I’ve diagnosed myself with an acute spate of restlessness. Symptoms include boredom eating, desperate urge to revise, mid-afternoon naps and uncontrollable excitement at prospect of work. Treatment: 1 month excessive planning and university preparation.
Seriously, I thought I’d enjoy a break from college. In reality it’s dull; all my friends have full time jobs/taking as many hours as humanly possible whilst my own trusty part-time employer has had a cull on overtime. So, I’ve been busying myself with university ‘stuff’. The first task: passing my UKCAT.
AKA the 'are you doctor material?' test. Because it isn't hard enough to get in, as it is... Currently I'm preparing for my second UKCAT test, to be taken next month, as a test is required for each application cycle.
Introduced in 2006, the UKCAT was designed to be another measure used to decide between equally highly-qualified medicine applicants. As I've said multiple times, Medicine now is ridiculously competitive and over-subscribed; it seems every applicant has an exemplary academic record, numerous work experience placements as well as examples of over-achievement since childhood in excess. So how would you go about choosing which 300 students you want out of 5000+ applicants?
The official line from UKCAT goes as follows: "UKCAT is committed to achieving greater fairness in selection to Medicine and Dentistry and to the widening participation in medical and dental training of under-represented social groups".
I think, what they mean is that by setting another test (that cannot be revised for) it puts everybody to a 'level playing field', which shouldn't be affected by what education you've had.
The UKCAT is 'un-revisable' because it has a very similar format to IQ tests; the questions aren't based on any previous knowledge and rely on four key skills:
- Verbal reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to think logically about written information and to arrive at a reasoned conclusion.
- Quantitative reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to solve numerical problems.
- Abstract reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to infer relationships from information by convergent and divergent thinking.
- Decision analysis - assesses candidates' ability to deal with various forms of information, to infer relationships, to make informed judgements, and to decide on an appropriate response, in situations of complexity and ambiguity.
These descriptions offer a persuasive argument for the use of the UKCAT; surely the use of logic, judgement making and convergent/divergent thinking are useful skills for a doctor to possess, and not ones tested by standard exams (A Levels, GCSEs etc) which also should mean that because these skills are seen as innate, it doesn’t matter if you went to Eton or Nova Hreod Community College (as I did, the latter not the former!). I partly agree, but would be very interested to know your own opinion when I show you some examples in a second.
Another point before I move on; last year I took the UKCAT statement of being 'un-revisable' to the extreme and used just the two practice tests recommended on the UKCAT website, in order to become familiar with the format.
Since then I have realised the majority of students prepare heavily for the test (which can be sat any time between Spring and September). Whilst nothing is endorsed by the UKCAT itself, many books are available to purchase on the internet as well as 'UKCAT courses'. An overnight, 2 day course in London costs around £259; 10 hours private tutoring costs £1250. Personally, I think this is extremely unnecessary; when you take a look at my score for last year you'll see why.
This year I'm using more common sense and practising using a book and some past papers lent to me by the lovely Navid.
The first section under test is Verbal Reasoning: "The Verbal Reasoning subtest assesses a candidate's ability to read and think carefully about information presented in passages".
A typical question would go as follows:
Example Passage: aiming for excellence
For 2004-05, the Council has to report to the Audit Commission results against 56 Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs). In summary our performance against these indicators was: targets were set for 44 BVPIs and the Council reached or exceeded target for 35 BVPIs; 80 percent of targets were reached or exceeded; 45 BVPIs were measured in both 2003-04 and 2004-05 and for these the Council's performance improved, or remained unchanged at the best possible performance; 62 percent of indicators showed improvementor were unchanged at best performance possible; there are 34 BVPIs for which comparative data against all other similar councils is available and of these the Council achieved top-quartile performance against 18, i.e. for 53 percent of our indicators the Council was among the top 25 percent best performing councils in the country; we reached top-tier performance in 53 percent of indicators.
Source: 'Aiming for excellence' (South Shropshire Money Matters, Spring 2006)
Question 1.
