Just finished my UKCAT! Score and experiences

[jcak]

When you say "tricks" used, tricks such as what?

I know in practice test one on the official Pearson UKCAT test paper they have a question about sound using an analogue to digital converter (ADC) and digital to analogue converter (DAC). The question asks about one but it's easy enough to read about the other and it leads to an opposing answer- is that an excessively common trick I should look out for as a skim read leads to missing this.

[annasue]

Ok! Here's a few tricks! (as used by me!)

The 'common knowledge' trick:
This relies on people knowing something.... which isn't explicitly stated in the text. For example - if there were a passage about the England Football Team there might be a question about their world cup win in 1966 and the fact they haven't won it since. It would be easy to answer because we know that's true... right? If it isn't stated in the text that a) they did win the world cup in 1966 and b) they haven't won since then you would have to answer 'can't tell' even though you know it to be true.

The 'easy to misread' trick
The one jcak refers to is a classic - to the uninformed it is easy to confuse DAC with CAD and get an answer wrong. Other common versions of this occur when there is foreign language names or places mentioned, or a series of names / words which may be confused with one another.

The 'got to read two paragraphs' trick
Sometimes a question will need you to read two sentences in separate paragraphs. For example - in a passage about tree shrews (!) it might state in paragraph one that the tree shrews are nocturnal and in paragraph 3 say that their natural predators are black mambo snakes who attack when they are searching for grubs.... and the question might be 'Black mambo snakes are nocturnal'.... they MUST be if they are preying on noctunal creatures when they are foraging.

The 'synonym' trick
This is a simple one - a question uses a different word which means the same thing. This makes skimming for a particular word hard.

If I think of any more (I am sure there are more!) I'll post again later.

[jackiepark]

Congratulation!
I'm so jealous how you did!
I always have problem with verbal reasoning How did you manage to do well?
Also doing on the computer is very different to do on paper-book

Oh!!!!! did you have non-cognitive in the test????

[annasue]

Hi Jackiepark. I have done a lot of research into VR questions as I write them for UKCATprep.com (and online UKCAT practice site). In the post aboce yours I give a few tips on common 'tricks'!

There isn't any non cognitive in the test now. There is a new SJT (Situational Judgement Test) which isn't marked this year. It judges professionalism and ethics and that sort of thing. There is a practice SJT paper (for layout, style and level) on UKCATprep.com too - I wrote that too!

As the test is on a computer it is probably best to get some practice on a computer too.

Good luck!

[jackiepark]

Hi Jackiepark. I have done a lot of research into VR questions as I write them for UKCATprep.com (and online UKCAT practice site). In the post aboce yours I give a few tips on common 'tricks'!

There isn't any non cognitive in the test now. There is a new SJT (Situational Judgement Test) which isn't marked this year. It judges professionalism and ethics and that sort of thing. There is a practice SJT paper (for layout, style and level) on UKCATprep.com too - I wrote that too!

As the test is on a computer it is probably best to get some practice on a computer too.

Good luck!

Oh my god! Thank you so much! If you didn't tell me about SJT and ukcatprep.com website, I would feel awful until my test day! Thank you so much! and I will read the tips! thank you so much~

Where are you going to apply for your university? Are you applying for undergrad or grad?

[annasue]

Hi Jackiepark

I'm not actually applying to do medicine at all (despite my UKCAT score!). I did the test as part of UKCATprep.com - and our efforts to make our service as realistic as possible.

Don't feel awful! The SJT section isn't marked this year so it won't make any difference to your eventual score.

[jackiepark]

Really?
Then why did you do UKCAT test?? It was just to improve UKCATprep.com website?
I hope I do well as you did~

SJT won't be marked as a part of the test score but there will be SJT section, right?

I don't know how to do well on test,,

[annasue]

Yes - just did the test to make sure our service at UKCATprep.com is up to scratch!

There WILL be an SJT section but it won't be marked as this year it is only on trial.

Sounds like you're working hard on preparing so I you will probably do well.

[Cringle]

Hi,

I never post usually but I did the UKCAT yesterday and feel that I should post my experiences as they might be helpful to somebody, I've been helped loads by reading others' posts over the last few weeks when I've been stressing out! Thanks to everyone who posts on this site, it's been unbelievably helpful.

