Do medics need UKCAT?

[eatinglesschocolate]

Expat friend of DD did badly in it today. Is it the end of the road this year? Do all unis need/want it? Any advice welcome.... This is out of my knowledge zone!

[Decorhate]

Some universities use BMAT instead. Not sure when the closing date is for entries but the exam will be this term.

Dd found the BMAT format suited her better. It was more like a science test

[Decorhate]

www.admissionstesting.org/for-test-takers/bmat/bmat-october/

[SpuriouserAndSpuriouser]

Some of the universities give a lot of weight to it, at others you have to have done it, but other elements of the application are more important. It depends how “badly” they’ve done, but a low UKCAT score doesn’t automatically mean the end of the road.

[eatinglesschocolate]

Thank you! I will pass on the info! I don’t know how bad it was...just thought the wonder of mumsnet might have a glimmer of hope for the girl!!

[CherryPavlova]

She needs to look at each university admission criteria for details of how much emphasis is placed on UKCAT. Most want a reasonable score. Some (generally more prestigious universities) use BMAT instead. She could look at dates but when my daughter applied applications had to be in by October half term so time is of the essence.

There are online courses aimed at improving UKCAT scores and they do give some good advice. She could reapply next year with known grades and a resit of UKCAT or BMAT. Plenty take a gap year.

[goodbyestranger]

DS1 didn't take the UKCAT but got three offers (admittedly plus a January pre interview rejection).

[goodbyestranger]

I suppose the question is really: why did she do badly?

[Needmoresleep]

Honestly lots of bright kids do badly in UKCAT. It is very much performance on the day.

DD was lucky in that though her performance was poor, at the time her med school did not look at UKCAT, so she got a place. There is no evidence, as far as she can see, that a good UKCAT score predicts who is going to struggle. If anything, admittedly from observation, the strongest predictor is achieved A levels. If you found maths or chemistry hard at school and struggle to achieve the grades, you will probably have to continue working quite hard when you get there.

[swingofthings]

There's bad and hopelessly bad. They might struggle with a ukcat school if the latter but might surprise that some uni go quite low. It then depends on her GCSEs and expected A levels.

Agree that understanding why she failed is important. Lack of preparation especially considering she took it late might question commitment to medicine. If she did a lot of preparation, it might be too tough for her at this stage and is likely to find the bmat hard too.

If it was a bad day and the results were unexpected, it might be her nerves so working on that aspect might still mean her being able to do very well on the BMAT and open herself to a number of schools.

[ProfessorLayton1]

I don't know how to link but UKCAT website has released their average score for this year. It may not be as bad as she thinks.

www.ukcat.ac.uk/media/1264/2018-preliminary-mean-scores-sept-2018.pdf

[ProfessorLayton1]

Well the linking did work!

There are medical schools which does not give UKCAT a lot of weight - Keele, Plymouth, Birmingham and Cardiff to name a few. It is not definitely end of the road...

[eatinglesschocolate]

You lot are amazing! I’ll point DD in that direction so she can console/inspire her friend. I’m not sure on details of her mark just that she was ‘opening a bottle of wine last night’ after getting them back!! The joy of being 18 in last year of school!!😂😂😏