Medicine 2026 entry - part 1

[rockstuckhardplace]

Starting a new thread for parents of prospective medical students looking to start in 2026.

I don’t know anyone who paid for UCAT tutoring out of at least a dozen applicants including some at private school. They did all subscribe to medify or medentry though.

@JaninaDuszejko honestly you don't need UCAT tutoring. It's a marketing ploy and a waste of money. I have two DC in med school who both got top 1% UCAT scores and all they had was Medify subscription for a month or so before.

You definitely don't need tutoring to do well on UCAT, but not sure if you could ace it without access to one of the practice websites.

DD just used medify and she did extremely well. No tutoring and no support from school.

Waves to @MrsBennetsPoorNerves

X post with @opoponax (to whom we will always be indebted for her advice and support!)

Waving right back! Hope you and your dc are all thriving!!

Those are amazing scores but we do need to recognise there would be a large element of natural ability at play there rather than study method. UCAT is meant to be a test of natural ability with limited ability to improve through study, though clearly study does help but only to a point. Which is why there is no point starting revision more than a couple of months in advance.

Isn't that the point, though? It's an aptitude test so tutoring shouldn't really be necessary.

@JaninaDuszejko you do not need tutoring !!! Practice and watch free YouTube videos

Yes

My daughter is a 2025 applicant. More UCAT dates came available and she changed hers to just after exam results day so she knew if it was worth sitting the test!

She used Medify for prep and did well enough to be happy.

She is a Scottish applicant and I worried this time last year about strategic applications, truth is in Scotland, if you want to be a home student, you have to pick 4 out the 5 available schools to apply to. They all value AH's and UCAT's differently, so that is what you need to be mindful of.

If anyone has any questions about the Scottish process, feel free to give me a shout. My DD got 4 offers and we are just hoping exam results next week work out!

There's the new course now too. GP route (although no idea how they plan to force this since foundation places are a lottery !).

Hello everyone. My DC is revising for the UCAT and in the mocks is experiencing an increase in the raw score mark but a decrease in the scaled score mark. Just wondered if anyone could advise please? Thank you x

@Haveyoutriedthats weird. Is that Medify ? Scale score should reflect raw score so might be worth contacting them.

My DD applied in 2023 for 2024 entry - she got 2900 B1 - we did get some support for UCAT prep - we feel this really did help as she was struggling - just wanted to say that sometime help can help!
She got 4 interviews and then 4 offers - she was strategic in her application but included the 2 unis she really want to go to and it’s just about to go into Y2 at her favourite - happy to answer any questions

@Randomactofkindnessdo you mind saying what help you got for UCAT. DS is getting a bit down about his prep as he feels he’s not improving as much as he should be given how many hours he’s putting in. When you say your dd was strategic wit her applications how do you mean exactly. Sorry am total newbie to all this. He only decided he wanted to do medicine a couple of months ago.

Thanks everyone. Good to know tutoring isn't necessary. DD1 is very motivated so is working hard so 🤞🏻 she gets a good score.

@coffeegirl73 there are lots if helpful videos. I like Emil Eddy ones (this is one)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6xkKvA1u3xk

@coffeegirl73 once your DS has his UCAT then you look at each uni and see which is one is likely to give an interview - @mumsneedwine has an amazing spreadsheet with all the different unis with what they are looking for - you need to apply to the ones your DS in likely to get an interview off not where he would like to apply to

@coffeegirl73 message me your email and I can send spreadsheet to you. Strategy is important (unless have perfect grades and a UCAT over 2300 this year).

I was asked recently if I was paying for a UCAT tutor for DD and they seemed surprised when I said no. DD has both medify and medentry (she started with medentry and liked it but got a bit worried that her peers seemed to all be going with medify. She is gaining value from both so far, she said the training tools on medentry are good but prefers the questions on medify.

DD has 4 weeks left and has spent the last 2/3 weeks working consistently to understand the technique and how to answer the ones she finds more tricky. She has also watched youtube videos. She is a perfectionist and hates not being good at things so is finding this tough. We have had tears already but she seems to be able to pick herself up and carry on despite this (she can be a little dramatic 😂). I feel like we may have turned a corner this weekend as she is doing a lot more timed practice and is able to identify what her strengths and weaknesses are now (VR is evil, QR is good). She has a plan for how to tackle the coming weeks and I am just trying to be her sounding board and encouragement when she gets fed up. I also found making her ginger cookies yesterday went down well 😄.

Hope everyone elses YP are coping with the prep so far, anyone got a test date this month?

I still have absolutely no idea how DD may do but may have a better idea when she starts doing mock papers regularly. All I can say is I would absolutely hate to have to do it so am treading carefully in my advice to her.

Ours is scheduled for the 21st of August. We’ve just returned from holiday. He probably did some UCAT every other day but I think that’s fine. So far, he’s averaging around 1990-2050 or so on the mocks. Fingers crossed for everyone!! And no, we have no tutor. We have medify.

UCAT trauma in the Apple household. Verbal reasoning is a bastard. DD is working hard at it but comparing her practice results to her ultra ultra bright friends. Any words of wisdom or encouragement? She has a subscription to one of the help sites…

So sorry to hear that @AlphaApple. It’s traumatising. I was talking to friends about it and there was a sense of incredulity that he was having to spend the summer before to sit for such an exam that determines his future path!

verbal reasoning isn’t great but I think just deep focus on that would help. Mine is currently trending on 1990-2100. He hit 2280 yesterday so we are holding on to a lot of hope! His friend took it today and got 2200B1. I think the pressure is indeed on.

what’s your daughter’s scores like?

@AlphaApple for VR, read the question first and then scan the text for relevant key words. Don't ever try and read all the text as not enough time.
Its a horrible test !!!