Introduction to the UKCAT

1. Introduction to the UKCAT

2. What is the UKCAT? • UK Clinical Aptitude Test • 26 UK universities for Medical and Dental Courses • Tests Innate skills - no ‘knowledge’ • Contains 5 core sections • Online test • Lasts 120 minutes (150 minutes if you qualify for additional time)

3. 5 components to the UKCAT • Verbal Reasoning • Quantitative Reasoning • Abstract Reasoning • Decision Analysis • Situational Judgement Test

4. The structure 1. Verbal reasoning (22 minutes) • Assesses logical thinking and reasoning about written information 2. Quantitative reasoning (23 minutes) • Assesses ability to solve numerical problems 3. Abstract reasoning (14 minutes) • Assesses ability to infer relationships from information

5. The structure 4. Decision Analysis (34 minutes) • Assesses the ability in complex, ambiguous situations to deal with various forms of information, infer relationships, make informed judgements, and decide on an appropriate response

6. The structure 5. Situational Judgement (27 minutes) • Assesses judgement regarding situations encountered in the workplace

7. Results • Receive results on the day • Numerical score for parts 1-4 and a short descriptive passage for part 5 Mean Results in 2012: • Verbal reasoning – 580 • Quantitative reasoning – 656 • Abstract reasoning – 633 • Decision Analysis – 646 • Total – 2,515 (mean – 629)

8. Registration • Register: • 1 May 2014 – 19 September 2014 • Sit the Test: • 1 July 2014 – 3 Oct 2014 • Registration fee (bursaries available) • £65 if sat by 31 August 2014 • £80 if sat 1 September – 3October 2014 • Register with Pearson Test Centre via the UKCAT website

9. Special Requirements • If you have any Special Educational Needs or access requirements you MUST specify them when you register • 25% extra time for dyslexic students which makes the test 2 and a half hours long • Go to the website for further information

10. The Test Centres • Same centres where you take your driving theory test. • There will be other tests going on at the same time • Make sure you know where your test centre is and leave plenty of time to get there • Make sure that you have the ID you need • Beware that you cannot stop once the time starts

11. Choosing medical schools • You will have your UKCAT score before the UCAS deadline so…. • USE IT! • When going to open days/looking at prospectuses work out how they use UKCAT to make informed decisions

12. How the University of Nottingham uses UKCAT • There isn’t a threshold at Nottingham • Your score is given an internal score, based on the scores of other applicants (i.e. how well you do compared to your peers) • Each section is weighted equally • The SJT score is currently not being used to score candidates

13. How the University of Nottingham uses UKCAT (A100) • Candidate scores for each component of the application are added together: • UKCAT 4 cognitive sections • Top six GCSEs including English Language, Maths and Sciences • Score from the Online Questionnaire • The top 50% of applicants then have their personal statement and reference scored and added

14. Preparing for the test! • Familiarise yourself with the question formats • Practice untimed • Get used to tools like the online calculator • Get used to the time constraints • Do some timed practices • The highest scoring candidates last year spent over 20 hours preparing