Applying to Medical School Strategically: Part 1 - Using Your UCAT Score
Posted: September 22, 2026 by Stan
With the UCAS October 15th deadline approaching, narrowing the 40+ medical schools in the UK down to 4 is a difficult decision. To improve your chances of securing a place, it is important to use your UCAT score, predicted A-Level grades and GCSE results strategically, aiming to apply to medical schools where you are most likely to be invited to interview.
This blog series will detail how you can use your UCAT score to help select medical schools to apply to. Remember that you must sit the UCAT in the year of application, and only once, so it is worth getting your strategy right from the start.
How do medical schools select students for interview?
Medical schools generally select candidates for interview using the UCAT score alone, or by combining it with academic performance, such as GCSEs, A-Levels, a combination of both for sixth-form applicants, or degree grades for graduate applicants.
Where the UCAT is combined with academic performance, schools tend to use it in one of two ways. Some add UCAT points to A-Level or GCSE points to produce a single combined score, and interview the highest-ranked applicants. Others use the UCAT as a first filter: applicants below a set UCAT score are ruled out before academic performance is even considered. Because each school publishes its own thresholds and scoring rules, it is worth checking each one individually before applying.
How does my UCAT score compare?
Each year the UCAT consortium publishes preliminary UCAT score statistics in mid-September, followed by confirmed final statistics in early October. Comparing your score against these figures helps you make an informed decision about where to apply.
The published statistics split UCAT scores into ten bands called deciles, ranked from 1st (lowest) to 9th (highest). Here are the final UCAT decile thresholds from previous years:
| Decile Rank | 2025 Final Scores | 2024 Final Scores | 2023 Final Scores | 2022 Final Scores | 2021 Final Scores | 2020 Final Scores | 2019 Final Scores |
| 1st | 1580 | 1580 | 1590 | 1560 | 1580 | 1600 | 1600 |
| 2nd | 1680 | 1670 | 1680 | 1650 | 1670 | 1690 | 1690 |
| 3rd | 1760 | 1740 | 1740 | 1720 | 1740 | 1750 | 1740 |
| 4th | 1820 | 1810 | 1800 | 1780 | 1790 | 1810 | 1800 |
| 5th | 1880 | 1860 | 1860 | 1840 | 1840 | 1860 | 1840 |
| 6th | 1950 | 1920 | 1910 | 1890 | 1900 | 1910 | 1890 |
| 7th | 2010 | 1980 | 1970 | 1950 | 1950 | 1960 | 1940 |
| 8th | 2100 | 2060 | 2050 | 2030 | 2020 | 2030 | 2000 |
| 9th | 2220 | 2170 | 2150 | 2130 | 2120 | 2120 | 2090 |
The UCAT consortium also publishes the mean (average) score achieved for each UCAT subtest:
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
| Number of Candidates | 41,354 | 37,913 | 35,625 | 36,374 | 37,230 | 34,153 | 29,375 |
| Verbal Reasoning | 602 | 601 | 591 | 567 | 572 | 570 | 565 |
| Decision Making | 628 | 620 | 623 | 616 | 610 | 625 | 618 |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 661 | 649 | 649 | 658 | 665 | 664 | 662 |
| Total Cognitive Mean Scaled Score | 1891 | 1870 | 1864 | 1841 | 1848 | 1859 | 1845 |
UCAT Situational Judgement subtest performance (in bands) is also published:
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
| Number of Candidates | 41,354 | 37,913 | 35,625 | 36,374 | 37,230 | 34,153 | 29,375 |
| Band 1 | 21% | 13% | 25% | 20% | 14% | 30% | 17% |
| Band 2 | 39% | 36% | 39% | 36% | 36% | 36% | 40% |
| Band 3 | 29% | 38% | 26% | 31% | 33% | 24% | 33% |
| Band 4 | 10% | 13% | 9% | 14% | 16% | 9% | 10% |
How do I know if I have achieved a good UCAT score?
