UCAT Guide

The University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT), formerly known as the UKCAT, is a 2 hour multiple-choice admissions test used for medicine and dentistry applications by the vast majority of universities in the UK. The content is not medicine related – it is designed to test whether medical school applicants have the right skills to become a doctor.

The UCAT is an online test, and is usually done at designated test centres around the world. The testing session runs from July to September. It is recommended for students to take the UCAT in the early half of the testing window as students will be preoccupied with other components of their applications such as the personal statement. An additional advantage of taking the test early is that since you will receive your score as soon as you finish your test, you can plan your college options more effectively.

Do note, you are only allowed to take the test once in an admissions cycle, with the results being valid for only the admissions cycle in which the test was taken.

In a nutshell, they are exactly the same. The test makers expanded their consortium beyond the UK (UK Clinical Aptitude Test) and hence decided on a name change to UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test). There is absolutely no change in content. If you’re a student (international or local) applying to UK medical or dentistry programs, the vast majority will require that you take the UCAT.

The UCAT ANZ simply refers to the Australia and New Zealand version of the UCAT. The UCAT ANZ test content will be identical to that of the UK test. Aspiring medical school students will take the UCAT ANZ when applying to universities in Australia and New Zealand.

However, do note that as an international student applying to Australia and New Zealand, you will most likely not be required to take the UCAT ANZ. Many programs instead require international students to take the ISAT (International Students Admissions Test). Do refer to each university’s medical program requirements to determine which test you should be taking.

The introduction of the UCAT ANZ requirement for Australian medical programs is relatively recent. Prior to 2019, the UMAT (Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test) was used for over 20 years to select students into medicine and dentistry courses across Australia and New Zealand. In September 2018 it was announced that the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) was to replace the UMAT (Undergraduate Medical and Health Sciences Admission Test) from 2019.

The Situational Judgement section score is separate from the first three sections. In the first 3 sections there’s equal weightage for questions, with no penalties for wrong answers. Your raw score in each section will be converted to a scaled score between 300-900, meaning your total score is between 900 and 2700. For the Situational Judgement section, scores are ranked into 4 bands, with band 1 being the best. Some universities don’t take Situational Judgement into consideration, while others have cut off bands in order to be considered (min band 3).

At this point, you might be wondering…

What is a good UCAT score?

Starting in 2025, Abstract Reasoning will be withdrawn from the test. The test will be composed of 3 sections with a total score of 2700. For each of the sections, students are scored on a scaled score of 300-900.

The mean scaled score for 2020 was 2511 (Section Breakdown: Verbal reasoning: 570, Decision making: 625, Quantitative reasoning: 664, Abstract reasoning: 653). However, as there are very few spots available for international students, you’ll want to be in the 80th percentile and above. The 80th percentile translates to a score of 2730. In order to be even more competitive, you would want a score above 2800. Do note some med schools weigh the UCAT score heavily, while others rely more on your performance in school (A Levels, IB scores, GCSEs, etc.)

For more information, read our in-depth guide to the UCAT score here.

It is important to keep tabs on all things UCAT for proper planning and to fully maximise your preparation time. For a start, booking a test would require you to first create an account with Pearson VUE and this has to be done by you – not by your school.

For an always-up-to-date UCAT test dates, bookmark our UCAT test dates page.