Advice for the UCAT

The UCAT. The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT) is a computer-based admissions test used by a consortium of UK Universities for their medical and dental degree programmes.

“The UCAT helps universities to select applicants with the most appropriate mental abilities, attitudes and professional behaviours required for new doctors and dentists to be successful in their clinical careers”. Otherwise known as a two-hour admission test that many medical applicants, including myself, dreaded. Truth be told, I’m glad that the exam is now a distant memory of the past.

I didn’t have the best experience with the ucat, but my results still enabled me to get into med school. However, like every experience in life, there is an opportunity to learn. Reflecting on my experience, here is a list of what I did, what worked for me as well as what I would do differently if given the chance to redo the test.

1. Learn the keyboard shortcuts and get used to the on-screen calculator.

2. Everyone works differently but personally, I would give a minimum of 6 weeks, ideally a little longer, to start practicing. I advise doing a little every day and build it up closer to the time of the exam. Consistency is key to avoid feeling overwhelmed!

3. Relating to the last point, unfortunately, crash courses and cramming are not ideal, the nature of the exam means you have to practice to master recognising and spotting patterns in answers.

4. On the other hand, you don’t want to overdo it with practice. This is to avoid burnout and overly second-guessing or doubting yourself on answers.

5. There are so many courses out there to help with ucat practice. There are good free resources online. However, some online resources take advantage of medical applicants because often they feed into the competitive nature of the exam. I used and recommend Medify. I paid for the 4-week package but would opt for the 6-week one. They offer tutorials, teaching, and a lot of timed practice questions which I found useful. It also ensured I could track my practice.

6. I would also recommend using a computer and mouse throughout your practice as opposed to perhaps relying on any ucat textbooks. This is because the ucat is a computer-based exam.

7. Ensure to do the full mocks available on the official ucat website, as these are the people who set the actual exam, they will help prepare for the worst.

8. Many applicants see the exam as competition which is not helpful. It can make you feel more stressed and anxious about it. Focus on practicing to do YOUR best. At the end of the day, it is just an exam that doesn’t define you and can always be resat. The only competition you should have is yourself. Comparison is a thief of joy.

Don’t forget to apply for a bursary or extra time for the UCAT exam if you are eligible if you’re not sure check the criteria anyway!