ACE THE UCAT

I began preparing for the UKCAT/UCAT in May of 2018 and took the test in August.

Like many people, I started preparing using UKCAT practice question books, and I really struggled with the difficulty of the questions.

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Midway through July, I went on an expensive UKCAT course where I was introduced to strategies for each section.

I certainly found the course useful as I began to prepare for the UKCAT more intensively, but I felt that the information I got was not worth the hundreds of pounds I paid for it.

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Through my practice, I recognised that the main challenge of the UCAT is time.

Excelling on the UCAT requires you to think quickly, answer quickly, and answer as many questions as possible in the little time that you have.

The course I went on emphasised the importance of skipping difficult questions, which made me realise the importance of practicing for the UCAT in a manner that is as similar to the actual exam as possible, with questions of the same difficulty as the exam.

So, I began to use Medify, which more accurately replicates the difficulty and conditions on test day.

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I used Medify for 17 days, studying for the UKCAT for approximately 4 hours a day, where I saw a quick and large improvement in my scores.

I made sure to answer every question, every time, even through educated or blind guessing, and made sure to make notes on every question where I needed to guess.

Over those 17 days, through some internet research and extensive experimentation, I was able to identify and develop a series of highly effective strategies beyond what I had learned on the course alongside a truly holistic approach to the UCAT which helped to boost my score.

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Based on my experiences, my 3 main UCAT tips are:

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1) Make your practice as similar to the exam as possible. I strongly recommend computer based question banks like Medify for this.

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2) Use your scores on practice tests to identify and then focus on your weakest sections. These have the room for the greatest improvement.

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3) Every time you do a practice test or a set of practice questions, make sure that you take a second look at not only the questions you got wrong, but also the questions that you had to guess. Keep using this to make notes on how you can improve your approach to each section and make your UCAT strategy as effective as possible.

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For more detailed information on how to make your UCAT practice more effective and efficient, the best strategies to approach each section and to make every minute of your UCAT preparation go further, check out the Ace the UCAT course e-book.

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Best of luck,

Sanjush Dalmia.

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You can contact Sanjush via LinkedIn.