What is a Good UCAT UK Score?

1 year ago by Stan

Students who sit UCAT in the UK will receive their UCAT score report on the same day, before leaving the test centre. This report will also be accessible through your online UCAT account. The format of UCAT scores can be confusing, and it can be difficult to know what counts as a ‘good’ UCAT UK score. This blog answers some common questions about UCAT UK scores.

What will my UCAT Score Report look like?

Your scores in each of the three cognitive subtests (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning) are combined to form an overall UCAT cognitive subtest score, which ranges from 900 to 2700. UCAT scores can also be discussed using the mean of cognitive subtest scores. For example, a student who achieves an overall cognitive UCAT subtest score of 2100 may state that their score was '700', because 2100 / 3 (number of cognitive subtests) = 700.

Note: This image has been altered from a previous format score report, to demonstrate the current format. For 2025, the Abstract Reasoning section has been removed, so your score report will only show the three remaining cognitive subtests plus Situational Judgement

UCAT UK students also receive a separate score for UCAT Situational Judgement, expressed in one of four bands, with band 1 being the highest:

Band 1 Those in Band 1 demonstrated an excellent level of performance, showing similar judgement in most cases to the panel of experts.
Band 2 Those in Band 2 demonstrated a good, solid level of performance, showing appropriate judgement frequently, with many responses matching model answers.
Band 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.
Band 4 The performance of those in Band 4 was low, with judgement tending to differ substantially from ideal responses in many cases.

How are UCAT UK scores calculated?

UCAT scores are calculated by converting the number of questions you got right into a ‘scaled score’. Scaled scores range from 300-900 for each UCAT cognitive subtest. Pearson VUE do not publicly release details of how they calculate scaled scores, but they use statistical tools involving IRT (Item Response Theory). For more information, check out our blogs on UCAT scoring.

What is a good UCAT score?

Ultimately, UCAT scores are a comparison of your own performance against others sitting UCAT UK 2025. 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 700 (i.e. a total cognitive UCAT subtest score of above 2100) which was in the 8^th decile in 2025. A high score is usually considered to be a UCAT subtest score above 740 (i.e. a total cognitive UCAT subtest score of 2220), which is a 9^th decile score.

A low UCAT score is usually considered to be a UCAT cognitive subtest score below ~625. (i.e., a total cognitive UCAT subtest score of <1880). These would be scores that fall in or under the 4^th decile. If you receive a low UCAT score you could apply to universities that place less emphasis on UCAT or you can choose to re-sit UCAT next year.

What can test statistics from 2025 tell us about what is a good UCAT score?

UCAT test statistics from 2025 can give us some information on what makes a good UCAT score. However, it is important to note that the cohort of students sitting UCAT each year varies, and therefore what might be considered a good UCAT score varies from year to year.

The 2025 UCAT UK statistics shows how each decile converted to overall cognitive scaled scores in UCAT:

Decile Rank	2025 Final Scores	2025 Actual Percentile
1st	1580	10th
2nd	1680	20th
3rd	1760	30th
4th	1820	40th
5th	1880	50th
6th	1950	60th
7th	2010	70th
8th	2100	80th
9th	2220	90th

For example, if you achieved an overall UCAT scaled cognitive score of 2010, you will have been in the 7^th decile, or the 70^th percentile. This means you performed better than about 70% of candidates, and 30% of candidates performed better than you.

For UCAT Situational Judgement, the table below shows that 21% of candidates sitting UCAT UK 2025 achieved band 1, which is the highest band achievable:

SJT Band	UCAT UK 2025	UCAT UK 2024
Band 1	21%	13%
Band 2	39%	36%
Band 3	29%	38%
Band 4	10%	13%

Final UCAT UK test statistics for 2025 are available now, which can be used as a guide to how you have done.

What score do I need to get into medicine?

Each university differs in terms of what criteria is used for entry into medicine, and how they are weighted.

In general, a UCAT percentile of around 80-90 would be sufficient for entry into medicine at most universities. This would equate to total UCAT cognitive test scores of 2100-2220+ (or average UCAT subtest scores of 700-740+). It is important to remember each university uses UCAT differently, so you should apply to medical schools which place more emphasis on UCAT if you score very highly and less emphasis on UCAT if you achieve lower scores.

Situational Judgement test scores are used by universities in various ways: some do not consider it at all, some eliminate students scoring in band 4, and some allocate ‘points’ depending on the band scored, which are then used as part of the selection for interview and/or the interview process.

More information

Check out our blog series on applying to Medical Schools Strategically using your UCAT score:

You may also wish to check out our blog on what to do if you didn't get a good enough UCAT score

Last updated: October 2025

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