An introduction to the UCAT

The University Clinical Aptitude Test, or UCAT is a test used to aid many of the dental schools across the country with their selection process. The test is 2 hours long and consists of 5 subtests: Verbal reasoning, Decision making, Quantitative reasoning, Abstract reasoning and Situational Judgement. Each section is timed separately and all answers are part of a multiple choice question format. Each section is given a raw mark that is converted onto a scale, giving each section a score range of 300-900 except the Situational judgement test which is given a band. There is no negative marking for incorrect answers and the questions provided are not influenced by how well you have done on previous questions.

Knowing the assessment for Getting into Dentistry

To achieve an average of 750 or more with band 1 across the 5 sections you need to first be familiar with the format of the exam:  

Verbal reasoning

1 passages with 4 questions allowing for 44 questions with 1 minute for instructions and 21 minutes to answer questions. All questions are either one of two types: a true/false/can’t tell question or a most suitable response question where you are given a passage followed by a question or incomplete statement and you are required to select the best or most suitable response. Students tend to slip up here as many misunderstand what true, false and can’t tell really mean. If there is information in the text to support or logically come to the statement, it is most likely ‘true’. If the passage contains information that contradicts or does not logically lead to the statement then it is most likely ‘false’. If there is not enough information or more information would be required to reach that statement, then the answer is most likely ‘can’t tell’.

One key tip is to not try to analyse the statement in depth, there is not usually a deeper or hidden meaning and if you have to consider whether the statement is true or false then the answer is probably can’t tell.

A technique that is extremely useful for this section is to practice speeding up your reading, the ability to skim read text whilst understanding what it is contained within said text is effectively what this section is all about. Try to read a page of a book you have never read before as fast as you can (make sure to time it!), without looking write down what information you have understood from the book and re read the page slowly to see if you have missed anything – try to use a different page each time and track your progress in terms of time taken to read the text and how much you remember about it.

In the exam it is common practice to give yourself around 2 minutes to read the passage and questions, taking about 45-60 seconds to read the passage and 15 seconds to read and answer the question. What many students don’t realise is that reading the passage first and then answering the questions is a better way to navigate this section as you will be able to know and remember what information the passage contains when answering the questions.

Decision making

 29 questions with 1 minute for instructions and 31 minutes to answer questions. This section will present 2 types of questions: either four options where only one option is correct or 5 statements where you must answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to each statement. This section aims to assess you on components such as analysing and interpreting data and statistics and evaluating arguments. 

To help you improve on this section, get used to looking at graphs or tables that involve data as well as statistics and try to draw conclusions from them and interpret the information presented to you. Similar to the verbal reasoning section, train yourself to read passages of information and write down what you have inferred from that passage. This will also help you learn to distinguish between something that is vaguely presented by the passage via ambiguous language and so may not be certain and something that is strongly presented by the passage.

Quantitative reasoning

36 questions with 1 minute for instructions and 24 minutes to answer questions. This section aims to assess your ability to use numerical skills to solve problems – this means it is more to do with solving the problem than your ability to deal with numbers. 

With this section, you should aim to improve how well you can interpret and extract relevant data from graphs and tables. If maths is a subject you struggle with then go over GCSE papers as the UCAT “assumes familiarity with numbers to the standard of a good pass at GCSE”. 

Make yourself familiar with performing basic functions such as using ratios, decimals, fractions, percentages and percentage changes as these are often used to work out an answer and if you are not confident or able to do this quickly, you can waste valuable seconds trying to do things such as work out how to convert a fraction to a percentage.

Abstract reasoning

55 questions with 1 minute for instructions and 13 minutes to answer questions. This section tests your ability to identify important patterns and changes to sets of shapes or sequences whilst being able to ignore the changes that are distracting but irrelevant. Questions this section can ask you can range from 4 different types: deciding whether a test question shape belongs to shapes in set A, B or neither; selecting the next shape in the series, selecting which shape completes a statement involving a group of shapes or deciding which of 4 options belong to set A or B.

An exam technique involves looking at types of changes that might be involved between shape sets or sequences, these can include changes to: colour, rotation anti clockwise or clockwise, size, number, removal or addition of shapes, increase in number of sides a shape has or lines or even a combination of any of these mentioned. The best way to learn what types of changes are common in the exam is to try as many questions as possible and understand what the change is with each question. 

Situational Judgement Test

69 questions with 1 minute for instructions and 26 minutes to answer questions. This section assesses your integrity, perspective taking, team involvement, resilience and adaptability. Questions will require you to determine the appropriateness of actions or the importance that something be considered in a given scenario. 

Exam technique for this section means remembering that if a suggested action is beneficial or essential it should be rated as highly important whereas if the action has negative consequences or will have limited effect on the situation, it should be ranked as not as important.

Familiarise yourself with and learn the 9 General Dental Council principles (these can be found online) as these can act as very strong guides to show which action would be the most appropriate or the most important.