In reality, the Council have only achieved top-quartile performance in just under a third of the Best Value Performance Indicators.
A. True
B. False
C. Can't Tell
So what do you reckon? Go on, have a go.... Okay, so the answer is True. Well done, if you got it right! In the actual UKCAT the candidate is presented with 11 passages (like this), which are each associated with four questions. So that's 44 questions altogether, and you have 22 minutes to complete it.
After 22 minutes of reading that lot, candidates then complete the quantitative reasoning section which is essentially maths; mostly 'practical' maths, associated with graphs, tables and reams of data. Have a go at this.
The following question relates to the following table that shows a list of videos and their running times, in minutes:
Disney Films | Running Time | Other films | Running Time |
Flubber | 90 | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | 144 |
Toy Story | 77 | South Park | 78 |
A Bug’s Life | 93 | The Mask | 97 |
Hercules | 89 | Small Soldiers | 106 |
Lady and the Tramp | 73 | The Lost World | 123 |
The Aristocats | 77 | The Rugrats Movie | 77 |
Bambi | 67 | James and the Giant Peach | 76 |
Cinderella | 70 | Men in Black | 94 |
Peter Pan | 74 | Mouse Hunt | 94 |
Lion King | 84 | Star Wars 1 – The Phantom Menace | 127 |
Question 1
What is the mean running time of the Disney films?
A. 10
B. 79.4
C. 93
D. 158.8
E. 794
Hopefully you'll agree with me that this seems the slightly easier section of those seen so far; only a basic degree of maths knowledge is required to answer the questions. However, they require rapid calculations without the use of a calculator. The 36 questions (relating to 9 different sources) are to be completed 23 minutes. The answer to this is, of course, B.
“The Abstract Reasoning subtest assesses a candidate's ability to identify patterns amongst abstract shapes... The test therefore measures both an ability to change track, critically evaluate and generate hypotheses which can be relevant in the development of new ideas and systems.”
Take the above, although not a brilliant scan you can see two sets of eight shapes (Set A and Set B). The candidate’s task is to choose whether the ‘test shapes’ belong to either Set A, Set B or Neither Set. And I’ll give you a clue: these types of questions are solved by generating one single defining rule, which could relate to number, colour, size, angles, lines or any other characteristic. So, once you’ve found your rule, off you go!
Excellent, you spotted that the shapes in Set A contain at least one white shape, whilst Set B contains at least one black shape in each square? Meaning that your answers are 1, Set A. 2, Set B. 3, Neither Set. 4, Neither Set. 5, Set A. In the real test you’d have 16 minutes to complete 65 items, that’s 13 sequences each related to 5 test shapes.
And your final section is Decision Analysis, used to assess a candidates ability to decipher and make sense of coded information. There is a detailed, fancy explanation of why it’s such a useful tool, but personally I think it’s a bit of fun.
Questions typically look like this
Operating codes | Routine codes |
α = delayb = previous γ = cancel δ = negative ε = increase ζ = hot η = opposite θ = include | 01 = explosive 02 = today 03 = sun 04 = rain 05 = agent 06 = public 07 = smoke 08 = safe 09 = building 10 = drop 11 = tonight 12 = dark 13 = weapon 14 = abort 15 = secret 16 = operation |
Question 1
Examine the following coded message:
α, 16, 03, 04
α, 16, 03, 04
Determine which is the most likely interpretation of the code:
A. The operation is delayed due to sun and rain
B. The operation is delayed due to sun
C. The operation is delayed due to rain
D. Delay the operation until it is dry
E. Delay operation rainbow.
B. The operation is delayed due to sun
C. The operation is delayed due to rain
D. Delay the operation until it is dry
E. Delay operation rainbow.
Hopefully you’ve figured the answer out to be E, and didn’t find that too tricky; as the real test progresses more codes and added, forming more complex sentence structures. Candidates are required to answer 26 questions in 32 minutes, probably the least time-pressured section of the exam.
