How to Interpret Your UCAT Mock Exam Scores
1 year ago by Stan
So you’ve completed a UCAT practice exam and are unsure about how to interpret your results and feedback. This blog has some tips to help you gain a better grasp of your UCAT progress.
Look at percentile, not percentage
The UCAT is a test designed to compare students against each other, thereby giving the universities a clearer indication of the stronger candidates. As such, the number of UCAT questions you answer correctly is irrelevant. What matters is where you are ranked.
The UCAT is hard – so do not worry if you answered lots of UCAT questions incorrectly. Also do not worry about the number of UCAT questions you got right, or the percentage of questions you answered correctly. The aim is to improve your ranking against other students as you keep working towards the UCAT exam.
This is why your UCAT percentile is so much more important, as it indicates how your performance compares with other students. For example, a UCAT percentile of 70 means you’ve performed better than 70% of candidates, and 30% of candidates have performed better than you.
The bottom line: the higher you are ranked; the better chance you have of entry into medicine.
For more details on what score you need to get into medicine, check out our blog.
For details on how UCAT is scored, check out our two part blog series.
Don’t freak out if you perform poorly in one UCAT exam
After consistently scoring in the 80th and 90th percentiles, my 7th MedEntry UCAT exam returned a score of 40th percentile. Yes, it was a complete shock, and I thought that all my efforts had gone to waste.
After fearing the worst, I completed another UCAT exam, and scored in the 95th percentile. The lesson: don’t panic. You can have a bad day. It is not like school where you are always expected to know all the content. For example, your concentration may have been off, your stress levels may have been high, you may have been distracted, or maybe the questions in that particular UCAT exam did not match your strengths.
The UCAT is a highly challenging exam, and the multiple choice nature of the exam means there are also certain elements of luck involved, as you will never know all the answers.
So don’t be put off by one bad UCAT exam, your percentiles can fluctuate, so keep working!
Use the results to figure out your weaknesses and strengths
Go back through all your UCAT exams, and analyse MedEntry performance data for each of the UCAT subtests, as well as each type of UCAT question. If you find a consistent weakness, then work on it.
Do some QBank practice for this section, and this way, you can focus your efforts on improving one aspect at a time.
Also, reattempting incorrect questions and reviewing each UCAT exam thoroughly is crucial, as you can use this to not only find your weaker subtests, but specific types of UCAT questions which you tend to struggle with. Spend some time reflecting on your performance and discussing questions with a UCAT study group.
Don’t just ignore the UCAT results you are given; use them to your benefit.
Remember: The MedEntry competition is stronger than the general UCAT cohort
The UCAT percentiles you receive from the MedEntry practice exams are used to compare you to other MedEntry students. The most motivated and able students from the United Kingdom choose MedEntry for their UCAT Prep. The students who do the MedEntry UCAT practice exams invest more than the average UCAT candidate who may simply turn up on the day of the exam, with very little prior exposure.
Consequently, the UCAT percentiles and scores you receive from a practice MedEntry exam may be worse than what you would receive on the live UCAT test day. So if you’re scoring in the 70th percentile for practice exams, you may in fact be the equivalent of the 80th percentile on your actual exam day. Therefore, do not be put off if you are not achieving your desired UCAT scores.
And most importantly, keep up your UCAT prep!
Written by Jack, who scored 99th percentile and is currently studying medicine.
