Abstract Reasoning

**richadam** · 20-08-2012, 01:47 AM

Am I the only one who really struggles with this?

I've been going through all the 'Medify' questions and I just can't seem to consistantly get decent scores. I get 5/5, then 1/5, then 2/5, 2/5, then 5/5...

One of the patterns was ridiculous.

Pattern 'A' - Count the number of sides in the shaded shapes, and do the same for non-shaded shapes (but double these) - so 2 squares, 1 shaded, 1 non-shaded would equal 12 sides.... what the hell?

Any tips?

**jcak** · 20-08-2012, 02:01 AM

I struggled with this initially, but then I bought the "How to Master the UKCAT" book which was perfect for this. The chapter on AR discussed the potential rules first and had a couple of pages about the section as a whole which I found useful. Once I had read this a couple of times I literally did every practice one I could until I had remembered all the rules so needed more practice material.

All you can really do is practice, practice, practice. The more you do, the more you remember, the more you recognise the rules and the easier they are to 'get'. Luckily the actual exam isn't as hard as some of the practice material which is out there so you may be pleasantly surprised!

I don't know about the medify questions as I never used them, but when I had run out of questions, I found emedica's UKCAT Revision - UKCAT questions and support from UKCATPrep.com helpful not just for AR.

Hope I've helped! Good luck!

**richadam** · 20-08-2012, 02:09 AM

Thank you very much, I will certainly have a look in to the material you suggested..

Where are you applying?

**jcak** · 20-08-2012, 02:30 AM

My A levels let me down so I have limited options for GEP's, my places of choice are Barts, Warwick, Soton and Newcastle (in no particular order). How about you?
I would have loved to go to Kings but they ask for a 717 average at UKCAT which didn't happen sadly

**Serac** · 20-08-2012, 07:50 PM

This might sound stupid, but I prepare by looking for patterns in everything, not only the UKCAT. Looking at as many questions as possible is very important. The questions may be random, but there are some things that will pop up again and again.

Look for:
Number of sides
Number of angles
Number of over lapping side
IF (if THIS is included, then THAT follows. As in, if you have a square, there is also a circle)
Relative Position
And, on the clock ones, don't just look at what hour number it's pointing at (Like 3), also look at it as minutes. It's a common mistake.

Good luck.