The UKCAT also used to include a ‘personality assessment’ deduced from asking question based around hypothetical situations. This is no longer carried out, I suspect because partly, universities carry out their own character assassinations during interviews, and partly because some students felt they were unfairly represented. A friend at college received a statement along the lines of ‘you are devious, to the point of being manipulative, and determined to get your own way’. Whilst not quite so damning, I’d be interested to see how well people think my own statement is congruent with the truth.
“Compared to the responses of other people, your responses suggest a tendancy towards being a bit more self-confident, outgoing and comfortable with people, without being dominating or demanding attention. This may make you more able to be aware of the emotional needs of others without being dependant on their reactions to you.”
And then
“Compared to the responses of other people, your responses suggest that you place a higher value on the needs, well-being and rights of individuals. This approach may cause you a dilemma when they appear to conflict with the expectations of society. In such circumstances you may be more likely than most to support the rights and beliefs of the individual over those of society or community.”
Make of that what you will!
Results
Obviously there is no point of taking a test unless you receive some kind of mark or grade! For the UKCAT the final score for each subsection is scaled, and has a range from 300 to 900 (goodness knows why!). The average is generally quoted as 600 with scores between 500 and 700 often seen as ‘normal’, with scores lower than 300 as poor, and over 700 being ‘exceptional’.
My results from last year were
Verbal 740
Quantitative 790
Abstract 600
Decision Analysis 760
Quantitative 790
Abstract 600
Decision Analysis 760
Understandably, I was pleased.
However, a good UKCAT score is by no means a guarantee into University, as different establishment use the scores differently. Indeed, some Universities using another test (the BMAT* at Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial and UCL) and Bristol and Birmingham Universities choosing to use no admissions tests**.
*The BMAT is slightly different in structure as it aims to test different skills via a science paper and extended writing task. I sat the BMAT last year and it was very difficult
**Many students therefore use this to be tactical by applying for Unis that don’t want the UKCAT when they receive a low score in it, however both Birmingham and Bristol are highly competitive and place more emphasis on other factors. You win some, you lose some.
I’ve chosen three Universities at random, who each utilise the UKCAT differently in their admissions process. Once you’ve read how different each approach is, you may decide to place less emphasis on deciding which University to apply to based on your score, and instead focus on simply performing as well as you can.
Brighton and Sussex Medical School “All applicants to BSMS are required to take the UKCAT the summer prior to applying to us. However, there is currently no threshold. We only use the UKCAT once you have been interviewed, either if you are on borderline with other candidates to being offered a place here, or if you are already on our waiting list and a space has become available . A low UKCAT score does not mean that your application will automatically be made unsuccessful if you meet our other entry requirements.”
“Once all the scores are received we rank them into four quartiles. Those applicants whose UKCAT scores come in the top quartile are allocated three points, second quartile are allocated two points, third quartile are allocated one point and the fourth quartile are not allocated any points.
The points are then added to your total score to contribute towards your final ranking. Test results are worth 8% of the overall score of an application.
The score an applicant actually achieved is looked at when final decisions are being made and there is a number of applicants with the same ranked score and limited places left to offer.”
“The UKCAT will be scored according to your lowest score of the 4 elements as follows …
10 > or = 700
9 > or = 650
8 > or = 600
7 > or = 550
6 > or = 500
5 > or = 450
4 > or = 400
3 > or = 350
2 > or = 300
1 > or = 250
0 < 250”
Following assessment of all applications, applicants will be ranked and approximately 950 will be invited for interview. We cannot say what score will be required in order to be invited for interview at this stage because the scoring system has been changed from previous years.
If applicants are tied the academic and UKCAT scores will be used as a tie breaker”
As a side note, Leicester publishes their scoring system here, which can be used by applicants to judge their likelihood of acceptance.
Hopefully you now have a deeper understanding of just one of the hurdles encountered by medicine applicants and may have even discovered a new-found proficiency for medical entrance exams! If you do have any comments or questions on the UKCAT, or would just like some more of the example questions let me know!