Before discussing what counts as a 'good' UCAT score, it is worth knowing that there are various ways of comparing UCAT scores:
- By total cognitive UCAT score: (the sum of your UCAT Verbal Reasoning, UCAT Decision Making and UCAT Quantitative Reasoning scores). This ranges from 900 to 2700. This is the most widely used score format when selecting candidates for interview.
- By percentile ranking or decile: (i.e. converting your total cognitive UCAT score into a rank that compares your performance against other UCAT candidates).
- By average cognitive UCAT score: For example, if a student scored 610 in UCAT Verbal Reasoning, 770 in UCAT Decision Making, and 780 in UCAT Quantitative Reasoning, the total UCAT score would be 2160, and the average would be 720.
The value of a UCAT score can be measured by the number of universities it allows a candidate to apply to. These brackets are based on our analysis and projections from UCAT UK 2025, and may change slightly as each year's statistics are released. However, in general:
- A high UCAT score is around 2220+ (740+ on average per subtest, a 9th decile rank). Candidates with a high score are likely to secure a medical interview at most UCAT-requiring universities.
- A good UCAT score falls between 2100 and 2220 (700–740, an 8th decile rank). This typically secures interviews at the majority of medical schools.
- An average UCAT score falls between 1880 and 2100 (625–700, a 5th–7th decile rank). Students at the upper end of this range can still apply to universities that shortlist on the UCAT alone. Those at the lower end are better suited to universities that take a more holistic approach, weighing other parts of the application alongside the UCAT.
- A low UCAT score would generally be considered less than 1880 (625): scores that fall in the lower 5 UCAT deciles. Students with a low UCAT score should apply to universities that place less weight on the UCAT and more on other parts of the application, such as work experience, volunteering, and their own interview or selection process.
These brackets assume you also meet the minimum Situational Judgement band a university requires, where it sets one. At universities that combine the UCAT with academic performance, a strong academic record also matters when securing an interview.
Candidates who achieve Band 4 in the UCAT Situational Judgement Test are not accepted into the majority of medical schools which require UCAT. However, depending on their overall cognitive score, students can still secure an interview at universities that do not automatically reject a Band 4 result. Universities that do not normally set a band requirement may still use your Situational Judgement subtest score as a tie-breaker between marginal applicants.
How can I use my UCAT score strategically?
You should research each individual medical school’s scoring system (described further in our university admissions guide) and apply to schools where the specific system matches your strengths.
A useful strategy is to check whether your UCAT score would have been shortlisted for interview last year. However, the UCAT cut-off scores required for an interview do change depending on the UCAT and GCSE scores achieved by the cohort each year, and several universities place more weighting on the UCAT as average A-Level grades rise, meaning that the scores needed for an interview can increase over time. To be safe, apply to universities whose most recent cut-off you exceed.
It is also worth noting which universities use the UCAT post-interview (for selecting final places) instead of just to shortlist candidates. This is because it can give high-scoring candidates a clear advantage and makes it harder for a lower-scoring candidate to receive an offer. Some universities, for example, weight the UCAT heavily in their post-interview scoring, alongside Situational Judgement, so a high score continues to work in your favour even after you have secured an interview.
Applying to medical school strategically can sometimes mean choosing a lower-ranked university to improve your chance of obtaining a place. However, the difference in rankings between the top and bottom medical schools in the UK is very small. Every medical school in the UK is GMC approved, meaning that your degree will qualify you as a doctor and allow you to work in the NHS. Thus, the medical school you attend makes very little difference to your prospects after medical school. For more guidance, see our blog on how to choose a medical school.
Note: UCAT score thresholds do change year-to-year and are impossible to predict with certainty until after the UCAS October 15th deadline.
Check out other blogs in this series:
- Applying to Medical School Strategically: Part 2 - Where to Apply with a High UCAT Score
- Applying to Medical School Strategically: Part 3 - Where to Apply with a Good UCAT Score
- Applying to Medical School Strategically: Part 4 - Where to Apply with an Average UCAT Score
- Applying to Medical School Strategically: Part 5 - Where to apply with a Low UCAT Score
- Interested in dentistry? See our guide on applying to dental school strategically
Last updated: September 2026
