Blog

Foundation 1

Applicant

Archives

• March 2010
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008

Popular tags

A100 Apply Biomedical Sciences Birmingham Bristol BSMS Exams GMC Gynaecology Interview Liverpool Money Newcastle Northumbria Obstetrics Open days Oxford Personal statement Results Revision Sheffield Southampton Summer school Surgery Track UCAS UKCAT Work experience

Blog Admin

• Register
• Log in

UKCAT

Posted on August 13th, 2008 by Matt.

I’ve just finished my UKCAT test, and found it both easier and harder than I expected. Unfortunately I can’t give too much away as the test is “UKCAT Confidential”, but I can give some good pointers and tips for you!

As most of you will be aware, UKCAT is made up of 5 sections. 4 of those go to your mark (which will be between 1200 and 3600) and the final section is used to find out about you as a person. The 4 marked sections are Verbal Reasoning, Quantative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, and Decision Analysis. Each is marked between 300 and 900.

My advice for the first part is to read the question, then the extract as it will save you time if you know what you’re looking for. The choose the correct statement. Repeat this process for every question in this section.

My advice for the second part is be quick, and use the calculator. I was a little shocked at how quickly the time passed over for this section, and I answered the last question at a complete guess with only 5 seconds to spare. The eraseable notepad comes in quite handy here, and can be useful when you need to analyse more than two things simultaneously. Don’t be surprised if you don’t get to check the review screen, it barely flashed up when I got the “end of section time” message.

The third section is mainly visual. Go with what your eyes tell you and try not to over analyse. I suspect that the section is not designed to have you trying to work out exactly which one it is, but at the same time, your eyes can deceive. It’s about striking a balance, and using the review button (after you’ve chosen A, B, or Neither).

The fourth section is what the eraseable notepad is really for. You are required to work out a message from a code, or to encode a message. My advice is use the practice tests, and get used to the coding… The other thing I did, which really helped me, was to write down the literal translation of every coded message, and work from there onwards. You have time to do this, and don’t forget to raise your hand and get another notepad if you need one.

Finally onto the fifth section, which aims to discover your non-cognitive abilities. In other words, it wants to know about your personality, and what you’re like as a person, how you interact with people, how you see the world, and so on. This section is all about honesty, as the questions are staged around three areas it wants to know about, and the questions are set in such a way that it can detect liars! The simplest advice here is answer quickly, and don’t look back. There’s not much to say about yourself if you have to think about the type of person that you are.

In general, the level of knowledge expected from you is that of a GCSE math and english student, it’s pitched around the C/D borderline level of those two exams in my opinion. So don’t stress on revising, and don’t pay anything for these so-called prepartation courses, because all the preparation you need can be freely downloaded…

Matt thinks he’s charming, but a little manipulative!

Tags: UKCAT

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

MedicalAdmissions.co.uk Blog is powered by WordPress.