So how to ace the UCAT?

[HipOrHop]

DD is in year 10 and set on trying for Medicine. She's hard working and academic but the UCAT is a whole new world in itself. Please can anyone share tips and ideas how to have the best chance at doing well in this test? DD is at our local comp which doesn't seem to get many pupils into med school so they won't be able to guide us much. Having looked at some of the situational questions, they are not always clear cut and I wonder how one best prepares for these. Maths should be in general no problem, she has never done non-verbal reasoning though. She is a cadet first aider and has been volunteering at events for the last year so hopefully that side of things is covered if she gets selected for interviews.

[Maybeicanhelpyou]

There are books you can get to help, the obvious is ucat for dummies!
I think she’s doing all the right things though, by exposing her to as many clinical situations as you can will allow that experience. But in reality it’s something you either can do or can’t. Some people with all the training in the world just won’t get those situational judgment’s. Others will fly trough them without thinking. That’s the whole point of the test!!

[maudmadrigal]

From what I've read on here and the student room previously, I'm not sure there's much you can do at this stage to increase her chances of doing well on the UCAT. People seem to prepare for it fairly intensively in the summer of Y12 by practising questions.

DD is in Y12 and planning to sit UCAT in the summer. There's a cohort of around 25 of them at her (large!) sixth form college who are planning to apply for medicine. About 5 or 6 of them have already got UCAT tutors (DD isn't one of them, so I don't really know what they're doing or how useful it is). There are various 'prepare for UCAT' programs you can sign up for (at some expense).

People seem to recommend Medify or Medentry for past questions. I think DD will use the basic Medentry package as she likes to work anywhere and will benefit from having it on her phone. I think she's planning to start work on it in mid June and sit it in early August. Obviously no idea yet if her approach will pay off though!

[Needmoresleep]

Worth remembering that they keep changing the rules: either format or the weighting given to UCAT.

[W0tnow]

Medify or medentry subscription. My daughter subscribed in about April last year. Started serious prep over the summer, and did well enough to obtain 4 interviews.

[mumsneedwine]

@HipOrHop don't look at it in year 10 ! Prep is usually 6 weeks at end of year 12, using Medify (or similar) and the 1001 UCAT questions book. BUT between now and when your DD applies lots of things will change, they always do. BMAT now gone and who knows what will happen to UCAT.
She's doing the right things for now.

It's a hurdle race :

Get good GCSE grades (do not need to be all 9, 7 is good enough - lots need 7 7s and then don't care about more)
Get good A Level predictions (AAA usually but a few don't even look at them, and Exeter score them)
Get a good UCAT (over 2,600 is enough to get interviews at about 7/8 Unis)
Ace the interviews (usually MMIs)
Get the A level grades

BUT knowing what she's getting into is the most important thing. Doctors are v angry at the moment because of conditions, not only pay, but lack of jobs and training positions. As long as she knows that then good luck.

Every year there is a thread for medicine where everyone helps each other with strategic applying (v important to know each Unis rule for this). Always around to help where I can.

[SuperSue77]

Hi @HipOrHop we are in the same boat! My DD is year 10 and has wanted to be a doctor since she was 5! This desire has stuck with her all these years and so now I am supporting her in working out what she needs to do to make that happen. I appreciate she may not succeed or she may change her mind, but I don’t want her not succeeding to be because she didn’t know something or wasn’t sufficiently prepared if you get what I mean.

My DD is also a SJA cadet! She’s not been out on any events yet, she only passed her COFA a couple of weeks ago, but I am hoping she will get the opportunity soon. We had an e-mail
come round about one event but it was the day before she has a week of GCSE mocks (end of June) and she just couldn’t cope with being out of the house when she’d want to be revising.

I used to think that she might not be sufficiently academic for medicine, but since joining secondary she has really blossomed and is top set science and getting consistently high grades. She wasn’t doing as well with the maths, but this year it seems to have all fallen into place and she is getting over 90% in her tests, 100% in a few! She was a July baby and I think she has just taken longer to find her confidence. I’ve spoken with some of her teachers about her wanting to do medicine and they are very encouraging, so I don’t think they have concerns about her not being capable of the required grades. I do worry that being a younger student could work against her confidence wise, but we have a few years to work on that.

My DD is also at a state school and whilst I think they do have girls (it’s an all girls school) go to do medicine I’m not aware of them having lots go. I did find something on their website that said they have a scheme for girls who have aspirations for medicine/Oxbridge etc and that girls will be invited to join this based on their GCSE results, so I will be talking to school about that once my DDs results are out, if she is not approached first. Even if your DDs school is not clued up about supporting students into medicine I wonder if there is one teacher who might support her and act as an advocate? Lots of parents are very hands off with secondary but I have found that when you do approach teachers they can be very supportive, especially when it relates to a pupil wanting to excel in their subject.

