After scoring in the top 4% of UCAT candidates nationwide, medical student Grace Tokatly shares her five top tips to help aspiring medical students prepare with confidence and perform at their best on test day.
1. Start revision early
Get yourself familiar with the UCAT sections. This is unlike any exam you have sat before and it’s good to expose yourself to untimed practice when you are more than 5 weeks out from your exam date.
2. Familiarise yourself with the online calculator and Num Lock key pad
You won’t be able able to bring in your own calculator and the online UCAT one works differently to the usual scientific one. The key pad to the side of the keyboard will become your best friend. Use it in QR as it will save you a lot of time.
3. Learn to skim read
You don’t have time to read each text in full for VR. Learn to skim over filler words and look for key information only.
4. Set yourself timings to stick to per question and then flag and move on
You don’t want to spend too long on one hard question and miss a bunch of easier ones later on because you don’t have time. Find what works for you, however if you want a guide:
Timings that I set for myself:
VR = Max. 2 mins for 1 text + 4 questions.
QR = Max. 2 mins for a section (4 questions) and max. 30 seconds on 1 question. Flag if unsure, and see if you can bank yourself more time by completing the other questions with the same information and come back to it.
DM= Max. 1 min a question.
Anytime saved on other questions means you can go back to the harder ones you flagged.
5. Most importantly don’t overwork yourself in practice
UCAT burnout is real, pace yourself and have a realistic plan for each day set out. Schedule in time for yourself and take plenty of breaks.
You can always reschedule your UCAT if you don’t feel ready or if you think you have reached peak performance. There will be days you plateau and feel like you just aren’t improving but be consistent and you will see those scores rising again!