Section 1 of the BMAT uses multiple-choice questions to assess your problem solving and critical thinking skills. You’ll be given either a passage of text or piece of information in the form of a diagram, data set or graph and then asked a question and you have to pick from five potential answers.
You’ll have an hour to answer 32 questions in Section 1 of the BMAT. You won’t be penalised for getting a question wrong, so you should attempt to answer every question.
This section is divided into 16 problem-solving questions and 16 critical thinking questions. The types are mixed together in the test, with questions presented in order of difficulty.
There are no pure mathematical questions in Section 1. Instead, these BMAT questions are designed to test problem-solving abilities using basic mathematical skills. You are not allowed a calculator so the questions rely on you using mental arithmetic, pen and paper and problem-solving to get around the need for complex calculations!
You will be required to solve problems using simple numerical and algebraic operations.
Problem solving questions might cover:
The verbal questions are designed to assess your critical thinking, and ability to understand arguments. The BMAT test will ask you to identify conclusions, assumptions, and flaws in arguments presented in short passages of text, as well as identify which options might strengthen or weaken the argument.
This got updated in 2020, when all questions became ‘single answer’ format. The structure of critical thinking questions is:
Previously there used to be combination answer options, which mean you’d see the argument and the question, then you’d get three different statements and you could choose from five to seven answers.
With critical thinking you’ll need to identify things like:
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