My DD’s school do a week of work experience in early July this year for which they have to find their own placement. This has been pretty tough for them as not many places will take 14-15 year olds due to insurance etc. We have been incredibly lucky as an old school friend of mine is a GP and has agreed DD can do 3 days of experience at her practice. I think it is a large, dispensing one with lots going on, and she will get to spend time with all the different clinicians and support staff, then the other 2 days she is going to do an online work experience course.

Has your DD done any of the online work experience courses? The Brighton & Sussex Medical School one seems really good and gets them to reflect on what they learn from their experiences which I think is essential for interviews - they don’t want to know what you did so much as what you learnt from it about yourself and your suitability to practice medicine. She’s doing this as her Duke of Edinburgh skill section, and I think it will be handy for her before she does the summer in person work experience so that she gets the most of it.

My main worries about her preparedness for applying is also the UCAT (because so much rides on it and it is such an unknown quantity at this stage) but also DD’s confidence. She is quite shy and worries about talking to new people and going into new situations. I am hoping she will overcome this with age and maturity, and I’m keen for her to do some SJA events to force her to interact with strangers and gain that experience, but whether she will get there or not is yet to be seen! I gently question her about how will she be able to treat patients if she is too shy to go and speak to an assistant in a shop, for example, but she just dismisses it, but this really is a concern of mine! However, on the plus side she has a fantastic work ethic and a maturity I never had at her age.

Sorry to have waffled on so much! Just excited to have found someone in a similar position, as most of the medicine posts I read on here are year 12 so are in a much different place in their journey. Has your DD any thoughts about where she’d like to study yet (I know they often don’t get a say in this as it is down to strategically applying and taking the one who makes them an offer!)? We live in the southeast and I think DD would prefer not to go too far away so the ones that look interesting are St George’s, BSMS, KMMS, ARU and Portsmouth. DD has no contextual factors as I went to university myself and her school is not on any of the lists (as an all girls school they perform quite well against national scores - if she was at her brother’s school she would be at a school on the lists!) and she isn’t a carer or looked after etc.

[mumsneedwine]

@SuperSue77 I'm here to help if have any questions. Please don't get DD to do the MOOCS just yet - they'll be much more useful in year 12.

UCAT is horrible, but 2 years prep would be insane, it's the only test where doing too much brings scores down. Speed is the key to a lot of it. 6-8 weeks is usual prep time.

And don't choose Unis yet. It will depend on her GCSEs and UCAT as to where she's likely to get interviews. And that's the strategy game you have to play. You don't choose the Uni, they choose you.

For example, Notts/Belfast score GCSEs, Notts also score SJT and double points for verbal. Bristol need an insane UCAT. Exeter needs great predicted grades. Sheffield just use UCAT as long as have 7 7s at GCSE. Keele needs great work experience (& the patience if a saint as most still waiting to hear from them this year). BUT this will likely change before yours apply - it does every single year.

For now, get DD to carry on doing what she is. It's setting her up to clear that first hurdle.

[Crunk]

My year 10 DD also wants to study medicine. She’s on a waiting list for nhs cadets but otherwise we’ve done nothing. This thread is a bit of an eye opener!

[Notcontent]

@Crunk i really would not worry. When my dd was in year 10 she had done no preparation except focusing on her school work. In fact in my DD’s case, for various reasons she didn’t have the opportunity to do work experience or volunteering until year 12.

i echo what @mumsneedwine said - keep an open mind and think carefully where to apply once you have your grades and UCAT score. The aim of the game is to apply strategically to get four interviews to maximise the chance of at least one of those interviews resulting in an offer.

[W0tnow]

My child didn’t decide on medicine until about this time of year, in year 12! It was a scramble, but she ended up with 4 offers.

[ProfessorLayton1]

Get her to read the health section of BBC, medical articles in newspapers for example - euthanasia, abortion rights in certain countries, current affairs like doctors strike.
Way too early to prepare for UCAT. It is a horrible exam and there is not need to start preparing for the exam till 2 months before the actual exam.

[Unexpecteddrivinginstructor]

As @mumsneedwine says it is best to just see each hurdle at a time. Different places have different emphasis on different hurdles, for some it is having the volunteer experience, others that makes virtually no difference (although useful for them to know it is the area they want to go into). Although some places put a large emphasis on lots of high GCSEs, Bristol for example only asked for a 4 in English and a 7 in Maths. They filtered out more on the basis of ucat score. The common themes though are high A level scores, a fairly high ucat and good interview technique. All other issues can be worked around with strategic applications. I would for now concentrate on GCSEs and interview techniques - not prepping for medicine interviews but developing confidence in talking to strangers in a volunteer/ work context.

