Any competitive exam that requires you to demonstrate your critical thinking abilities, your problem-solving and decision-making seems extremely overwhelming at the beginning. Many students really face the common challenge to even start with their preparations as they feel lost.
The UCAT test is no exception. However, the UCAT test is not just about showcasing your brilliance, but it is more about your quick thinking ability.
Well, that brings us to the point where we would be discussing the common challenges faced by students in UCAT preparations and how you should overcome them.
Time Management Issues
The UCAT exam is known for its intense time constraint where the students are required to solve questions in less time. Every section here is timed and you need to complete it in the said time only.
So, you do not have the liberty to overthink anything or waste your precious time on any particular questions. This is sure to impact your overall performance.
In order to overcome this issue, you need to work on your time management skills by timing yourself every time you take up a practice test. Also, make sure you take full length practice tests that would give you the habit of solving the actual UCAT test and you won’t feel overwhelmed on the actual test day at all.
Understanding Abstract Reasoning
This can seem like an easy one at the start, but it does get a bit difficult once you start solving it under time constraints. Many students struggle with this section especially while identifying trends.
This section requires you to be very good with recognizing trends and patterns like changes in color, shapes, size, or even position. and this you can overcome only by constantly practicing such questions and analyzing them continuously.
Handling Stress and Pressure
In the UCAT test, the importance is not placed to showcase your knowledge or brilliance, but to test your mental endurance. The test is usually fast paced to check your ability to withstand pressure and stress and how you perform under such stressful situations.
This helps the examiners to determine your decision making skills especially in the field of healthcare.
First of all, to overcome this, you need to come out of your comfort zone and keep practicing calmly. you need to have a balanced mindset and be more confident.
Lack of knowledge of the Test Format
If you are truly aware of the test format, things can really get easy for you. You need to go through all the 5 sections of the test to help you be more confident at the time of actual preparation. It also helps you plan strategically and approach the test preparation and be more successful at the actual exam.
Rote Memorization
This is very important for you to note that you cannot depend upon rote memorization techniques with this exam. Since this exam is not about your knowledge but about your critical thinking and problem solving abilities, you need to focus on conceptual understanding where you cannot memorize formulae or figures and facts.
Also, you need to make sure you go in-depth with every topic and understand it to the core to get a better understanding of the concepts to help you answer questions more analytically.
Inconsistency
Most of the time, it happens that students begin with all enthusiasm, but once they start, and reach a middle point, they start losing all the momentum. and that is when inconsistency sets in.
Well, you definitely cannot afford to be inconsistent with your practice with this exam. In fact, this exam will want you to prepare consistently with the same momentum throughout so that you don’t lose pace and work on all your weaknesses. Try solving regular timed mock tests to help you know where you stand in the actual competition.
Why EduQuest to support you?
These Challenges are faced by generally all the students. However, with the right approach, and strategic thinking, and most importantly, the right guidance from the experts in the industry itself, things can really go smoothly and easy for you.
EduQuest, is one of the finest institutes to help you with your UCAT preparation and known for their world-class mentors who are extremely supportive.