UCAT Decision Making

The Decision Making section of UCAT requires you to use logic and reasoning to solve textual and visual data-related questions.

It’s the newest UCAT section, having replaced Decision Analysis in 2017, and it lasts 31 minutes. 

This page offers an overview of Decision Making and preparation tips to help you score highly.

Jump to sections:

• What Is Decision Making?
• What Is The Question Format?
• What Skills Are Tested?
• Average Decision Making Scores
• Decision Making In 60 Seconds
• More Decision Making Preparation Tips

What Is Decision Making?

Decision Making is the fourth of the five UCAT sections. It requires you to solve questions that have corresponding text or visual data. There are 29 questions that need to be answered in 31 minutes. 

You’ll have access to a basic on-screen calculator for this section.

What Is The Question Format?

In this section there are two types of question:

• Multiple Choice: 4 answer options, where only one option will be correct.
• Yes/No Statements: state ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for each answer.

What Skills Are Tested?

The Decision Making section will test your application of reasoning and logic to a problem, and assess your ability to evaluate different arguments and gain information using statistics. It’s important because, as a doctor, you’ll be faced with complex situations and have to make difficult decisions. 

Average Decision Making Scores

Between 2017 and 2019, the average score for Decision Making was around 629. The average score in 2019 was 618.

If you want to learn more about how scoring works, check out our UCAT Scores page. 

Decision Making In 60 Seconds

One of our senior tutors offering some advice on how to tackle the Decision Making section of UCAT:

More Decision Making Preparation Tips

• Familiarise Yourself With Graphs. You may encounter questions that involve statistics, so you should familiarise yourself with interpreting graphs and tables.
• Review A-Level or GCSE papers. Look at old Biology or Maths papers to revise how to interpret information presented in graphs.
• Read, Read, Read. It’s crucial to be able to read texts and interpret the information given. Pay attention to the language. Are statements presented as a certainty or likelihood? Does the associated argument logically address the statement? There are often clues in the language used. Reading statements and questions closely is vital.
• Don’t Jump To Conclusions. Although some conclusions may follow logically, unless something is explicitly stated in the passage given, don’t draw conclusions based on your prior knowledge.

Want to practise some Decision Making questions? Try our UCAT Question Bank for free!

For more preparation tips and advice, check out our Decision Making blogs:

• 60-Second UCAT Tips: Verbal Reasoning and Decision Making
• UCAT Decision Making Tips: Top 3 Strategies

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• Abstract Reasoning
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