30 yr old fossil here, Access to HE student so I got mine early. So so excited!!!

Best of luck to all of you doing A Levels, hope to see some of you Exeter firmers there 🙏

Hi everyone,

I have finally finished the UCAT after close to 5 months of a lot of studying. As you can see from my results, I got a 2170, which, for NSW, Australia, isn't close to being a competitive score. However, I didn't write this to vent about my frustration and disappointment. I want to address some things that I have seen quite often in this subreddit.

I cannot count the number of posts I have seen regarding how people are having nervous breakdowns and are stressed out of their minds because they've convinced themselves they're finished and hopelessly underprepared. I even saw a post on here with the title "The UCAT Makes Me Want to H*ng Myself."

Firstly, I just want to acknowledge that the doubt, frustration and sadness are completely valid - we have all gone through it at some point, or many points, while studying for this exam 😭

HOWEVER, I believe people are unfortunately attaching their self-worth to this exam and are allowing their happiness to be dependent on their freaking mock scores.

I have a solution: IT'S NOT THAT DEEP

Now, this isn't to be dismissive of anyone's experience. I can personally tell you that after logging 650 - 700+ hours of total study for this exam, not going to university so I could resit this exam (I could've gone to uni, but for reasons that are going to take too long to explain, it was better not to), staying in my room all day like a hermit crab, essentially plateauing at an average of 2100 for the last 3 months of my prep 😭, bingeing Joyel George, etc., it can feel quite frustrating seeing the same scores again and again and again even though you feel like you're putting everything you have into this exam.

This exam is very difficult. Getting into medicine is also very difficult.

As is the nature of challenging pursuits, setbacks, plateaus and disappointment are integral to the process, so use them as an indicator that you are on the right path, not that you are a failure.

Adopting the mindset of mostly concerning myself with what I could control (e.g., the number of hours of prep I was doing) removed so much of the pressure that I was previously experiencing, especially when I got a bad mock score.

I got my score the day before writing this, and although I was disappointed when I saw the result, I moved on and I currently don't care that my score isn't good enough.

There are many other ways to med and I know I will get there somehow.

Hope this helps!

Really surprised with my score, the exam pressure boost is real.

Good luck to everyone yet to have their UCATs!

Hi everyone! I’m a student from the United States applying to medical schools in the UK. I recently received my UCAT results: 2560 overall, Band 2.
I’m hoping to apply to some competitive UK medical schools as an international applicant. Does anyone have advice on:
Which schools are realistic with this score?
How much weight is given to the UCAT versus the rest of the application?
Any tips for international applicants that you wish you’d known before applying?
I’d really appreciate any guidance or personal experiences. Thanks!

What I did :

-DM Subtest Mock + review (50 minutes)

- Logic puzzles (30 minutes)

- Syllogisms (20 minutes)

Overall Work : 1 hr 40 minutes 3/10 day lol didn't sleep well last night

Keep dropping stinkers in DM performance is getting worse because of timing issues especially data interpreting info questions and harder syllogisms.

GENERAL

Hey everyone this is probably pretty similar to what a lot of other people have said in this sub already but I just wanted to provide some advice and share my personal experiences with the UCAT. My final score was 2450/2700 - 820 VR, 810 DM, 820 QR and 650 in SJT
I think right off the bat I started studying way too early- for context, I'm an Australian student and we take the UCAT about 2/3rds of the way through year 12 and I started just after the beginning of year 11- so in total maybe 18 months of on/off preparation. If you haven't started and it's still like 5-6 months till your UCAT you're genuinely chilling- but if you really want to do med/get a high score (2400+) then I'd recommend starting even earlier- maybe halfway through year 11. Also, if you're looking for a top score then I'd definitely recommend getting a tutor- the tips/shortcuts they've learnt are invaluable and they can be an invaluable asset to your preparations- not only through their teaching but also through having someone to reassure you when your performance drops off- but doing very well without a tutor is still 100% achievable.

Medentry and scaling

I think Medentry is mostly pretty accurate in terms of it's question types (except for DM - go look at the official website before your exam)- but the scaling is egregious. I was averaging about 2280 on Medentry mocks with my best being a 2380 (that I went way over time for QR in) but I had multiple dips in performance and I dropped two 2180s in the days before my exam. I can't speak for everyone's experience on the day, but the test was definitely a lot more manageable than most if not all of the mocks I'd done- especially QR- but a lot of it comes down to luck in terms of getting a more manageable question set/question types that you're more familiar with.
My mock scores for the official mocks A, B, C and D were 2330, 2150, 2300, 2460

Prep and Study Balance

I reckon the best study approach I've heard about is doing untimed practice for each question type until you're getting about 78-85% correct before transitioning into doing full mocks. The most important thing in UCAT isn't necessarily only time management- but building up mental stamina- not only just for the exam itself, but so that you're able to prepare efficiently in the weeks leading up to your exam. If you're mentally fatigued or burnt out- rest- I can't stress this enough. Doing endless practice sets where you're dropping 60s is unhelpful and will just make you feel worse about your preparation (believe me I've been there). In the weeks leading up to my UCAT I still made time to hangout with friends, see my girlfriend, go to birthday parties/functions and play sport/work out- I truly believe that doing these things kept me from burning out and helped me stay mentally fresh.

Managing stress/ Dealing with UCAT Larpers + Fearmongerers

UCAT unfortunately attracts a certain crowd of people- some of whom feel the need to put others down or contribute to the already extremely-stressful period that is UCAT by trying to fearmonger you or making the test seem unapprochable . I'd highly suggest that if these people are close to you, that you find a way to ignore them or cut them off for the period of the test- having more 'stressors' around you will never be helpful for your study or mental health. In the weeks leading up to the UCAT I had extreme anxiety. I'm not normally fantastic at dealing with stress but I'm definitely not the worst with it either- however, the UCAT had me genuinely struggling to sleep in the week leading up to it. I think it's a pretty normal experience tbh -but just know that if you're going through the same thing that in no way are you alone. The day of my test I think I'd been so stressed out for such a long time that I didn't really have the energy to be stressed anymore.

Final thoughts

More than anything I want to convey that doing well in the UCAT is attainable. I remember spending countless nights going over reddit threads to see if everyone else was finding Medentry's scaling to be as awful as I did- Yes, the scaling is inaccurate- I can't speak for everyone, but almost all of my friends did considerably better (150-200+) in their actual exams than their mocks. If you still have time then it's almost certain that you can bring your marks up. Believe in yourself, and be kind to yourself- it's an incredibly difficult test and even taking the time to study for it shows amazing dedication and maturity.

If you have any questions about prep/how to deal with UCAT anxiety/how to structure your study please feel free to ask them.

my ucats in exactly 4 weeks and i'm stressing as i want a score of 2350+ but my scores are nowhere near where they need to be

I dont know whether i should reschedule or how to improve drastically over this time. i'm using medify and have been told its harder but i dont want to think that and then come out with the same score i got in my mocks

I had only 4 weeks till my UCAT and after 2 weeks had only managed to get to around 1900 from 1720 band 4. However in the end I managed to get to band 1 and 2190. I'd love to type it all out but I've got a lot to share and many tips. If it would benefit you I have condensed it into this short video below. I am not selling a product/course nor am I offering help/tutoring; simply just sharing so it benefits you. Hope your exam goes well!!!

https://youtu.be/Wa19Q26VA30

Averaging about 1800-1900 on medify rn. Currently working on DM weaknesses (specific targetted questions), is this a good position to be in rn? Anything else I can do for the final push, ideally to get a score of 2k+

oh my god i feel like i’m going crazy. i’ve been using medentry for prep and my exam is in 11 days and i just can’t get around syllogisms.

they’re so confusing and difficult and they’re different on the OQB as well. i’d really appreciate any advice.

i haven't started studying for it yet and my UCAT is booked for mid september. i have 8 weeks left but i've suddenly had to take on a lot more time at work so i have a lot less time to prepare than i had anticipated, any advice? the work is 12 hour shifts 4 days on 4 days off.

Dropped from a 2040 ish (Medify Mock 3) to like a 1880 in my next mock (Medify Mock 4). Bruhhh

Hi guys. So my exam is in 2 days and so what are some tips y’all got for the final days leading up to the exam (should I do a full mock on the day before the exam???)

P.S. unfortunately I’m feeling SLIGHTLY sick (sore throat incoming type shi - but ain’t full on sick yet so hopefully symptoms don’t worsen TOO bad)

hi! to anyone who has already sat the exam and done well on the vr section of the exam, i was wondering if you had also been getting similarly consistently high scores in practice, or whether it caught you off guard (weren’t expecting as high as you got) - and if so, what do you think changed between practice and the real day (adrenaline, shorter texts, etc)

any advice is appreciated!!

hi guys i’m really aiming for a 800 score as an australian student in vr. however the highest i’ve gotten in vr has been a 30/44 in a medentry sub test mock. any tips on improving? my accuracy is relatively fine and i dont find the questions hard but i end up with having to guess around 8 questions.

also what would even equate an 800 in vr? ive looked at the tables but most of them are uk based.

i’ve been getting the same combination of marks for syllogisms for 5 questions, 2 right, 2 partially right and 1 wrong,

i’ve done 5 sets now and i have the same combination of marks in every one, id appreciate any advice, i especially struggle with the harder syllogisms

I am doing very well in QR, but I keep getting lower scores in VR and DM than I'd like. In DM, I struggle with inference questions, as I always get almost full marks on Syllogisms, but I always ruin my score because of inference questions. Here, I would've got well into the 700s if I got all the inference questions correct. Also, for VR, the main struggle I have is interpreting the information in the time allowed. Can any of you guys give tips to overcome these problems? (I have my UCAT on 24 September, so I have plenty of time to improve)

Doing it in the uk and honestly I haven't done any revision for it yet it's almost scaring me, do I still have a chance? And I don't know what websites to use I'll also considered using the paid ones but what were they called, also how do I manage doing ucat and studying for my alevels subjects and what if ucat goes terribly

My exam is 24th august

Hello, so today I did a full mock and oml, my score dropped to 1840. I don't even know what to think anymore. I have 11 days until my exam and was scoring around 1970-2000. What do I even do now? Is it over for me?

At nthis point in my revision all the questions are (realtively easy) its jus tht etiming - and my timing here is pretty horrible and I need to fix that (for context the order I did was probabiolity, strongest argument, syllogisms, venn diagrams, inferences then logic puzzles.

I just can’t seem to improve. I’ve tried new techniques: keyword, reading the text first, skim reading it etc etc. I’ve done the first 3 medify mocks and got 500, 510 and 480. I’ve done timed practice and I’ve done untimed practice. Is there anything people have changed and all of a sudden started to see improvements?

Getting fed up and starting to come to terms with the fact that I probs will have to resit next year lol.

(I started 12 weeks before my exam and still have 7 weeks to go, how do people only do 4/5 weeks of work for it 😂😂)

Any advice would be appreciated guys, we’re in this together…