The UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) is a test used in the assessment and selection process by a consortium of UK university Medical and Dental Schools. The test helps universities to make more informed choices from the many highly-qualified applicants who apply for their medical and dental degree programmes each year. Using a standardised test such as the UKCAT ensures that the candidates selected have the most appropriate mental abilities, attitudes and professional behaviour required for new doctors and dentists to be successful in their clinical careers.
What is the UKCAT?
The UKCAT does not contain any curriculum or science content; nor can it be revised for. It focuses on exploring the cognitive powers of candidates and other attributes considered to be valuable for health care professionals.
The test is run by the UKCAT Consortium in partnership with Pearson VUE, a computer-based testing organisation. The UKCAT test is delivered by computer at specialist test centres.
UKCAT Test Reliability
The UKCAT has been developed to assist in creating a 'level playing field' for applicants from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds.
Who Takes the UKCAT?
The requirement to take the UKCAT applies to all EU and the majority of international applicants as well as to all UK applicants. There are test centres in many locations around the world, including all EU countries.
If there is no test centre in your country, or no safe transport route to a test centre, you must first consult the rules for exempted candidates. If you believe you are exempt from the UKCAT because of where you live and study, you must contact the UKCAT Administrator for permission to be exempt. This will be confirmed with a unique exemption number.
UKCAT Universities
Most Medical and Dental Schools in the UK require you to take UKCAT as part of their admissions process. The requirement to take the test applies to all UK and EU applicants as well as the majority of international applicants.
Structure of the UKCAT
The UKCAT is designed to be a test of aptitude and attitude, not academic achievement. The latter is already demonstrated by GCSEs, A-Levels, Scottish Highers or undergraduate degrees. It attempts to assess a certain range of mental abilities and behavioural attributes identified as useful. These mental abilities include critical thinking as well as logical reasoning and inference.
The UKCAT consists of five sub-tests: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Decision Analysis, Non-cognitive Analysis.
- Verbal Reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to think logically about written information and arrive at a reasoned conclusion.
- Quantitative Reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to solve numerical problems.
- Abstract Reasoning - assesses candidates' ability to infer relationships from information by convergent and divergent thinking.
- Decision Analysis - assesses candidates' ability to deal with various forms of information to infer relationships, to make informed judgements, and to decide on an appropriate response.
- Non-cognitive Analysis - identifies aspects of each candidate's personality and character in order to determine their suitability for a career in medicine or dentistry.
Verbal Reasoning Section
The UKCAT Verbal Reasoning subtest assesses a candidate's ability to read and think carefully about information presented in passages. In this subtest, you will see passages of text. For each passage, there will be four statements relating to the text. Each statement is considered a test item. You will be presented with eleven passages, each with four statements. In total, you will be presented with 44 test items and the test will last for 22 minutes.
Your task is to read each passage of text carefully and then decide whether the statements follow logically from the information in the passage. For each statement, there are three answer options you can choose from:
- True: This means that, on the basis of the information in the passage, the statement is true or logically follows for the passage.
- False: This means that, on the basis of the information in the passage, the statement is false.
- Cannot tell: This means that you cannot tell from the information in the passage whether the state is true or false.
When deciding whether a statement is true, false, or can't tell, it is important to base your answer only on the information in the passage and not on any knowledge you may have. Your task is simply to judge whether or not the statement follows logically from information presented in the passage.
Quantitative Reasoning Section
The Quantitative Reasoning subtest assesses a candidate's ability to solve numerical problems. This subtest requires the candidate to solve problems by extracting relevant information from tables and other numerical presentations. It assumes familiarity with numbers to the standard of a good pass at GCSE but the problems to be solved are less to do with numerical facility and more to do with problem solving (i.e. knowing what information to use and how to manipulate it using simple calculations and ratios). Hence it measures reasoning using numbers as a vehicle rather than measuring a facility with numbers.
In this subtest, you will be presented with ten tables, charts, and/or graphs. For each, you will be presented with four test items that relate to that table, chart, or graphs. For each item, there are five answer options to choose from. Your task is to choose the best option. A calculator is available for use in this section.
The Quantitative Reasoning subtest consists of 40 items, associated with 10 tables, charts and/or graphs. Candidates will be given 22 minutes for this subtest.
Abstract Reasoning Section
The Abstract Reasoning subtest assesses a candidate's ability to identify patterns amongst abstract shapes. The items include irrelevant and distracting material which can lead the individual to unsatisfactory solutions. The non-critical person may remain satisfied with such solutions. The test therefore measures both an ability to change track, critically evaluate and generate hypotheses which can be relevant in the development of new ideas and systems.
