WHY UCAT PRACTICE DOESN’T NECESSARILY MAKE PERFECT

In life, we are told that ‘practice makes perfect’. The more you practice a particular skill, whether it be playing the piano, swimming or writing essays, the better you become at it. So, in theory, it should be the same in UCAT – the more practice questions you do, the better you are at UCAT – right? Not necessarily.

Just like any skill, to do well in UCAT you first need a basic understanding of what it is, what it tests and how to approach the various types of questions. Without this understanding, you may still be able to improve by practicing UCAT questions, but it will take a lot longer to improve compared to if you had learnt the basics first. It would be similar to jumping in a pool and trying to swim laps without having first learnt swimming techniques.

Once you have learnt how to approach UCAT and the various constructs, and applied this understanding to some practice questions, the next step is to learn from your mistakes. Just doing endless UCAT practice questions and exams is not helpful. Instead, after completing a UCAT exam or drill, you need to spend time reviewing your answers. Read through all solutions and see if you could have used a more efficient way of getting to the answer. If you got the question wrong, find out why you got it wrong and how you can prevent yourself from making the same mistake in future. This is a far more effective way of improving your performance in UCAT. You should also discuss the questions with your UCAT study buddies to learn their ways of solving the problems (both right and wrong).

Next, identify your weaknesses when it comes to UCAT, and work on them. In the busy year that is your final year of schooling, you simply do not have time to get through everything on the MedEntry LMS. Your UCAT preparation needs to be targeted and efficient. Identify which subtest you are having difficulty with, and what particular UCAT question types you find challenging. Spend time refining and practicing your strategies for approaching such questions. Doing so is an efficient and effective use of your UCAT study time.

Remember, completing practice questions mindlessly is not the way to excel in UCAT. First understand basic UCAT strategies, second learn from your and others' mistakes, and finally work on your weaknesses. You will then be ready come UCAT day.