questions differ.

James

Hi James

Emedica / UKCATPrep.com already have some of the new format questions up on our subscription site, we added them last year as soon as the new format was announced.

Last year Pearson Vue tested them alongside some test (unmarked) True/False/Can't Tell questions so half the candidates saw an unscored set of 4 statement questions and half the candidates saw an unmarked set of the old format questions but found that the new type were better performing than the old format and they have extended the trial so that this year all the test questions (unmarked) will be of the 4 statement type.

All the old format questions you see will be marked but a set of 4 statement questions you see will be unmarked. Last year not eveyone saw them but this year everyone will see at least one set of 4 in the new format.

Pearson Vue do not advertise that fact but there are always 4 unmarked questions in each candidate's VR test, 4 unmarked questions in each QR test and 5 unmarked questions in each AR test.

Masuda

**snakefisch** · 12-06-2012, 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by Masuda

All the old format questions you see will be marked but a set of 4 statement questions you see will be unmarked. Last year not eveyone saw them but this year everyone will see at least one set of 4 in the new format.

Argh Masuda, where are you getting this information? This is wrong. I have contacted UKCAT (on Twitter for anyone interested) and they have told me that the new style questions WILL be marked.
I agree there is probably a set of questions unmarked but there is no way of telling which.

And James FYI on the emedica site most of the tests actually only have the standard true/false questions without the new style questions incorporated. There is just one separate test at the end with some of these.

**Masuda** · 12-06-2012, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by snakefisch

Argh Masuda, where are you getting this information? This is wrong. I have contacted UKCAT (on Twitter for anyone interested) and they have told me that the new style questions WILL be marked.
I agree there is probably a set of questions unmarked but there is no way of telling which.

And James FYI on the emedica site most of the tests actually only have the standard true/false questions without the new style questions incorporated. There is just one separate test at the end with some of these.

Hi snakefisch

I was getting it from the technical reports, from the pre-test item reports but your information is more recent so I guess things may have changed since those were published. They do have some of the 4 statement questions that they tested last year that they could include as marked questions this year. They are usually very conservative about using questions until they have been tested on a larger sample but I guess conservatism is not set in stone - in any case I'm sitting the test on the 3rd July to see how many of the new type show up, so that when we incorporate them into the UKCATPrep.com VR questions we can do so in the correct proportions.

Masuda

**snakefisch** · 12-06-2012, 02:55 PM

Great,
yes I just had this reply again after re-checking with them

"UKCATest UKCAT
@snakefisch They do count towards your score."

Please let us know after you sit it. I am especially interested as my test is 2 days later on the 5th!

Good luck with yours!

**Masuda** · 12-06-2012, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by snakefisch

Great,
yes I just had this reply again after re-checking with them

"UKCATest UKCAT
@snakefisch They do count towards your score."

Please let us know after you sit it. I am especially interested as my test is 2 days later on the 5th!

Good luck with yours!

Thanks - I'll be back on here the same day to let people know what I see - we send one of the UKCATPrep.com team along to sit the test every year just to make sure we keep ourselves up to date, and keep an eye on the difficulty and layout and so on, this year two of us are sitting it on the 3rd and the 4th July.

We will be adding more of the new format questions once we've seen more of them, in real life so to speak and also some of the new situational judgement test questions will be going up soon as well.

Masuda

**snakefisch** · 12-06-2012, 10:15 PM

For those interested, I have just had a look through the new style VR questions on the emedica/UKCATprep site. I am afraid to say they do not resemble the real thing. The question format given on the site usually has just one word option answers. This is not how it is on the official UKCAT. It is best if you use the official UKCAT practice tests for these. And an example is given on this page:

: UKCAT

"Other items assess critical reasoning skills, requiring candidates to make inferences and draw conclusions from information. Again, you will need to read the passage of text carefully. You will then be presented with items which comprise a stem, which might be an incomplete statement or a question, with four response options. The candidate is required to pick the best or most suitable response. Candidates will only be able to select one response."

They are normally more than just one word answers to choose from and seem to require a lot more reading than the standard true/false questions.

**Masuda** · 13-06-2012, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by snakefisch

For those interested, I have just had a look through the new style VR questions on the emedica/UKCATprep site. I am afraid to say they do not resemble the real thing. The question format given on the site usually has just one word option answers. This is not how it is on the official UKCAT. It is best if you use the official UKCAT practice tests for these. And an example is given on this page:

: UKCAT

"Other items assess critical reasoning skills, requiring candidates to make inferences and draw conclusions from information. Again, you will need to read the passage of text carefully. You will then be presented with items which comprise a stem, which might be an incomplete statement or a question, with four response options. The candidate is required to pick the best or most suitable response. Candidates will only be able to select one response."

They are normally more than just one word answers to choose from and seem to require a lot more reading than the standard true/false questions.

Hi snakefisch

Thanks for the feedback - UKCATPrep.com currently have 48 of the new format questions up with more on the way and as I said previously we will incorporate them into the main tests we have up once we have sat the actual test and seen the correct proportion for them. We are sending two of our team to sit the exam on the 3rd and 4th of July.

Good luck with your test and best of luck securing your space at medical school

Masuda