[Needmoresleep]

At this point academic results are the most important. Medicine may be the goal now, but things can change and good results across the board keep more doors open.

Two things then worth considering are:

• would she enjoy medicine. Spending time with key patient groups: the elderly; the young; the disabled is valuable. DD enjoyed spending time with older people. (She volunteered at a care home aged 16). Children and their parents, not so much.
• building stamina and resilience. Being an F1 is physically and mentally tough. Anything that helps build ancillary skills such as team working, communication and coping skills is useful. Sport, DoE, even working in a busy shop at Christmas. Having something like sport, art or music is a wonderful way to decompress after a long shift and a good way to meet people when starting in a new deanery.

Medical schools are forever changing their approach to admissions. UCAT is seen as fairer, but schools may be finding that they are recruiting kids who have practiced UCAT. DD got into Bristol when they used PS rather than aptitude tests. She is dyslexic and does not find timed tests easy. Virtually none of her cohort would get into Bristol now, yet her friends make very impressive, rounded and hard working doctors. At this stage focus on being sure you want to do medicine, and developing the wider skills that will enable you to cope with a demanding working environment.

[mumsneedwine]

I think there will be lots of changes in admissions policies in the next 4 years. UCAT heavy Unis are now all fighting for the same pool of students, hence Newcastle now bringing in scoring for GCSEs. I think others will follow (maybe not by using just gcse but other criteria, maybe like Notts or Kent).
The problem with scoring the PS is time and lack of staff. Keele, who read every PS, are still yet to even interview many. A levels start in 5 weeks. And no Uni has spare staff anymore.

In year 10/11 the focus should definitely be on getting the best exam results possible, and finding out if you like the job. Try and talk to some doctors (In2MedSchool are good).

Needsmore and my DD are both F1s, and it's a tough job. 13 hour shifts on call are not for the faint hearted! Yesterday DD was the lowest paid NHS worker in the hospital.

[Medschoolmum]

DD "aced" the UCAT. She didn't start prepping until a few weeks before the test. She mainly used medify and found it helpful.

One tip I heard her giving to someone else (which I presume she got from someone else!) was to practise using the numberpad on the keyboard as it's faster than using the usual number keys - she bought a wireless keyboard to use with her laptop which didn't have a number pad built in.

The other thing that she put a lot of value on was getting herself into the right mindset before the test - eating right, thinking positive, not doing any last minute test practice on the morning of the test etc.

But I agree with pp that she doesn't need to worry about any of this yet. Best to focus on GCSEs for now and think about the UCAT nearer the time.

[Notcontent]

@Needmoresleep that is interesting about Bristol. My dd has some processing issues so also doesn’t find that kind is test easy. She was applying this year and despite getting an excellent UCAT score Bristol was not an option for her as they only use the UCAT and the cut off has been rising every year. It’s an odd system.

[Needmoresleep]

Notcontent, DD was apparently the most dyslexic pupil in her, admittedly academic, school. To cope she developed an astonishing memory. UCAT is a speed test as much as anything else. There are lots of different careers within medicine, which require different skills, and DD is probably the junior doctor you would want to come across in a busy environment like A&E. DD is also a strong mathematician which gives her access to more sciencey roles, yet she would struggle to get a medical school place now. (And indeed struggled to get a place then.)

By relying heavily on UCAT they are all fishing in the same pool. Back in the day Bristol was considered problematic by academic independent schools whose pupils had a comparative advantage when it came to tests and results, but not PS. DD was the first from her school to get an offer for a decade, and she did not come across many from comparable schools. With the switch to UCAT this has changed significantly.

[mumsneedwine]

We buy a school Medify licence so our students have it for free for 8 weeks. But we have a v high FSM %. I can rarely predict UCAT scores as they don't seem to tie in with academic achievements, but as long as over 2,600 I can get you 4 interviews. And thats when the Unis spot the potential doctors (although lots of v good students will be turned away as not enough places).

I think Unis will adapt to the ridiculous UCAT scores in the next 2 years - Bristol is so high now it puts people off who have 3,000 ! Not worth the risk. They are losing really good candidates and I expect they'll modify soon.

[Medschoolmum]

I agree that the over reliance on UCAT almost certainly excludes students with the potential to be very good doctors. I do understand that universities receive lots of applications from lots of very good students, and I get that they have to screen/filter them somehow, but nonetheless, it seems to me that there is just too much riding on this one short test. Do universities have any evidence that a high ucat score correlates with being a successful medical student/good doctor?

