What is the UCAT?

UCAT (formerly UKCAT) stands for the University Clinical Aptitude Test, and it consists of a computer-based examination, lasting just under two hours and designed to assess the candidate’s ability to perform at medical/dental school. The test aims to evaluate the applicant’s aptitude across a range of areas and is used by a large number of universities as an essential part of the application process.

While not the be-all and end-all of medicine/dentistry applications, the UCAT offers a valuable way of quantifying applications to courses that are in such high demand, and the UCAT score you achieve will be taken into account. GCSEs, predicted A-levels, extra-curricular achievements, UCAT score and interviews all play a part in determining applicants' success, although the majority of medical/dental schools weight each element differently. In the case of the UCAT score, some universities will use your result to determine whether you get an interview or not, while other universities will use your score much later in the application process, and often in conjunction with your interview performance, to decide whether or not to make you an offer.

Bearing all of this this in mind, most people believe that it is imperative to start UCAT preparation several months in advance in order to give yourself the best chance of performing well and securing your place on a medical/dentistry course.

This free guide is designed to give you a comprehensive overview of the UCAT. All the basics that you need to know are here, in one place, so you don’t need to spend time hunting out the information elsewhere. To give you a head start, we have also included further free guides on our website, covering each section of the test in turn, interspersed with tips and tricks, in order to help you achieve the best mark you can in your UCAT.

Basic overview of the UCAT

The exam is sat on a computer in various regional test centres around the UK and abroad. It consists of 4 sections that total 184 questions in for which you are allowed 117 minutes and 30 seconds, including a total of 6 minutes 30 seconds of instruction time before the sections.

The sections, in the order they appear in the exam, are:

• Verbal Reasoning
• Decision Making
• Quantitative Reasoning
• Situational Judgement

Each section has different timings and consists of different styles of questions. The individual sections are discussed in greater detail in the additional free guides on our website.

A summary of each of the sections as follows:

UCAT Scores

The scoring of the UCAT is split into two:

• The first score is a collation of the scores from the first 3 sections (Verbal, Decision Making and Quantitative Reasoning) giving a sum score, or an average.
• The second part of the score is based on the result of the Situational Judgement questions and is expressed as a ‘band’ which is graded either band one, two, three, or four (one being the highest and four the lowest).

You receive your score immediately upon completion of the UCAT in the testing centre.

In previous years, the average score has been in the 620-630 range. Please see our Overview of the UCAT Scoring free guide for further information about how the UCAT is scored.

If you find that you have done very well in the UCAT, we advise you to use this to your benefit and consider applying to a medical school that weighs the UCAT score higher in their selection criteria, and vice versa if your score is not as high as you might have expected it to be. See our Guide to the UCAT Universities free guide which explains the differences between universities’ weighting criteria.

There are also two further elements to your score: UCAT Percentiles, and Deciles.

• UCAT Percentiles: a measure that allows comparison of scores across the year, compared to all others sitting the test in that cycle. What does your percentile score mean? Well, if for example you score in the 40th percentile this means you scored higher than 40% of people who took the same test as you that year; score in the 80th percentile, and you scored higher than 80% of people taking the test…and so on.
• UCAT Deciles: this is simply another way of expressing the percentile score: if you are in the 80th percentile this equates to the 8th UCAT decile. The 8th decile indicates that you are within the top 20% of all people who sat the paper, the 9th decile indicates the top 10%, etc.

We discuss scores and things to consider when applying to different universities based on your UCAT scores, in our further free guides.

The logistics of sitting the UCAT

In order to sit the UCAT, you need to register, book and pay for the test yourself. The process of this is explained here:

1) The first step is creating a UCAT account:

• During the window when account registration is open (from 13th May in 2025), candidates need to register online via the UCAT website (https://www.ucat.ac.uk).
• Returning candidates who have previously sat the UCAT can use their existing account (holding more than one account is not allowed).
• When registering you must use your legal name, exactly as stated on the ID you use.
• When registering you will be asked a series of questions about yourself (the information you give here is used only for research purposes to minimise bias, is not passed on to universities, and thus will not impact your score nor application in any way).
• Having registered, you will be given an account, with a username and password, which will allow you access to book your UCAT test.

2) The second step is to book your test:

• The dates differ each year for when you are able to book your UCAT test (in 2025 you are able to make bookings from 17th June, for tests that will take place from 7th of July onwards.
• In 2025, bookings close on 19th September and the last test date will be 26th September. We advise booking early in the window in order to allow rescheduling in unforeseen circumstances.
• You will be able to select which test centre is most convenient for you to attend on the day of your test.
  - You can use the Pearson Vue Test Centre Locator to find the nearest test centre to you: https://wsr.pearsonvue.com/testtaker/registration/SelectTestCenterProximity/UKCAT?conversationId=560700
• You can only sit the test once in each yearly cycle.
• An email will be forwarded to you with the details of your booked test

Dates for the 2025 cycle:

• 13 May - registration for an account opens
• 17 June - you can book the test from this day on
• 7 July - the first day you can sit the exam
• 16 September - deadline for Access Arrangements applications
• 19 September - booking deadline
• 26 September - the last day you can sit the test
• 26 September - application deadline for the bursary scheme
• 15 October - UCAS deadline
• Early November - UCAT results sent to universities

Fees

Unfortunately, you need to pay to sit the UCAT and this must be done at the time of booking. For those sitting the test in the UK, the fee is £70, while for international applicants it is £115.

