What I Wish I Knew Before Sitting the UCAT Exam

Sulaiman is a fourth-year Dental Student at Newcastle University who has been tutoring since his first year of university. Alongside supporting GCSE Maths and Science students, he specialises in helping aspiring Medicine and Dentistry applicants with their UCAS applications and UCAT preparation.

Here, he shares the five things that made the biggest difference to his preparation.

5 Things to Consider Before Sitting the UCAT

By Sulaiman | Maths, Science and UCAT Specialist | Sherpa Tutor

The UCAT can feel like one of the biggest hurdles when applying to dentistry or medicine, especially while you're also juggling A-Level subjects like A-Level Biology and A-Level Chemistry. Unlike most exams at school, it isn’t really testing how much content you can memorise - it tests how quickly and accurately you can make decisions under pressure.

Having gone through the UCAT myself and achieved a score of 3010, I want to share some of the things that helped me most.

1. Start with accuracy, not speed

When you first start practising, it can be tempting to immediately try to complete every question within the UCAT time limits. I found it much more useful to understand the different question types first and develop a reliable method for answering them.

Once your technique improves, start introducing stricter timing. Speed tends to come naturally with practice.

2. Practise consistently

You don't necessarily need to spend hours every day preparing; balance UCAT prep alongside your A-Level Maths or other studies. Shorter, focused sessions over several weeks can be much more useful than trying to cram everything near your test date.

The UCAT is largely a skills-based exam, so regular exposure to questions is important.

3. Learn when to move on

One of the most important UCAT skills is knowing when a question simply isn't worth your time.

If you're stuck, make your best guess, flag the question, and move on. Spending two minutes trying to get one difficult question right could cost you several easier marks later in the section.

4. Use mock exams properly

Mocks aren't just useful for finding out your score. After each mock, look at why you got questions wrong.

Was it because you didn't understand the question? Did you run out of time? Did you make a careless mistake?

Identifying patterns in your mistakes lets you focus your revision on the areas that will actually improve your score.

5. Don't panic over bad scores

Your practice scores will fluctuate. A bad mock doesn't suddenly mean you're going to perform badly in the real UCAT.

Look at your overall progress rather than one individual result. Use weaker mocks to identify what you need to work on, and then move forward.

Final thoughts

There isn't one perfect UCAT strategy that works for everyone. Experiment with different techniques and find the approach that works best for you.

For me, the biggest difference came from consistent practice, reviewing my mistakes, and developing strategies that allowed me to work quickly without sacrificing too much accuracy.

The UCAT can initially seem overwhelming, but once you become familiar with the question styles and timing, it becomes much more manageable.