Students who really wish to pursue a dream career in the field of healthcare and dentistry, are required to take the UCAT test or the University Clinical Aptitude Test, especially in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
This test particularly tests you for your critical thinking and logical reasoning abilities and even assesses you for your practical skills and your situational thinking along with your decision-making capabilities under time constraints.
Now, if you really wish to score higher in this test, you need to familiarize yourself with the entire test pattern.
Therefore, let us break down the different sections under this test to achieve a competitive score and also derive some realistic yet successful strategies to help you focus better on your studies and stay on the right track.
Understanding the Key sections
Verbal Reasoning (VR)
So, you will be facing questions based on comprehension. You would be required to showcase your reading abilities, comprehension abilities, and how you basically evaluate the same and give correct answers. Majorly, will be required to solve true-false or cannot be determined based on text options.
Now, the major challenge in this section is all about your time management, as you would be required to solve 44 questions in 21 minutes. The content is often unfamiliar and very dense.
Thus, you would have to start working on your time management skills. Firstly, you would have to learn to skim the passages quickly to grab the main Crux of the passage and be able to focus better.
Speed reading would be your best friend here. Learn to narrow down your choices by eliminating the wrong answers first. Also, you can skim through the questions first and then try reading the passage for better focus. Leave questions that take too much time and come back to them later.
Decision Making (DM)
As the topic suggests, you would have to work on evaluating arguments, data interpretation and analysis, and ultimately make the right decision.
You may come across plenty of pie charts, diagrams, and puzzles as well. Now, even though the data might appear quite complete and time consuming, you need to familiarize yourself with various techniques to interpret these diagrams and pie charts. Breaking down questions into manageable chunks would also help you speed up.
This section tests your ability to evaluate arguments, analyze data, and make decisions. Questions may involve interpreting diagrams, charts, and logical puzzles.
Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
Solving numerical problems using math concepts and formulae, is what you would be supposed to do here. Here the time pressure is tremendous, as you need to solve 36 questions in 24 minutes.
You will really have to work hard on all your mathematical concepts such as percentage, ratios, etc. You also need to work a lot on your data interpretation and presentation skills. And you also need to master using the calculator for faster calculations.
Abstract Reasoning (AR)
Now, here comes the section that tests your ability to identify patterns, relationships and trends. You will be required to identify sets, sequence completion, and so on.
Well, here as well, you will have to work on your time management skills and learn more about similar patterns, recognizing the trends, recognizing shapes, position, number, color, size, orientation, etc. And the more you practice with such types of questions, the better you get at it.
Situational Judgment (SJ)
In this section, you will be assessed for your ability to analyze real-world situations as regards, ethics, and professional behaviours in the medical field.
You need to work on your knowledge of the medical practices and the ethical conduct followed in the field, that is, understanding the core principles of autonomy, non-maleficence, justice, etc., keeping into consideration patient welfare, and focus on teamwork as well.
Strategies for UCAT Exam Preparation
It is highly recommended that you begin your exam prep 2-3 months before the exam. This will give you enough time to work on your knowledge of the exam, and also work on your weaknesses more effectively.
The best way to crack this exam efficiently is to solve as many full length mock tests as possible and that too by timing them exactly like you would at the main exam. This is sure to make you more confident of the actual UCAT exam.
Working on what mistakes you made in the exam also helps a lot.
Professional guidance
You can stick to all the strategies and try covering the UCAT syllabus all by yourself. But it is highly recommended that you take up some professional assistance and guidance to help you score really high, and not take any chances or waste your time otherwise.
EduQuest, is a highly popular educational institute that has been in the industry for a very long time and knows exactly how to crack this test. They are here to assist you perfectly in your journey to excellence in the UCAT test.