In my own dd's case, she was naturally good at UCAT so the test worked in her favour, but I am well aware that things could have gone differently if she'd have had a bad day or if she'd have let the pressure get to her. And I really feel for the young people who absolutely have the potential to be good doctors but don't get on well with the test.

I guess there isn't any perfect system to manage med school applications. If nothing else, I guess the current system probably weeds out a lot of the candidates who aren't that committed to it. However, I think we definitely lose some potentially brilliant doctors along the way, and I think that's really sad.

[mumsneedwine]

@Medschoolmum not all Unis do rely on the UCAT. So it's a strategic game to find the ones your stats fit best. Keele and Sunderland v PS heavy. Belfast and Notts gcse heavy. Exeter predicted grades etc.

[Medschoolmum]

@mumsneedwine

@Medschoolmum not all Unis do rely on the UCAT. So it's a strategic game to find the ones your stats fit best. Keele and Sunderland v PS heavy. Belfast and Notts gcse heavy. Exeter predicted grades etc.

Fair enough @mumsneedwine. I guess part of the problem is that, not all kids will have amazing teachers at school to guide them towards the right options. And not all will have engaged parents to support them through the process either. But no system is perfect.

I didn't realise that Nottingham put so much emphasis on GCSE grades, even though that was one of dd's options. She may well have been aware of it herself. Her GCSEs were strong in any case so it didn't really matter either way, but I will admit to assuming that it was her UCAT score that got her the interview. I stand corrected!

The parents of prospective medical school students would do well to hang out on the Medicine admissions threads. The advice that @mumsneedwine and a few other dedicated posters very kindly provide, year on year, is immensely valuable and insightful.

[ProfessorLayton1]

Dd scored reasonably well in UCAT but did very well in BMAT. At least with two tests and with some universities placing importance on PS - children had some choice if they did badly in one form of assessment.
As needsmore says, I am not sure if dd would got in now with just UCAT. It must be an awful lot of pressure to do well in UCAT and I am not convinced that the higher scores means that you excel academically or have the potential to become a good doctor.

[Needmoresleep]

Trouble is that when most do rely on aptitude tests places like Keele will receive an avalanche of applications. When DD applied to Bristol, before it required UCAT, it was 17 applications to a place.

UCAT is a speed test. Obviously you have to be able to answer the questions, but those with slow processing speeds, English as a second language, or perhaps a physical disability are at a disadvantage. DD was also unlucky in that her test centre, a basement in Central London, was without air conditioning on the hottest day of the year. These tests are long and require a lot of concentration especially for those with dyslexia or who are working in a second language, so extra time does not help. (A break and then extra time might.)

I saw something a while ago about correlation between aptitude and later performance, It think in the context of Oxbridge entry. Only STEP for maths had a particularly strong correlation. We did know someone who practiced UCAT from January on and came in the top second decile. (His mum irritatingly called me to brag, and to ask how DD had done.) I rather distanced myself from the mum but did hear that he struggled in his first year exams and had to retake. DD took on a major school leadership role and carried on with sport and volunteering and things she enjoyed, taking the attitude that if medical schools decided that her UCAT decreed she would not make a good doctor, so be it. Their loss.

DD did in fact get 3 interviews, all in March when presumably some schools found themselves short of strong applicants, and wound up with 2 offers. However Birmingham too, as they used to like strong GCSEs, would now be unattainable.

[Notcontent]

Trouble is that when most do rely on aptitude tests places like Keele will receive an avalanche of applications. When DD applied to Bristol, before it required UCAT, it was 17 applications to a place. 

Yes, I think that is an issue. Also, some places that don’t just use the UCAT/BMAT can be a bit vague about how they actually choose applicants. That can also be unhelpful and is not very transparent. For example, my DD didn’t apply to Kings because it was very unclear how they assess applications and so she thought it was too risky.

[Needmoresleep]

Transparency is one thing, but a bit of freedom to look beyond straight UCAT scores may allow Universities to consider some good applicants who perhaps don't fully understand the system or don't go to schools are experienced in supporting students. They have a reputation for liking academic students.

(Bias. DD picked up a late interview there, though flunked one of the MMIs.)

In an ideal world there would not be students boasting of four offers. Instead a lot more good and qualified applicants would be receiving one offer. Medical schools are different, and fit matters. DD wanted to go to a school with a reasonably academic approach which allowed external intercalation. From the outside it looks as if medical schools thing that high UCAT = strong academic potential. This is not the case.