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TheFifthBeatle
25th August, 2009, 3:20 PM
Just back from my UKCAT and was very pleasantly surprised with my result. After some shocking attempts at both the questions on the UKCAT website and the 600UKCAT question book I was preparing myself for the worst but i ended up with:

V-640
Q-810
A-760
DA-730

Which gives an average of 735, yay!:)

Anyway, this isn't intended to sound like a "look how well/badly i did" NewMedicineMedia-esc thread...but i'd like to give my 2 cents worth on the test for those who are worrying about it.

Firstly, the Quantitative Reasoning section is 100 times easier than both the UKCAT website and the 600 Qs book! I could barely finish 25% of the QR questions when practicing and even then only half of them were right. The questions on the day were much much simpler and as long as you don't spend too long trying to figure out the few wee tricky questions they sneak in you should have plenty of time to finish.

The Abstract Reasoning section was another one that I thought I had no hope in. It wasn't something that I could "get" straight away like some people could and some of the solutions in the 600 Qs book were so obscure that it was verging on the ridiculous! Anyway, on the day, the majority of the patterns were simple "count the sides" or "x many arrow heads" and even though I just guessed the ones that looked too confusing it was still my second strongest section!

The Verbal reasoning section was about on par with the 600 Qs book. I done fairly well on this when practicing and I thought this would be one to pull my score up....but it ended up being my worst, go figure! The passages were around the same length but I found the questions a little more vague/confusing. Time wasn't a problem though and I had about 6 minutes left at the end to go over the ones I had flagged.

I found the decision analysis a little bit harder than the 600 Qs book. There was more to the codes and some of the lines you had to de-code were huge! It wasn't too bad though and I still managed a decent score in this section.

And that's it. The whole thing was a lot more painless than I was expecting! So, good luck to anyone still to sit their UKCAT, and for those who have, how did you do? Do you agree with what I thought about each section? Is there even anyone out there going for 2010 entry apart from ccarroll and myself?!

RobC
5th September, 2009, 10:53 AM
I'm going for 2010 entry :)

My UKCAT was rather strange..I didn't really 'get' the AR section at all...
810/880/540/700 >.<

TheFifthBeatle
6th September, 2009, 5:58 PM
I'm going for 2010 entry :)

My UKCAT was rather strange..I didn't really 'get' the AR section at all...
810/880/540/700 >.<
Well done, some great scoring...especially in QR, 880!!

Where are you thinking of applying too? Started your PS yet?

elliottsimpson
7th September, 2009, 5:45 PM
Started your PS yet?
Now I'm no longer on the interview panel for Glasgow I feel I can offer to have a look over your PS if you think that would help.

E

DevilishlyPure
7th September, 2009, 9:44 PM
My UKCAT was rather strange..I didn't really 'get' the AR section at all...
810/880/540/700

You guys are making me feel very old - that's all complete gobbledygook to me :P

Sounds like you both did really well anyways - good luck with the applications and if you've got any questions about Glasgow feel free to email me!

Jen

relliott
8th September, 2009, 5:53 PM
Can't offer much on current university info bug if you have questions about MMC and what's changed because of it just shout. I imagine it's quite topical for interviews.

JenniferD
12th September, 2009, 5:35 PM
I'm glad that I'm old too, none of this UKCAT nonsense. I thought it didn't count towards your application anyway.

TheFifthBeatle
12th September, 2009, 6:03 PM
I thought it didn't count towards your application anyway.
It varies from uni to uni.

Glasgow have a cut off of 2400, if you don't get that...no interview.

Edinburgh rank all the applicants and allocate points depending on what percentile you're in. These points are worth 8% of your application

Dundee are similar, they also rank and allocate points but it's worth a massive 20% of your application!

Aberdeen on the other hand don't use it too much and it's only worth 4% of your application.


Anyway, a question to the more..."experienced" forum members;
What do you think of the UKCAT? When you were applying did you think there was a need for additional testing to separate candidates? If you were applying now do you think you would consider the UKCAT another stressful, money making hoop to jump through or an opportunity to shine amongst the masses of other applicants. Is it fair that a test which has little relevance to a medical career is weighted so highly amongst some universities?

Answers on a postcard....

Adam
28th September, 2009, 8:50 AM
stressful, money making hoop.

end.

Adam
28th September, 2009, 8:51 AM
haha but you may as well get used to it.

garlicbreadman
10th August, 2010, 8:19 PM
Just back from my UKCAT and was very pleasantly surprised with my result. After some shocking attempts at both the questions on the UKCAT website and the 600UKCAT question book I was preparing myself for the worst but i ended up with:

V-640
Q-810
A-760
DA-730

Which gives an average of 735, yay!:)

Anyway, this isn't intended to sound like a "look how well/badly i did" NewMedicineMedia-esc thread...but i'd like to give my 2 cents worth on the test for those who are worrying about it.

Firstly, the Quantitative Reasoning section is 100 times easier than both the UKCAT website and the 600 Qs book! I could barely finish 25% of the QR questions when practicing and even then only half of them were right. The questions on the day were much much simpler and as long as you don't spend too long trying to figure out the few wee tricky questions they sneak in you should have plenty of time to finish.

The Abstract Reasoning section was another one that I thought I had no hope in. It wasn't something that I could "get" straight away like some people could and some of the solutions in the 600 Qs book were so obscure that it was verging on the ridiculous! Anyway, on the day, the majority of the patterns were simple "count the sides" or "x many arrow heads" and even though I just guessed the ones that looked too confusing it was still my second strongest section!

The Verbal reasoning section was about on par with the 600 Qs book. I done fairly well on this when practicing and I thought this would be one to pull my score up....but it ended up being my worst, go figure! The passages were around the same length but I found the questions a little more vague/confusing. Time wasn't a problem though and I had about 6 minutes left at the end to go over the ones I had flagged.

I found the decision analysis a little bit harder than the 600 Qs book. There was more to the codes and some of the lines you had to de-code were huge! It wasn't too bad though and I still managed a decent score in this section.

And that's it. The whole thing was a lot more painless than I was expecting! So, good luck to anyone still to sit their UKCAT, and for those who have, how did you do? Do you agree with what I thought about each section? Is there even anyone out there going for 2010 entry apart from ccarroll and myself?!
I am finding AR impossible as well, QR is doable for me but quite time-consuming.

Well, I would be over the moon with that score!