There is a bursary scheme that allows applicants who fit a set of criteria to sit the UCAT for free. Those eligible will need to provide evidence of their status in one of the following groups:

• Receiving free school meals
• On the 16-19 Bursary (England), or EMA (Scotland, Wales or NI)
• Receive Learner Support (FE 19+) or equivalent in Scotland, Wales or NI
• Those who receive the HE Student Finance means-tested maintenance award at the full rate
• Those who receive/parents receive Universal credit, Working or Child Tax credit, Asylum Support or Income Support/JSA/ESA

If applying for the bursary scheme, we recommend that you submit your supporting evidence and complete the application form early in the booking window to ensure everything is processed in time, as you must apply for the bursary before you book your test. If your application is successful, you will be sent a voucher code. This can be applied when you book the test, allowing you to progress with no charge.

Rescheduling and cancelling

Should something change which means you are no longer able to sit your UCAT test on the booked date you have selected, you are able to reschedule online through your account. This can be done in order to move your test to an earlier or later date, depending on test centre availability. You can also change the location where you were planning on sitting your test, again depending on availability at the new centre. It is important to note that rebooking needs to be done within 24 hours of your original booking, or you will be required to pay a further booking fee.

There is also the option of cancelling your test should you no longer wish to sit the UCAT, and as long as this is done within 24 hours of your booking you will be refunded your test fee.

Note that as the booking window closes approximately one week before the last sitting of the test, should you wish to rearrange or cancel your test after bookings have closed, you will need to call Pearson VUE on +44 (0) 800 731 9905 (UK).

Access and Special Arrangements

Different access arrangements can be accommodated on the day of the test, such as the provision of coloured overlays and enlarged text.

Extra time, and other test arrangements can also be accommodated, but these need to be applied for in advance of booking your test. Further information is provided in our free guide covering special arrangements.

Are Resits allowed?

While you are allowed to sit the UCAT multiple times, this cannot be done within the same testing ‘window’. One ‘window’ corresponds to one academic year. So, if you wish to resit your UCAT you will, unfortunately, have to wait a year and re-book a test during the next cycle.

The Test Day

• Aim to arrive at your chosen test centre 20-30 minutes before your booking time, so that you are not rushing.
• What to bring?
  - Photo ID: One main thing you need to remember on test day is to bring photo ID with you. This needs to be one of the following:
  -- Passport
  -- Photo-card driver’s licence (full or provisional)
  -- An EU identity card or Irish Passport Card is accepted in EU centres (not the UK)
  -- Government issued identity card from non-EU country (accepted in country of issue)
  -- If you cannot provide any of these ID forms, you may ask your school/college to write a headed letter with your photo on it
  - You also need to bring the email you received from UCAT regarding your booking (this doesn’t need to be printed and can just be present on an electronic device).
• You will sign the exam rules and confirm you understand them, then place your belongings in a locker which is provided for you. Nothing is allowed to be taken into the exam room (not even water bottles or pens and pencils). The exception to this is pre-agreed special arrangements such as coloured overlays.
• You will be provided with an online calculator and whiteboard and pen in the exam room.
• Once in the exam room you are permitted, if you wish to use them, to request earphones/earplugs to prevent distraction.
• No one other than yourself is allowed in the test centre.

UCAT Universities

The following is a list of all the universities which require you to sit the UCAT in order to apply. We provide more detail about many of the UK universities separately in our free Guide to the UCAT Universities.

UK

• University of Aberdeen
• Anglia Ruskin University
• Aston University
• Bangor University
• University of Birmingham
• Brighton and Sussex Medical School
• University of Bristol
• Brunel University of London
• University of Cambridge
• Cardiff University
• University of Central Lancashire
• University of Chester
• University of Dundee
• University of East Anglia
• Edge Hill University
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Exeter
• University of Glasgow
• University of Hertfordshire
• Hull York Medical School
• Imperial College London
• Keele University
• Kent and Medway Medical School
• King's College London
• Lancaster University
• University of Leeds
• University of Leicester
• University of Liverpool
• University of Manchester
• University of Newcastle
• University of Nottingham
• University of Oxford
• Pears Cumbria School of Medicine
• Plymouth University
• Queen Mary University of London
• Queen's University Belfast
• University of Sheffield
• University of Southampton
• University of St Andrews
• St George's, University of London
• University of Sunderland
• University of Surrey
• Swansea University
• University College London
• University of Warwick
• University of Worcester

Australia

• Adelaide University
• Central Queensland University
• Charles Sturt University
• Curtin University
• Flinders University
• Griffith University
• Monash University
• The University of Newcastle / University of New England
• The University of New South Wales
• University of Notre Dame Australia
• The University of Queensland
• University of Southern Queensland
• University of the Sunshine Coast
• University of Tasmania
• The University of Western Australia
• Western Sydney University

New Zealand

• The University of Auckland
• University of Otago

UCAT Partner Universities

• American University of the Caribbean
• National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA)
• University of Kurdistan Hewlêr
• Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Thammasat University
• Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore