UCAT Decision Making How to Prepare in 2024

1. UCAT Decision Making: How to Prepare in 2024

2. UCAT® Decision Making Overview The UCAT® Decision Making subtest is designed to test your reasoning ability and logical thinking. It’s no surprise then that UCAT® Decision Making questions can be tricky, especially when you’re under the immense time pressure of the UCAT® exam. However, with the appropriate level of preparation, there’s no reason why you can’t excel on this subtest. What is UCAT® Decision Making? • The Decision Making test is the second subtest of the UCAT ® exam. UCAT ® Decision Making is designed to assess a candidate’s reasoning ability in a variety of ways. You’ll be presented with information in text, image, tabular, or graphical form, and the questions will relate to manipulating the given information to reach specific conclusions. Why is Decision Making Important for Medicine? • UCAT® Decision Making questions assess a multitude of problem solving and reasoning strategies. Whilst the specific style of questions are unlikely to appear later on the course of your medical training, the skills that are assessed are crucial in the day-to-day tasks of a healthcare professional, and are essential for your continued medical training and career progression.

3. UCAT® Decision Making Structure UCAT® Decision Making questions are designed in a variety of ways. Information may be presented to you in text, chart, table, graph, or diagram form. In all instances, all the information required to solve the questions will be given and outside information should not be used. How much time do you have on UCAT® Decision Making? • Each candidate is given 31 minutes of test time and 1 minute for the instruction section. This comes to around 64 seconds per question. UCAT® Decision Making Timing • Test Time: 31 minutes    • Number of Questions: 29 questions   • Average Time per Question: 64 seconds  What is a Good UCAT Decision Making Score? • Average Mark: 629 • Competitive Mark: 685 • 90th Percentile Estimate: 747

4. UCAT® Decision Making Question Types There are 6 types of UCAT® Decision Making questions: • Syllogism - short questions that test strict logical conclusion drawing abilities. A candidate is presented with a set of premises where only the given statements can be assumed to be true. This information is often nonsensical to avoid candidates bringing in extra information. The candidate must identify what conclusions can be made from the given information. • Logic Puzzles  - provides the candidate with a person in a scenario and a single question with various responses to the scenario. The ensuing question asks the candidate to identify the most and least appropriate plans of action out of three suggested responses. • Strongest Argument - questions seem like very straightforward questions on commonly discussed topics. The candidate is presented with four responses to the question, two in agreement and two in opposition. Each response will have a single statement to back it up. The candidate is expected to select the strongest argument out of the four based on quality of response only, with no outside or personal influence.

5. UCAT® Decision Making Question Types UCAT® Decision Making questions: • Inference - Inference questions can come in a variety of forms, but often are in the form of a short block of text along with a type of graph, table, or chart. The candidate is expected to understand the diagram and the message the text is conveying, from which they can then draw conclusions. • Venn Diagrams  - candidates are expected to know how to interpret such diagrams, how to construct such diagrams from verbal information, and how to use Venn diagrams to solve reasoning problems where they are not explicitly given. • Probabilistic Reasoning - designed to test a candidate’s ability to understand and interpret probabilities when presented in a number of ways, from fractions to decimals and percentages. You are expected to be able to work with these probabilities and interchange them with each other.

6. How to Prepare for UCAT® Decision Making Our tutors have come together to compile the 3 main ways to get better at the UCAT® Decision Making subtest: • Learn the key concepts behind each type of reasoning - there are a couple of key concepts behind each type of question. Syllogism questions often assess your ability to recognise individual parts of a logical argument. For Venn Diagram questions it may be the ability to read and construct venn diagrams. Logic puzzles on the other hand will focus on your ability to transform the block of text into a diagram or other type of visual representation. You should practise with each of these questions to master their key ways of thinking. • Familiarise yourself with common terms - there are various terms that are used in the questions that refer to specific amounts or ratios. These can be confusing if you are not familiar with them. You should familiarise yourself with these terms and practise questions that use them to get familiar with how they are used. • Practise, Practise, Practise- although there are many question types, the variation in thinking behind each of the types is limited and predictable. Therefore, with consistent practice, candidates will be able to master each question type. Identify the types of questions that you find the easiest and try to find ways to solve in a more time-efficient manner.

7. UCAT® Decision Making Tips • Be wary of time spent on each question - Some questions may take a long time to solve, and each candidate will likely have strengths in different types of these questions. As such, don’t forget that each single question is worth the same amount of marks! Make sure you are not wasting too much time on questions where you are weaker, which will deprive you of potential marks in other areas where you may have strengths. It is recommended to skip questions that may hinder your progress and return to them at the end if time permits. • Don’t hesitate to diagram your thoughts on paper provided  - A lot of questions are given in the form of text that infers a diagram or chart. For example, venn diagram or syllogism questions may refer to a venn diagram that is not explicitly given. A logic puzzle question may refer to an arrangement that is not drawn on the screen. Be alert to these questions and remember that drawing out diagrams will greatly help in your ability to quickly solve the question.

8. Approaching UCAT® Decision Making Questions on Exam Day • Don’t worry about skipping difficult questions  - A technique for scoring well in the UCAT® decision making subtest is to know what questions to skip. By the time of exam day, you should know which types of questions you find easy and hard. Note down the hard ones and come back to them. • Don’t be afraid to diagram  - Although it may seem like diagramming is eating into precious time, some UCAT® Decision Making questions are made much easier with visual representation. Some candidates understand syllogisms better with diagrams and some candidates understand logic puzzle questions better with diagrams. If you know that diagrams help you in specific scenarios, don’t be afraid to do it on exam day!

9. Further Materials • Australian Medical Schools: General Overview • Australian Graduate Medical Schools - Admission Requirements • Medical Pathways in Australia • Free GAMSAT Practice Questions and Materials • GAMSAT Results: The Definitive Guide • Don’t forget to tune in to our GAMSAT® To Med School Podcast! Listen as our experienced GAMSAT® tutors explore diverse topics about everything from the GAMSAT® exam to their journeys through medical school: https://gradready.com.au/gamsat-podcast