I've been using the following books:
Score Higher on the UKCAT: the expert guide from Kaplan
Get into Medical School - 600 UKCAT Practice Questions
UKCAT For Dummies
How to Master the UKCAT: Over 700 Practice Questions
BMAT and UKCAT Uncovered

I think altogether they were maybe £50-£60, you could probably get them cheaper on ebay or something. I know the med schools say you shouldn't waste your money etc. but these books REALLY helped. If you can only get one I'd say the Kaplan is the best, the questions were closest to the real test in my opinion and the tips in it are concise and easy to remember. I didn't go on any courses because I felt that I could identify the areas I needed to work on myself. I can see how they could be helpful though if you're not sure what to do. In my opinion practice is important but it needs to be smart practice - targeting the things you're weak at and finding out why you're weak at it and find a way to improve solidly. So find out if you got one wrong why you got it wrong, but also if you get one right, check that the reason you got it right was the right reason! Also do questions you've got wrong again and again - even if you know the answer force yourself to go through the calculations and move through the question logically so it's more likely you'll get a similar question right next time, in my head I think of it as reinforcing connections in my brain...?

There's a post somewhere on which somebody has put a massive list of links to questions (many thanks by the way!), I'd use these to practise then use the book(s) in the few weeks leading up to the exam to get in the swing of what the actual questions will be like.

The test centre was fine, re. the pen / pad situation they gave me a book of 4 laminated sheets of squared paper and a permanent marker, more than enough for me even after scribbling my massive incomprehensible numbers in a mad rush. The onscreen calculator was just like the official practices - including the annoying way it won't click in two of the same number quickly with the mouse. I'd echo recommendations to get good at using the keypad, might save some time, totally worth it.

VR: Very close to the practices I've been doing, some passages longer, some shorter, most medium. There were two sets of questions which weren't True/False.
QR: MUCH easier than the official tests 1+2 and the 600 Questions book. I would say the closest thing I've done is the Score Higher book. Some of the other books were about the right level but the types of questions weren't exactly the same, e.g. finding the median from a massive table of numbers - I didn't come across anything like this in the actual exam. The Score Higher seems to me the right level and the right kinds of questions. Not that the other books weren't helpful!
AR: This is tough because some people might see things differently on this one, but I found it much easier than most of the practices. Only maybe two sets seemed to have two rules, whereas some of the practices had really convoluted ones! I scored very highly on this one.
DA: This again was pretty close to the practice material. Some were short and some long, 3 questions at the end about choosing a word to add.

There was some practice in the How to Master... book on SJT but it wasn't really close to the real thing. Half of it was a situation and you had to choose whether a certain action was Very appropriate, Appropriate but not ideal, Innappropriate but not awful, or Very innapropriate. The other half asks whether the following consideration was important in deciding how to act in the given situation: Very important, quite important etc. It was pretty hard, they ask things in a really awkward way. All the questions were from doctor or medical student situations.

So that's about it! I did most of my study on AR and QR, these were definately my weakest so I really worked on improving my technique, ended up scoring the highest on these! I was shocked in fact. Looking back I should have done the same for QR and DA but I felt quite comfortable and I got the score I wanted with them anyway. I think with AR you really can improve by learning the types of things they usually do and systematically reeling them off in your head with each question, checking them for each likely pattern. Does that make sense?! AR + QR the best piece of advice for me is to be brutal with the time - moving on and not getting bogged down. Like I said I think the advice in the Score Higher book was great. Also with QR just being so familiar with certain things like percentages and speed calculations that you can work out what they want and do it really quickly without even thinking about it, leaving more time for longer questions. When I started it took me ages to do speed calculations, I knew how but it always took me too long to figure out what to multiply by what or divide etc. Now I draw a little triangle with D (for distance) at the top and ST (speed / time) on my sheet before the exam so when I'm stressed and rushing I just look at it and punch the numbers in. It's all about identifying where you can save time!

Anyway here are my scores:

VR 690
QR 850
AR 900
DA 680

Needless to say, I'm ecstatic! I couldn't believe the QR and AR. This is WAY up on what I would have got before I started studying, I'm positive. And they say you can't prepare...

Sorry for the long post, I can get a bit anal about these things, probably good I don't post very often! I've put some advice here, but it's only my opinion, feel free to disagree!

Good luck!

[xadmin]

amazing score