UCAT Results: Common Questions Answered
20 hours ago by Chris
With the UCAT UK testing period underway, you may be asking questions such as: When and how will I get my UCAT results? How does scoring work in the UCAT? How will universities use my UCAT scores?
This blog answers your questions about UCAT results.
When and how will I get my UCAT results?
You will receive a copy of your UCAT score report before you leave the Pearson VUE test centre. Your score report will also be accessible online via your UCAT account. You should allow approximately 24 hours after your test for this to be uploaded.
Do I need to give my UCAT score to the universities?
No, your UCAT results will be automatically sent to your chosen UCAT Consortium universities by the UCAT UK office in early November; you do not have to do this yourself.
UCAT results are only shared with universities that are part of the UCAT Consortium. If you apply to a university outside the Consortium, your UCAT score will not be provided to them by UCAT.
Universities will also be informed if you used a UCAT bursary voucher, as some institutions may consider this information as part of their contextual admissions process.
How does scoring work in the UCAT?
The UCAT is marked on the number of correct answers you provide. There is no negative marking for incorrect answers. An incomplete or unanswered UCAT question will be marked as incorrect. Your performance on one question does not influence which other questions are presented.
There are different forms of the UCAT test, with UCAT subtest questions being presented randomly. This ensures that every candidate's UCAT test experience is different. However, the forms are equated and balanced to ensure the scaled scores that candidates receive are equivalent between UCAT test forms.
As the number of UCAT questions varies between the four cognitive subtests, it is not possible to make a direct comparison of the raw marks between these subtests. Raw marks are therefore converted to scaled scores that share a common range from 300 to 900.
Your total UCAT scaled score is generated by summing the individual scaled scores of UCAT Verbal Reasoning, UCAT Decision Making, and UCAT Quantitative Reasoning. The total scaled score for these cognitive UCAT subtests ranges from 900 to 2700.
| UCAT Subtest | Questions | Score Range | Marking |
| Verbal Reasoning | 44 | 300 - 900 | Each question worth 1 mark |
| Decision Making | 35 | 300 - 900 | Questions with one correct answer = 1 mark; Questions with multiple statements = maximum of 2 marks (1 mark is awarded to partially correct responses) |
| Quantitative Reasoning | 36 | 300 - 900 | Each question worth 1 mark |
| Situational Judgement | 69 | Bands 1 - 4 | Full marks awarded if your response matches the correct answer; Partial marks for responses close to the correct answer |
UCAT scoring is very complex, and is outlined in more detail in our UCAT scoring and scaling blogs.
Situational Judgement Scoring
In this section, full marks are awarded for a question if your response matches the correct answer and partial marks awarded if your response is close to the correct answer.
Scores for the Situational Judgement Test are given in one of four bands, with band 1 being the highest. Alongside your band, you are given an interpretation of your performance:
| Band | Comments |
| 1 | Those in Band 1 demonstrated an excellent level of performance, showing similar judgement in most cases to the panel of experts. |
| 2 | Those in Band 2 demonstrated a good, solid level of performance, showing appropriate judgement frequently, with many responses matching model answers. |
| 3 | Those in Band 3 demonstrated a modest level of performance, with appropriate judgement shown for some questions and substantial differences from ideal responses for others. |
| 4 | The performance of those in Band 4 was low, with judgement tending to differ substantially from ideal responses in many cases. |
As the Situational Judgement test is a measure of non-cognitive attributes, it will be considered by universities in a different manner to the cognitive subtests. Please refer to the relevant university website for more details.
How will universities use my UCAT scores?
Most universities use a combination of three criteria when selecting students for medicine or dentistry. These include:
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UCAT scores (either cognitive subtests* only, or all UCAT subtests)
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Medical interview performance
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Academic achievement, such as GCSEs, A-Levels (or equivalent)
*UCAT cognitive subtests include UCAT Verbal Reasoning, UCAT Decision Making, and UCAT Quantitative Reasoning.
Each university is different, and some universities change their medical entry requirements at short notice. Further, they are often not transparent about their admission criteria, such as cut off UCAT scores required for entry.
UCAT 2026 results are valid for the 2026 university admissions cycle ONLY, that is, for entry to university in 2027.
What is a good UCAT score?
Ultimately, UCAT scores are a comparison of your own performance against others sitting UCAT UK. This means that achieving a ‘good score’ means performing well in UCAT compared to others.
In general, a good score for each UCAT UK cognitive subtest is above 690 (i.e. a total cognitive UCAT subtest score of above 2070) which equated to approximately the 8th decile in UCAT UK 2025. A high score is usually considered to be a UCAT subtest score above 725 (i.e. a total cognitive UCAT subtest score of 2175), which was a 9th decile score in UCAT UK 2025.