In this subtest, you will be presented with two sets of shapes labelled 'Set A' and 'Set B'. All the shapes in Set A are similar in some way, as are the shapes in Set B. Set A and Set B are not related to each other. For each pair of Set A and Set B, you will be presented with five 'Test Shapes'. Your task is to decide whether each test shape belongs to Set A, Set B, or neither. You will be presented with a total of thirteen pairs of Set A and Set B. For each pair, you will be presented with five items. In total, you will be presented with 65 test shapes (items), associated with thirteen pairs of Set A an Set B shapes. The subtest lasts for 16 minutes.
Decision Analysis Section
The Decision Analysis subtest assesses a candidate's ability to decipher and make sense of coded information. You will be presented with a scenario and a significant amount of information together with items that become progressively more complex and ambiguous. The judgements that are required cannot be based on logical deduction alone and this simulates decision making in the real world, where decisions cannot always be made with all the information neatly accessible in one place.
In this subtest, you will be presented with one scenario, which may contain text, tables, and other information. You will be presented with 26 items related to that information. Each item may have four response options or five response options. On some items, more than one option may be correct. In this case, you will be asked to identify all the correct options. This subtest lasts for 30 minutes (one minute for instruction and twenty-nine minutes for items).
Non-Cognitive Analysis Section
The Non-Cognitive Analysis component of the UKCAT is designed to identify additional attributes and characteristics that contribute to success in either medicine or dentistry careers; robustness, empathy and integrity. This non-cognitive component, the fifth subtest of UKCAT should take no more than 30 minutes to complete.
Questions for any individual candidate are drawn from a bank of questions and in consequence candidates will find that they have been asked similar types of questions to each other, but not necessarily the same questions. Some new questions in any section of the UKCAT may not be used as they are being evaluated for future use.
Candidates receive results from the non-cognitive subtest alongside their scaled numerical results from the other parts of UKCAT. However the results from this part of the UKCAT test will not be in a numerical format like the other 4 subtests. You will be given a brief summary of your results for this part of the test in the form of a short descriptive passage.
Two examples would be:
"You appear to balance being self-sufficient, discreet and happy to make your own decisions with being socially and emotionally engaged and outgoing."
"You have a moderate tendency to be impulsive, to take most opportunities as they arise and to be quite emotional in your reactions to events"
It is important to recognise that the results from this part of the assessment cannot be interpreted as an indication of whether you would make a good doctor or dentist at this stage. This is because they describe an aspect of your personal style as compiled by your answers to the specific questions presented to you. Medical and dental professionals require a wide range of styles to fit with the differing demands of the many different areas where they work.
Use of sub-test 5 results
The consortium believes that it is not appropriate to use the results of the non-cognitive sub-test 5 in the actual selection process until such time as there is evidence to support a relationship between the test results and success or failure as a medical or dental student, and eventually as a doctor or dentist. However, it is anticipated that some universities will use the results from the sub-test 5, where appropriate, in the counselling and mentoring of individual students while on their medical/dental degree programme and to assist in their personal development towards becoming a successful doctor or dentist. The test result is therefore still important.
Taking the UKCAT
The entire UKCAT test is delivered by computer. Candidates are not allowed to bring external materials in to the exam. A basic calculator is provided, along with a white board and a marker pen or paper with a pencil, for taking notes. The equipment and conditions vary slightly between different test centres.
Time
Including warm-up time (time allocated to reading the instructions), the test lasts a maximum of two hours. Each of the sub-tests is in a multiple choice format and is separately timed.
Content and Preparation
There is no curriculum content as the test is designed to probe innate skills. These include basic arithmetic, reading and writing ability, along with character, and personal and social attitudes.
Preparing for the UKCAT
Past UKCAT papers are not available. However, specimen questions are available on the UKCAT website and at Job Test Prep. Practice verbal reasoning and abstract reasoning tests and example questions are also available on WikiJob.
The UKCAT Consortium specifies "The UKCAT does not contain any curriculum or science content; nor can it be revised for" However, although the UKCAT exam is made up solely of psychometric tests, research does suggest that a candidate's performance, even when taking only psychometric tests, can be improved through practice.
Practice Questions
Practice verbal reasoning and abstract reasoning questions are available on WikiJob. More specific UKCAT practice questions are also available on the UKCAT website.
