UCAT adn med school Application advice

[Niceday203]

I hope I am in the right place, please can I get any advice for DS Y12 who wants to study medicine. HAs anyone any recommendations about support for UCAT? Lots of adverts about but I would welcome a recommendation or any other advice?

[thewalrus]

Hi,
DD also Y12, so haven't got first-hand experience of any of this yet. The general advice I've seen on here seems to be that you don't need to pay for support or preparation. People seem to do lots of past questions, but I think you can access loads of them free online or using a book.
There are very helpful and comprehensive medical application threads for each year group in the Higher Education section on here - there's a 2025 one already which you might like to join, but also definitely worth a skim through of the older ones for a sense of what the process is like.
Good luck to your DS with it all.

[CadyEastman]

If you have a look in the Higher Education section there might be a couple of threads going on Med School applications. They are usually very helpful.

[Niceday203]

Thank you both. I will read the threads you mention.

[FanSpamTastic]

There is a good Instagram page called "We are medics" run by students at Birmingham med school - worth a look.

There is free stuff online and books you can buy. DD used a site called Medify.

[NoNotHimTheOtherOne]

@Niceday203 Please get your son to bookmark this site: https://www.medschools.ac.uk/studying-medicine. All the information there has come directly from medical schools' admissions leads.
There are lots of people on the higher education board with experience of sons & daughters applying for medicine and they will be happy to offer advice.

[mumsneedwine]

@Niceday203 hi, pop over to the medicine thread - there's one for 2025 already going.

For UCAT most people just use Medify or Medicat for 6-8 weeks before the test. There are free practice tests on the UCAT website too. And this book is very helpful too. No need for expensive courses.

[Niceday203]

Thank you. this is really helpful.

[JuanPablo]

Hello! I have three children - two current medical students and my DD in Y13. Tbh we have tried everything and different approaches for each. The first used the 1250 book (I can see it is now 1300 book) and medify and was fine. The second needed a bit more guidance, we watched youtube videos and got some ucat tutoring from theukcatpeople (which was brilliant btw), and the third again was fine on her own (scored 3040) but got some interview coaching from the same company. All in all I think it can be done yourself just may need help in some areas!