Quantitative reasoning is the part of the UCAT that tests your numeracy skills. It involves critically evaluating various data sets and answering multiple-choice questions.
The quantitative reasoning section consists of 36 questions in total, which need to be answered in 24 minutes. This allows for roughly 40 seconds per question.
You’ll face scenarios with data to help to solve the problems and be asked to choose one of five answers. The data could be in various forms, including tables, graphs and two/three-dimensional shapes.
These questions are designed to assess your skills in analysing data and applying it on a practical level, just as Doctors do when they make drug calculations or undertake clinical research.
Quantitative Reasoning is usually the highest-scoring section of the UCAT.
Between 2015 and 2020, the average score was around 676. The average quantitative reasoning score last year (in 2020) was 664.
| Average Quantitative Reasoning Scores | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 685 | 690 | 695 | 658 | 662 | 664 |
Learn more about how scoring works on our UCAT Scores page.
When you join our UCAT Course, we’ll show you the exact area of maths that QR tests. We’ll give you some example questions, so you can see whether you’re at the right level, or if you need further support (like STEM tutoring). You should expect to handle things like ratio and portions, formulas for area and volume, percentage calculations and more.
To score highly in quantitative reasoning, you need to develop your mental maths and make sure you know how to use the UCAT calculator.
You also need to be aware of common pitfalls and how to avoid these. For example, with the QR subtest, just because an answer matches what you’ve got doesn’t mean it’s right!
And just like abstract reasoning, you need to learn when to flag a question for review and move on to the next one.
See the answer in the video below.
We presented some QR tips in our recent webinar – and talked through the example question above, too. Catch up with the QR clip below:
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