4 Things To Do Before Booking Your UCAT Test

Work Out Your Other Deadlines And Commitments

You can sit the 2022 UCAT between 11th July and 29th September, giving you a pretty big window to choose your preferred test date. The first thing you need to do is think about what else you have coming up this summer. For example, if you know when you go back to sixth form and will become busy with school work, consider choosing a UCAT test day in the summer holidays so you aren’t worrying about combining it with school.

On the other hand, if you’re the sort of person who already has lots of activities planned for the summer holidays and will have minimal spare time, perhaps consider doing your UCAT once you’ve gone back to school.

* At The Medic Portal, we recommend booking your test for earlier in the test period if possible.

Also, if you know you have a family holiday in July, don’t book your UCAT test date for a few days after you get home. You won’t want to be revising on holiday and you won’t want it hanging over your head either!

Make sure you think about other aspects of your Medicine application too. For example, if you’re uncertain of what sort of UCAT score you’ll get, doing your UCAT earlier will give you more time to plan how to apply strategically – because getting a lower score will limit which UCAT unis you can apply to. You might also want to get the UCAT done early if you’re planning to sit the BMAT as well, so you can move on to BMAT prep afterwards.

Familiarise Yourself With The Style Of Questions

It’s important that you have a go at some practice UCAT questions as soon as you can. That’s because you’ll need to spend some time looking at questions before you can estimate how long it might take you to get comfortable with the test.

When you have an initial look, you might find certain sections of the test more confusing than others – so this should give you an idea of how much time you’ll need to prepare.

Pick Your Preferred Test Date

There are many benefits to sitting the UCAT early:

• You might be able to reschedule the test if you need to postpone (e.g. due to illness).
• You will get your UCAT score on test day after you’ve completed the test, so you’ll have plenty of time to choose the Med Schools you want to apply to.

However, you might prefer to choose a late test date because:

• You’ll get more time for UCAT preparation – make sure you don’t burn out though!
• You might want to wait for your AS Level results before you actually decide to take the UCAT and pursue Medicine.

Some people prefer to sit the UCAT in the middle of the test cycle, as it can offer the most balance between prep and leisure time.

Try to decide on your preferred date early and book it as soon as you can, otherwise you risk missing out and having to change your plans if the date gets fully booked.

Make A Plan For Your UCAT Revision

Make sure you know how to prepare for the UCAT. Your plan should be broken into three stages:

1. Learn theory and strategies. You should expect to spend around 10 or more hours at the start of your revision on this. The best way to learn is with a UCAT Course.
2. Apply the theory with practice. This is when you can spend anything between 25 and 50 hours simply practising UCAT questions. Make sure you’ve got access to a UCAT Question Bank, and consider getting a UCAT Tutor if you keep hitting the same problems.
3. Consolidate your knowledge by doing mocks in timed conditions. This will take around 10 hours and is an important step to build your confidence and get you test-ready.